Coming off a week 4 loss to the Cleveland Browns, the Cincinnati Bengals had to face one of the toughest teams out there – the perennially strong New England Patriots. Lead by QB great Tom Brady, the Patriots came to Cincy looking to get their fifth straight win of the season. The Bengals had a different idea looking for their third win of the season and hoping that their defense could prove to the world why the are one of the best defenses around.
This game was far from an offensive explosion – the Bengals and Patriots could only muster a field goal each in the first half, making it a 3-3 tie. The Bengals would get another field goal in the third quarter and the Patriots would respond in kind in the fourth quarter. There was only one touchdown scored during the entire game and that was a Benjarvus Green-Ellis rushing TD scored in the fourth quarter. Doing the math would indicate the Cincinnati Bengals beat the New England Patriots, 13-6.
It was a nail-biter until the very end, but the Bengals defense was lights out from start to finish. The Patriots only had 82 rushing yards in the entire game, Brady was only held 166 yards and even crazier stat is the patriots were 1-12 on third downs. The end of the game was ridiculous as almost the entire Patriots drive was covered in a downpour right until the end where it cleared up. Brady made one last-ditch effort throw to the end zone, but Adam Jones picked it off and that ended the game.
Andy Dalton was intercepted once and didn’t throw a TD pass for the second straight game – he would go 20/27 with 212 yards. Dalton wasn’t the only QB in this game without a TD pass, however. Yes that’s right, Brady’s TD streak is now over thanks to the Bengals and their top-notch defense. It’s only fitting that the Bengals ended the streak seeing as how the streak started against the Bengals.
The defense stole the show on Sunday. They were fantastic, minus a few late game penalties that could have lead to a Patriots win, however. Mike Zimmer is a defensive genius; the Bengals need to find a way to keep this guy on the team, because losing him would be a hard loss to recover from. Hypothetically, if the Bengals season doesn’t end the way they want, the Bengals could technically let go of Marvin Lewis and let Zimmer become a head coach, because many teams could go after him after the season is over. Of course this is all hypothetical.
Giovanny Bernard is becoming a steal from the draft. Though the team finished with only 62 yards on the ground, he was effective during the game. If not for his fourth quarter fumble it would have been a good day. AJ Green would not score a touchdown during this game, bud did have five receptions and 61 yards. Remember, this was a defensive game on both sides. The Patriots D showed up too, it’s just that Bengals were just that much better.
The Bengals are now 3-0 at home, which is fantastic. All they need to do is find out how to win on the road, although they should have beaten the Bears in week one. Beating the Patriots like this should be an eye opener for the rest of the league; the teams that will face the Bengals this year have to be careful, because this D makes it hard to score.
Feel Free to leave comments below. You can follow me on twitter @NVincelli, and follow the site as well – @lastwordonsport.
Interested in writing for LastWordOnSports? Find more info at our “Join Our Team” page.
Football fans…check out our two partnered NFL podcasts – Thursday Night Tailgate Radio and Overtime Ireland. Both shows bring you interesting commentary, critical analysis and fantastic guests including former and current NFL players, coaches and personalities.
