Bengals snap four-game skid
By
Chris Vogt
Lindenwald Ledger
Senior Writer
Monday, October 22, 2007
CINCINNATI — It was a must win, and they
got it.
The Cincinnati Bengals snapped their four-game
losing streak with a 38-31 comeback victory over the New York
Jets on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.
“It was a good win. This team needed a win obviously,” said
Cincinnati head coach Marvin Lewis, who endured the longest
losing skid in his five-year career. “They were under attack all
week. We button down the hatches and keep going.”
Kenny Watson rushed for a career-best 130 yards
on 31 touches and scored three times in moving the Bengals to
2-4 on the season. Said Watson, “You never know how the game is
going to go.”
“We were patient. We needed to make a couple of adjustments,”
Cincinnati quarterback Carson Palmer said after the 11th fourth
quarter comeback victory of his career. “We never faltered,
never got nervous, never freaked out. We just kept plugging.”
The Jets played sloppy in the second half in which the Bengals
took advantage of all of the mistakes that were handed to them:
Two pass interference calls on New York’s rookie cornerback, a
muffed snap that ricocheted off quarterback Chad Pennington’s
leg and a shagged punt.
The Bengals outscored the Jets 28-8 in the final
two quarters, after trailing 20-10 at the half.
Laveranues Coles had 8 catches for 133 yards and
two touchdowns for the Jets, who slipped to 1-6
“It's just not good enough, and I’m tired of
giving the same speech each week,” New York coach Eric Mangini
said. “We’re going to find out about every person in the locker
room. It should hurt deeply. It’s a matter of it’s all got to
get better.”
Despite Pennington throwing for 273 yards and three touchdowns
on 20-of-32 attempts, Coles still believed the Bengals secondary
performed better than expected — mainly in the second half.
“I
think they did a good job of mixing things up and changing
coverage in the second half,” Coles said of the Bengals taking
away the deep pass.
“They got the momentum in the second half and carried it
throughout the rest of the game. That allowed them to get the
win.” |
