Old friend Hue Jackson arrived at sold-out Paul Brown Stadium Sunday with his winless Browns and bottomless bag of gadgets, but his former student delivered the final nail in when Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton oversaw a big-play offense that included a 48-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass to A.J. Green and a 74-yard touchdown run by running back Jeremy Hill in a 31-17 victory over Cleveland.
The 3-4 Bengals stopped a two-game losing streak and had a chance to crawl within a game of the Steelers in the AFC North by breaking 30 points for the first time this season and giving Hill his first 100-yard game since the final game of his rookie season in 2014 with a career-high 168 yards that was part of their best team rushing effort in nearly 16 years with 271.
Green, who came leading the league in catches, put on another clinic, racking up 169 yards on eight catches against Cleveland’s young, Joe Haden-less secondary. Dalton tipped his hat to Jackson with a 308-yard day and 128.3 passer rating and two TD passes of 40-plus as the Bengals fired up their most yards in 26 years and two weeks with 559.
Still, the Bengals head to London next week with some questions. Right tackle Cedric Ogbuehi, rotating every two series with Eric Winston, gave up two sacks, Mike Nugent missed field goals of 40 and 45 yards, and Pro Bowl left tackle Andrew Whitworth left with a head injury, although head coach Marvin Lewis said he’d be ready for the next game.
As expected with Jackson in town, it was a tractor pull even though midway through the second quarter he lost rookie quarterback Cody Kessler with a concussion and had to turn to his sixth quarterback this season. And Stanford rookie Kevin Hogan, making his first NFL appearance, proved to be puzzling for the Bengals, particularly early on and his zig-zag 28-yard scramble for a touchdown on a slew of missed tackles that cut the Bengals’ lead to 21-17 with 10:43 left in the third quarter.
Hogan ended up with 104 yards on seven carries, the first quarterback to rush for 100 yards against the Bengals since Carolina’s Cam Newton two years ago.
Hill, playing sparingly with a smattering of bruises didn’t need many runs to impact the game. He needed just nine for the biggest day for a Bengals back since Cedric Benson had 189 against the Bears on Oct. 25, 2009 and said he could have kept playing.
On their first series of the second half, they pulled Whitworth next to Winston and tight end C.J. Uzomah and they paved the way for Hill steamrolling as he outran the secondary for the 74-yard run and a 28-17 lead one minute after Hogan scored.
The Bengals then began to shut down Hogan and the running game, featuring left end Carlos Dunlap’s fifth sack of the season.
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