Remember the old saying “It ain’t over till its over”, the Cincinnati Bengals almost had to learn that the hard way as they beat the Buffalo Bills 27-24 in Overtime. The Bengals are now 4-2 on the season, and this win marks their first road win of the season breaking the 2 game losing skid.
Cincinnati had a 24-10 fourth quarter lead over the Bills that was obliterated thanks to a little bit of work and magic from Buffalo. With a 1:08 left on the clock, Marquise Goodwin caught a pass from Thaddeus Lewis (who had his first start of the season) for a 40-yard TD tying the game. I don’t know what was crazier, that TD or going for it on 4th and 8th scoring the first of the two TDs in the fourth quarter. The Bills, who were held to just 10 points for the first three quarters thanks to a powerful Bengals D, finally figured it out. However those two touchdowns wouldn’t be enough, as Mike Nugent would kick a 43-yard FG for the win in OT.
Despite the fact the Bengals had almost lost this game to the Bills, there were a lot of good things on offense that Cincy did and that they can take advantage of down the road against other teams. Andy Dalton did get intercepted this game, but he went 26/40 with 337 yards and threw three TD passes. AJ Green had a good game with 6 catches for 103 yards and scored his first TD in 3 games. The Bengals really used their pieces all over the place. Giovanni Bernard keeps proving that he was a steal at the draft. While he only rushed for 28 yards on 15 attempts, he had 72 yards receiving.
This is a good Bengals team that just might be able to keep up with the big boys and dispatch the not so big boys – although sometimes a little bit of drama is involved. The 4-2 Bengals will face the 4-2 Lions in Detroit in the battle of the “big cats” and only one team will come on top. If Calvin Johnson isn’t available for the game, the Bengals could be very dominant. Megatron did play today for the Lions victory against the Browns, but they weren’t as effective. Should be a fun game to watch.
Next week is only week 7, but that is 7 out of 16 games for the Bengals and thoughts about the playoffs are starting to come into the fold. The Bengals will face the Lions, Jets, Dolphins, Ravens and Browns before their bye week on week 12. By that point they should know if they are playoff contenders or not. Certainly the Cincy jungle is hoping for a deep playoff run.
Happy Thanksgiving to all our Canadian readers. Enjoy the turkey!
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