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Photo
acquired from bengals.com
Cincinnati Bengals receiver A.J. Green run the ball against Oakland
Sunday. The Bengals rolled to a 34-10 win over the Raiders.
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Oakland gets
rude welcome at Paul Brown
bengals.com
The Carson Palmer Reunion bash Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium against the
Raiders had a couple of different entrances and exits before 56,503
that saw Palmer get lit up by a day-long Bengals pass rush to go along
with a bizarre fourth-quarter brawl that saw three players ejected.
Racing to a 24-0 halftime lead, the Bengals withstood a horrendous
third quarter and rebounded to step over their former franchise
quarterback to go to 6-5 on the season with a 34-10 victory that pulled
them even with the 6-5 Steelers.
While holding the Raiders to 83 yards in the first half, the Bengals
rolled up 289 yards and then suffered a mystifying paralysis. They
started the second half with four straight three-and-outs and ended up
with just minus-four yards in the third quarter while the Raiders cut
the lead to 24-10 with 2:21 left in the quarter when Palmer barely beat
a blitz by safety Reggie Nelson to find wide receiver Denarius Moore
beating cornerback Leon Hall down the middle for a 20-yard touchdown
pass.
But the game changed again on the first snap of the fourth quarter as
the Bengals kept their game-long heat on Palmer. SAM linebacker Manny
Lawson logged the fourth and last sack of the day and forced a fumble
that turned into middle linebacker Rey Maualuga's first fumble recovery
of the season at the Raiders 46.
Bengals running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis did the rest. In the first
half he ripped off the longest run of his career, a 48-yarder. This
time, running behind left tackle Andrew Whitworth and left guard Clint
Boling, he got his second on a 39-yarder that took him inside the
Oakland 1.
The Bengals couldn't punch it in, but Mike Nugent's 20-yard field goal
with 12:29 left in the game made it 27-10 and it was just getting
interesting.
When the Raiders were robbed of a touchdown off a fumble return because
of an inadverdant whistle, tempers flared. Whitworth didn't like the
way left end Lamarr Houston took down quarterback Andy Dalton on the
next snap when a flag for right tackle Andre Smith's false start was
supposed to stop the play.
Whitworth confronted Houston, Houston yapped back and the two went at
it in a tussle that turned into a scrum with both on the bottom. Both
Whitworth and Houston were ejected, as was Raiders defensive tackle
Tommy Kelly.
As they did all day, the Bengals had the last word. On the next snap
from his own 15, a third-and-11, Dalton (16-of-30, 210 yards, 109.0
rating for his third straight triple-digit outing), leaned back and
smoked a 48-yard completion down the middle to the sprawling wide
receiver A.J. Green. The ball put Green over 1,000 yards for the season
and gave him 111 yards on three catches for the day.
And it set up Dalton's third touchdown pass of the day, a seven-yarder
to tight end Jermaine Gresham with 3:39 left that gave Dalton a clear
win over Palmer. Palmer, coming off three straight 300-yard games,
passed for just 146 yards on 19-of-34 passing while getting hit 13
times.
For this story and more, go to Cincinnati Bengals
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