Knocked flat on their backs by Denver wide receiver Trindon Holliday’s 105-yard kickoff return that opened the second half Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium, the Bengals showed life when they scored on their first two possessions of the second half and cornerback Terence Newman came up with that ever-rare end-zone interception of Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.
But as he always does against the Bengals, Manning had the final say before a sellout crowd of 63,623 in raising his record to 8-0 against Cincinnati when he erased an early fourth-quarter 20-17 deficit and turned it into a 31-23 victory that leaves the Bengals gasping in the AFC playoff race at 3-5 with their fourth straight loss.
Newman came up with another interception on Manning’s next pass just moments after his first pick set up Mike Nugent’s 49-yard field goal that cut the lead to 17-13. Facing third-and-long Manning dropped back into his end zone and got hit by a blitz from defensive back Nate Clements as he tried to connect with Decker down the right sideline. Newman played the ball in the air as if he were the receiver and the Bengals ended the third quarter on the Denver 27.
It took the Bengals just 50 seconds to take the lead. Wide receiver A.J. Green, bolting back from his one-catch game two weeks ago with a 99-yard game Sunday, broke a tackle over the middle for a 19-yard catch that put the Bengals on the 2 and from there running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis pushed it in to give the Bengals a 20-17 lead with 14:10 left in the game.
But Manning was just beginning. Facing a third-and-three from his 23, he hit Decker over the middle for what should have been a three-yard gain. But Newman and middle linebacker Rey Maualuga couldn’t finish off the tackle and Decker went 30 more yards.
Then, Bengals cornerback Adam Jones was called for interfering with wide receiver Demaryius Thomas in the end zone, a crushing 29-yard penalty that set up Manning’s one-yard TD pass to tight end Joel Dreessen with a little more than 11 minutes left in the game.
The Bengals followed that up with a bad offensive series, fueled by a pass rush that sacked Dalton five times. Working against Broncos sack ace Elvis Dumervil, left tackle Andrew Whitworth was called for a hold and false start, and a hold on center Jeff Faine wiped out a 19-yard side-armer to Green on third-and-15.
On the next snap the rush didn’t allow Dalton to step into a bomb down the right sideline and Bailey came up with Denver’s first interception of Dalton at the Bengals 46. Manning, who finished with a 105.8 passer rating on 27-of-35 passing for 291 yards, hit Decker for a four-yard touchdown with 3:36 left to end it.
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