Bengals squeak past Browns 23-20 in OT
CLEVELAND (AP) - Marvin Lewis wanted to play it safe. The
Cincinnati Bengals wanted more.
"We came here to play for a win," Carson Palmer said.
"Nothing else."
These Bengals have lost long enough.
After Palmer and his teammates convinced their coach to gamble
on fourth-and-11 with just over one minute left, Palmer scrambled
for 15 yards to set up Shayne Graham's 31-yard field goal on the
final play of overtime, giving Cincinnati a 23-20 victory over the
winless Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
The last-minute Bengals (3-1), whose four games have all gone
down to the wire, faced a fourth-and 11 at Cleveland's 41 with 1:04
left. Lewis was content to play for the tie, but when the Browns
called a timeout, it gave the Bengals a chance to lobby their
coach.
They made a persuasive argument.
Palmer dropped back to pass, and seeing his receivers were
covered downfield, tucked it away and ran up the middle for the
first down. Cincinnati then ran two plays to get Graham in
position, and the kicker, who had an extra point and field goal
blocked by nose tackle Shaun Rogers, booted the winner.
"Marvin was saying we're going to punt," Palmer said of his
sideline negotiation with Lewis. "I said I think we can get this.
That's why Marvin's great. He listens to people around him. Most
coaches, once they make up their mind, they make up their mind.
"That's why you love playing for a guy like Marvin. Your
opinion does matter."
Defensive end Robert Geathers returned a fumble 75 yards for a
TD for Cincinnati, which is tied with Baltimore for first in the
AFC North. The Bengals visit the Ravens next Sunday.
After three lopsided losses under first-year coach Eric Mangini,
the Browns (0-4) came in hoping to be competitive and were that and
more. They outplayed the Bengals for three quarters but came up
short and had their losing streak extended to 10 games dating to
last season.
"Nobody's happy," said quarterback Derek Anderson, who
provided a huge spark in his first start this season. "We lost.
Nobody's happy we went to overtime and played it to the last 10
seconds. That's not what we're here for."
Palmer, who rallied the Bengals to a comeback win over the Super
Bowl champion Steelers last week, finished 23 of 44 for 230 yards.
He threw two TD passes to Chad Ochocinco, who only had three
catches but made the most of them.
"The whole thing keeping me going is No. 9," Ochocinco said of
Palmer, who missed 12 games last season with an elbow injury.
"He's so confident in the huddle. The way he has been the last two
weeks is unbelievable. Especially the situations we've been in."
Browns running back Jerome Harrison, filling in for the injured
Jamal Lewis, had 121 yards on 29 tries. Joshua Cribbs had 223
return yards, but couldn't do enough to end Cleveland's losing
slide.
"There's no sugarcoating it," wide receiver Braylon Edwards
said. "You can say it's something to build on, but it hurts. To
have the wind knocked out of you at the end, it definitely hurts."
Just like last week, Palmer was at his best with the stakes at
their highest.
He completed two third-and-10 passes on Cincinnati's final
drive, hooking up on a 20-yarder to Chris Henry over the middle and
then another one to Laveranues Coles. But it was his decision to
take off and run for the game's biggest first down that will be
remembered.
If that play had backfired, the Browns would have gotten the
ball back near midfield with a chance to win and Lewis, who has the
Bengals off to their best start since 2006, would have been
second-guessed for weeks.
"It's a great call because we had nothing to lose," running
back Cedric Benson said. "It's either a tie or a loss, and a tie
is pretty much a loss anyway."
On his clutch run, Palmer ran as far as he needed and plopped
down.
"I don't want to do that anymore," he joked. "Let Cedric do
that."
Anderson, making his first start since Mangini benched Brady
Quinn, completed 26 of 48 passes for 269 yards, threw a 2-yard TD
pass to Steve Heiden and ran for a score. Rookie Mohamed Massaquoi
had eight catches for 148 yards.
As usual Anderson had some bad moments. He threw an interception
in the end zone with the Browns down 14-7, but later atoned for it
with his TD run that tied it 14-all.
"I was really happy with him," Mangini said of Anderson. "He
made a lot of nice throws."
The Bengals did nothing on offense for three quarters and then
suddenly awakened with a possible loss looming.
After gaining 156 yards in the first quarter, Cincinnati went
seven straight possessions without picking up a first down and the
Bengals found themselves trailing 20-14. Palmer then drove for what
looked to be a go-ahead score when he hit Ochocinco from 2 yards
with 1:55 left to tie it 20-20.
The Bengals were seemingly on the verge of another dramatic win,
but Graham's extra point was blocked by Rogers, who deflected a
23-yard field goal attempt in the first.
Cincinnati was forced into overtime, continuing a run of
nail-biters Palmer would like to see end soon.
"It'd be nice to go up by a couple scores and drink some
Gatorade as we take a knee at the end," he said.
NOTES: Browns WR Mike Furrey played both ways, including safety
in certain defensive packages. ... Edwards did not have a reception
for the first time in 62 career games. ... The Bengals narrowly
avoided their second tie in two seasons. They played Philadelphia
to a 13-13 draw on Nov. 16. ... Rogers has 13 career blocked field
goals and two blocked PATs.