It was the only way it could end, right?
Bengals defensive end Michael Johnson, all 6-7 of him, deflected Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers’s fourth-and-five pass from the Bengals 20 with 1:25 left to seal a wild 34-30 victory before an amazed and crazed sellout crowd of 64,633.
On the previous play his bookend, left end Carlos Dunlap, batted down another one to typify one of the greatest rebound wins in Bengals history. It was the first time since Opening Day 1999 that an NFL team won a game despite giving up 30 straight points, which Dallas did on the way to beating Washington in overtime.
After winning a challenge that turned a Packers first down into a fourth-and-one with the clock and game ticking away to four minutes, Johnson forced rookie running back Jonathan Franklin to fumble and when safety Reggie Nelson picked it up and also fumbled after a few yards, cornerback Terence Newman got a hand on it and ran 58 yards for a touchdown that gave the Bengals the lead at 34-30 with 3:47 left.
What more could the defense do? Newman and cornerback Leon Hall picked off Rodgers on consecutive series in the second half and the Bengals rung him up for four sacks in the game. The fourth one by tackle Domata Peko took the Packers out of field-goal range and set up the fourth-and-one for Newman.
But when the Bengals faced the NFL’s best offense with 3:47 left, the defense was gassed. Hall wasn’t on the field with a hamstring injury and safety Taylor Mays had been promoted to cornerback to cover the marvelous Randall Cobb in the slot and Rodgers used short, quick passes to drive down the field until he couldn’t get his passes over Johnson and Dunlap.
Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton’s 20-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver A.J. Green cut the lead to 30-21 late in third quarter and his 11-yarder to wide receiver Marvin Jones made it 30-27 with 10:55 left in the game on a touchdown set up by rookie running back Giovani Benard’s 31-yard scamper in the flat that gave life to a 95-yard drive. Mike Nugent had his extra point blocked and why not in such a crazy game?
Dalton ended up beating Rodgers at his own game. Rodgers, who has had 10 100-yard passer ratings in 10 road games the last three years, suffered to a 65.5 while Dalton had a 105.5 with his two touchdown passes and interception. He did it even though he didn’t hook up with Green until the second half and wide receiver Mohamed Sanu was his leading receiver with four catches for 68 yards and Bernard was his leading rusher with 50 yards on 10 carries. The big deficit might have done Dalton a favor because the Packers began blitzing and leaving receivers one-on-one.
After being staked to a 16-14 halftime lead even though the Packers didn’t have a TD, Rodgers heated up to lead two touchdown drives the first two times he had the ball in the second half.
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