The Bengals defensive line outplayed the NFL’s best front four Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium and produced a 31-13 victory over the Super Bowl champion Giants that snapped Cincinnati’s four-game losing streak and sent the Bengals to Kansas City next week at 4-5.
The Bengals, before a crowd of 56,614, fittingly put on the exclamation point with 10:45 left in the game when right end Wallace Gilberry stripped the ball from quarterback Eli Manning as he was throwing in the pocket and fell on New York’s fourth turnover of the game at the Giants 41.
New York didn’t score its first touchdown until running back Andre Brown scored on a two-yard run with 2:46 left in the game.
The Bengals stunned the champs with three turnovers in the third quarter (a third of Cincinnati’s total of nine coming into the game) that produced 14 points as quarterback Andy Dalton enjoyed the first four-touchdown game of his career when he hit four different receivers while completing 21 of 30 passes for 199 yards for a passer rating of 127.6 that more than doubled Manning’s 56. It was Dalton’s third best of his career and his first game this season without an interception.
Cornerback Adam Jones, all over the place with a third-down pass defensed and a 68-yard punt return that set up a touchdown, started the turnover parade when he punched the ball out of the hands of running back Ahmad Bradshaw at the Bengals 14 and left end Carlos Dunlap recovered.
It was a huge play. It looked like the Giants were going to cut the lead to 17-13 early in the third quarter, but instead it was their last shot. The Bengals couldn’t take advantage of that series but they did on the next one when defensive tackle Geno Atkins pushed left guard Kevin Boothe into Manning as right end Michael Johnson hit Manning’s arm and it produced a floater at the line of scrimmage, where it was corralled at the Giants 12 by defensive tackle Pat Sims celebrating his first game back since he injured his ankle nearly a year ago on Nov. 27.
Three of Dalton’s TDs came on third down in the red zone and so did this one on third-and-eight when Dalton saw tight end Jermaine Gresham matched up on safety Antrel Rolle running across the back of the end zone. Dalton threw it at the highest point and the 6-5 Gresham outjumped the 6-0 Rolle to make it 24-6 with 6:37 left in the third quarter.
Then Atkins and Dunlap converged on Manning three snaps later and he hurried a pass into the arms of cornerback Nate Clements dropping into a zone. Clements returned the interception 21 yards to the Giants 16, and on third-and-four from the 10, Dalton hit rookie wide receiver Mohamed Sanu with the first touchdown catch of his career. The 6-2, 210-pound Sanu literally posted up on 6-0, 207-pound cornerback Prince Amukamara while running a post pattern and Dalton hit him on the back shoulder.
Click here to read more of this story.
About Marion Online Sports
