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Cincinnati
running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis runs the ball
against Dallas Sunday. The Bengals dropped a 20-19 decision to the
Cowboys, a
game the Bengals needed to win. Photo courtesy of bengals.co
Cincinnati
Bengals
Cowboys
stun Bengals in last 7
minutes
CINCINNATI-
With the Paul Brown
Stadium faithful of 63,590 cheering the Chargers rout of the Steelers
on
Sunday, the Bengals tried to leap ahead of their arch-rival for the
second wild
card spot but couldn't finish off the Cowboys in the red zone or in the
second
half and blew a nine-point lead in the last seven minutes as Dan
Bailey's
40-yard field goal at the gun gave the Cowboys a 20-19 victory.
When
the dust cleared, the 7-6
Bengals remained tied with Pittsburgh for the AFC's second and last
wild card
spot and also missed a chance to pick up a game on the AFC
North-leading
Ravens.
Cowboys
wide receiver Dez Bryant,
held to two catches for 14 yards at the time, broke loose on
first-and-10 from
the Bengals 27 and Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo drilled a touchdown
pass to
Bryant running across the middle to cut the Bengals lead to 19-17 with
6:35
left.
Then
the Bengals couldn't kill the
clock. On what turned out to be their last series, it consisted of five
straight passes, the last one on third-and-five and it resulted in a
sack when
outside linebacker Anthony Spencer worked a stunt and came up the
middle
against rookie right guard Kevin Zeitler.
The
Bengals never got the ball
back. Kevin Huber, punting for only the third time on the day, hit a
50-yarder
and Romo started from his own 28 with 3:44 and two timeouts left. He
hit tight
end Jason Witten for a nine-yarder on third-and-five, and
nickel-and-dimed down
the field to set up Bailey's field goal. Ex-Cowboy Terence Newma almost
won it
for the Bengals, but an interception fell off his arm.
Running
back DeMarco Murray
converted a third-and-one on a three-yarder that put the ball on the
Bengals
35, as well a six-yarder on third-and-five from the Bengals 30. Murray
finished
with just 53 yards on 21 carries and Bryant, the hottest receiver in
the
league, finished with four catches for 50 yards and that touchdown. But
it was
enough for Romo to parlay a 74.6 passer rating into the 17th
fourth-quarter
comeback of his career.
The
newest Bengal, their own
kicker, ended up being Cincinnati's game MVP as Josh Brown made his
first four
field goals right off the couch, the last a 52-yarder that gave the
Bengals a
19-10 lead with 6:45 left in the third quarter.
But
it should have been a lot more.
On
the snap before the field goal,
the always reliable A.J. Green dropped a wide-open third down pass
across the
middle at about the Cowboys 18. He had to go to the ground, but it was
a good
enough ball and it was one that Green usually wraps up…
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the rest of the article at the
Cincinnati Bengals
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