The vaunted Bengals offense that rolled to an average of 400 yards per game in its three-game winning streak couldn’t keep it going Sunday against Miami’s exhaustive defense in a 17-13 loss before 61,162 at sold-out Paul Brown Stadium.
Facing a fourth-and-five from the Dolphins 23 with 3:05 left, Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis eschewed going for it even though Mike Nugent’s 41-yard field goal would only cut the lead to 17-16. But Nugent sliced it right for his first miss of the season after hitting nine straight.
Lewis later said he thought his defense would get the ball back after a successful kick, and they did, but it the drive ended like most of them on Sunday: with nothing.
Facing a third-and-nine with 2:39 left, Dolphins rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill took a shot at wide receiver Brian Hartline at midfield. It was incomplete, but Bengals cornerback Terence Newman was called for pass interference and the Bengals couldn’t get the ball back until 1:45 left from their own 20.
Dalton overthrew wide receiver Andrew Hawkins on a second-and-20 (after center Jeff Faine had been called for a hold) and safety Reshad Jones picked it off with 1:22 left to end it.
The Bengals went into the fourth quarter with no touchdowns, unsuccessful on nine of 10 third-down tries and just 162 yards passing from Dalton and 62 rushing yards. Dalton finished with 234 on 26-of-43 with a touchdown, two interceptions. and a season-low 63.5 passer rating while the running game mucked out 80 yards on 19 carries. Take out running back Bernard Scott’s 29-yard run in the first 10 minutes and there wasn’t much.
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