Sunday’s AFC North showdown against the Ravens at Paul Brown Stadium held true to the form of defense and line play when Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton bulled in from a very long one yard out on a fourth-down sneak with 57 seconds left to give the Bengals a 27-24 victory before 57,711 amazed ones.
The Bengals defense then forced three incompletions from Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco and drew an offensive pass interference penalty on wide receiver Steve Smith Sr., working against safety George Iloka to wipe out an 80-yard touchdown and give the 4-2-1 Bengals a sweep of the 5-3 Ravens, first place in the North and control of the division.
Dalton’s plunge snuck the Bengals back to the top of the North after a three-game winless streak and marked his eighth fourth-quarter comeback and 12th game-winning drive.
And, the most thrilling finish of their unbeaten streak at PBS that has now reached 13 games.
Dalton’s 53-yard bomb to leaping wide receiver Mohamed Sanu at the Ravens 27 on on third-and-10 made it all possible. Ejected from the pocket and down to his play, Dalton whipped it deep and Sanu looked, stopped, and came back for the ball. It gave Sanu his second 100-yard day in three weeks with five catches for 125 yards as Dalton finished with a 89.3 passer rating. His 21 of 28 passing for 266 yards and two sneak TDs negated his interception.
After quick throws of 13 to wide receiver Greg Little and six to running back Jeremy Hill got them close enough for the winning TD, Dalton followed rookie center Russell Bodine into the end zone when he checked to the call after the Ravens responded to the Bengals spreading the field with four receivers.
They survived two crushing turnovers on back-to-back fourth-quarter possessions and various threats from Flacco. But in the end the defense held Flacco to a 43.1 passer rating and just 195 yards passing and picked him off twice with no TDs, giving him more than twice as many picks (11) than TDs (five) in his career at PBS.
Ravens running back Justin Forsett came into the game with an NFL-best 5.8 yards per carry, but had four Sunday (17-for-68) as the Ravens finished with 107 yards on 26 carries, a 4.1 workman-like effort for a Bengals defense that came in giving up 4.9.
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