On the way to becoming the first Bengals team to go 9-2 in the 16-game era, they authored another Paul Brown Stadium defensive special spiced by cornerback Leon Hall’s 19-yard interception return for a touchdown during Sunday’s 31-7 victory over the Rams.
It secured the Bengals’ club-record fifth straight winning season, all under quarterback Andy Dalton as he moved past Tom Brady into fourth place with his 49th victory in his first five seasons.
Hall’s pick, the second of three interceptions of Rams quarterback Nick Foles, came with 5:20 left in the third quarter and gave the Bengals that 31-7 victory, the biggest margin of the season.
It was Hall’s second interception in as many weeks and 26th as a Bengal, putting him in fourth place on the Bengals’ all-time list ahead of Lemar Parrish.
The front seven also did a number on the Rams. Two snaps before Hall came up with his interception, left end Carlos Dunlap sniffed out an end-around to wide receiver Tavon Austin for a four-yard loss to back the Rams up at their own seven. It was one of six negative plays generated by the defense on the day and included in that was Bengals Pro Bowl defensive tackle Geno Atkins’ eighth sack, which leads all NFL defensive tackles.
Atkins was able to take the lead because the Bengals offensive line did a brilliant job on Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald, a Pro Bowler that didn’t add to his own total of seven sacks Sunday. Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton didn’t get sacked against the team with the most sacks in the NFL since 2012.
Dalton used the time to hit 20 of 27 passes for 233 yards and a 121.4 passer rating, the seventh time he’s hit triple-digits this season. The Bengals came into the game holding opposing passers to under a combined 70 passer rating in the previous 25 PBS games and on Sunday it was more of the same as Foles finished at 49.9 on 30 o 46 passing for 228 yards.
Tight end Tyler Eifert may have come into the second half leading the NFL with 12 touchdown catches, but his fumble recovery at the end of running back Giovani Bernard’s 45-yard catch-and-run helped save the day. Eifert jumped on the ball at the 20 and one snap later Dalton found wide receiver A.J. Green for the second time Sunday for a touchdown, this one an 18-yarder he drilled to a leaping Green at the goal line to give the Bengals a 24-7 with 7:01 left in the third quarter.
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