The Bengals’ defense built the franchise record of 11 straight home victories, but Carolina and remarkable quarterback Cam Newton shattered it with a mind-blowing 37-37 tie on 27 second-half points as Cincinnati kicker Mike Nugent pushed a 36-yard field goal wide right at the overtime gun in one of the wildest Paul Brown Stadium games ever.
It was Nugent’s first miss in four overtime kicks during his ten seasons in the NFL on his shortest attempt. It’s only the second Bengals tie in the nearly four decades of overtime and the first since a 13-13 PBS standoff with the Eagles in 2008.
With 2:19 left in overtime Andy Dalton drove the Bengals from his own 20 to the Panthers 16 for what looked to be his 12th game-winning drive in the fourth quarter and overtime. First he converted a third-and-three to wide receiver Mohamed Sanu for Sanu’s career-high 10th catch and then followed it up with a 24-yard throw to rookie wide receiver James Wright on a crossing route to the right sideline for his first NFL catch. The ball moved to the 16 when the Panthers were called for roughing Dalton.
Panthers quarterback Cam Newton was all over the place in the OT as he became the second straight 100-yard rusher against a Bengals defense (102) that allowed just one last year. They were also crushed by 13 penalties for 119 yards.
Leading 37-34 with 8:35 left in the OT, the Bengals needed a stop for the win. But like what happened the entire second half, they couldn’t get it.
The Panthers got a life on third-and-10 when Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict was called for illegal contact, and Newton then ran a zone read for 12 yards to the Bengals 27. Cornerback Adam Jones defended a jump ball in the end zone to wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery and on third down he teamed with Burfict to stop wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin a yard shy of the first down and set up Graham Gano’s 36-yard field goal with 2:19 left in overtime.
The Bengals drew first blood in overtime when they won the toss. Dalton, solid when he had to be on 33 of 43 passing for 323 yards, kept that first drive going on third-and-one when he scrambled out of the pocket. Then Sanu, racking up a career-high in catches and yards (120), picked up a first down with a throw on the sideline for 15 yards. Then Dalton quarterback sneaked on third-and-one to get the first down at the Panthers 24.
Then when running back Giovani Bernard lost two yards up the middle, Dalton was looking at third-and-seven from the Panthers 21 and he got sacked for the first time in the game. It looked to be a coverage sack with five receivers split wide.
Nugent then hammered a 42-yard field goal with 8:35 left in overtime to make it 37-34 and hand it over to the defense.
With 2:16 left in regulation, Newton drove the Panthers from his 20 to Graham Gano’s tying 44-yard field goal as regulation ended. Newton converted a fourth-and-two and got a juggling nine-yard catch over the middle from rookie wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin with 23 seconds left to put them in field-goal range.
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