[ Blue Man Sings The Whites ]

Week 4 rolls around, as Week 4 has a habit of doing, and it's our second real crunch match of the season. In actual fact, it's Crunch Match II - Judgement Day, because it's a trip to Baltimore to face the Ravens, currently atop our division by virtue of the tie-breaker they won over us in Week 1. Our offence has come to life in the two games since, although our defence has fallen away. My scout has an explanation for the former, at least:

"Baltimore's biggest asset is a defence with no obvious weaknesses. They're average at right linebacker, but it's still tough to run that side because RE Micheal McCrary is a beast. The strong safety isn't up to the standards of the rest of the secondary, but good luck finding patterns that you're sure a strong safety will end up covering one-on-one..."

I'll find a way. So, how do we move the ball on them, then?

"Well, when there's no soft spot to pick on, we're just going to have to play to our strengths and make them worry about finding a way of stopping it."

We tried that three weeks ago and got clobbered, remember?

"Not my problem, boss. Looking at the offence, I've no idea why they struggled so much in the first game."

This is not improving my mood any.

"It's a harsh and painful world. The rookie quarterback, Pierre Shelton, has a sniper-rifle arm, a great offensive line and a better-than-decent trio of targets in Johnson, tight-end Todd Heap and Travis Taylor, who's the deep threat. Jamal Lewis you know all about, he's a load to bring down, but if he gets open ground in front of him he's enough pace to be a problem, too."

My main concern, actually, is that Akili Smith might turn gun-shy in the face of an up-for-it crowd and a defence that picked him off three times and pressured him all afternoon in that last game. Nonetheless, when we win the toss, as usual I elect to receive the kick, hoping against hope for a good first drive that'll put the Ravens on the back foot and take the fans out of the equation...

It's a bruiser, as well. Partly to protect Akili, but mostly as a statement of intent, we start working hard to establish the run and learn very early that no matter what, you -have- to get a blocker onto Ray Lewis in the run-game. We have limited success on the ground, but it's success all the same and we stick doggedly to our guns, throwing the odd safe little pass into the mix and driving slowly down the field 'till we face a 3^rd and 1 on the Baltimore 26. We come out with 2 tight-ends in the I-formation, absolutely everyone bites on the play-fake and Smith finds his favourite target, tight end Daniel Graham, down the seam for the opening score. Graham was, of course, being single-covered by the strong safety - ha, told you I could do it. ;)

The defence steps up, and holds Baltimore to a single first-down, but we get a little cocky on our next possession and temporarily forget how ferocious the Ravens' pass-rush is. Akili Smith gets sacked on consecutive playsto go from 1^st and 10 on our 33 to 4^th and 23 at our 20. We get a bit of a break, though, when Baltimore's free safety, Ed Reed, dislocates an elbow trying to tackle Daniel Graham... there may be a chance to throw deep on this team, now, assuming they ever give Akili the time to do it. The punt's a good one, the return's better, and from our 45 the Ravens drive the short field, riding Jamal Lewis all the way inside our 10 before we hold, Matt Stover slots the chip-shot, and there's plenty left in this game yet. CIN 7-3 BAL.

Obviously having seen film of Jon Crane's big return last week, Baltimore kick away from him... and Marquise Reeves shoots through the middle of their defence like greased lighting before they finally get him down inside Raven territory and we go back to work. On 2^nd and 3 at the Baltimore 41, we get the blocking absolutely right - Dan Graham seals Peter Boulware inside and Corey Dillon slides off the right tackle, outruns the strong safety to the outside and is gone, finally being knocked out of bounds by FS Alvin Porter at the 4. It'd be rude to give the touchdown to anyone else after that effort, and 2 smashes up the middle by Dillon later we're up 14-3.

It had to come sooner or later, and it's now that my secondary have their traditional one-series mental meltdown. 4 plays, 80 yards, Shelton hitting Johnson posting in for the 26-yard score. 14-10, just under two minutes to play in the half, and to add injury to insult, our backup strong safety Chad Cota suffers his second season-ender in two years - a torn rotator cuff, this time out. Fantastic. Aric Morris' cover is now OVR 61 rookie Hugh Langham. See how excited I am by this news.

It looks like our last drive of the half is going to end before it starts, when Jim Kleinsasser drops a simple catch and Akili Smith is forced to throw the ball away on 2^nd down. On 3^rd and 10, Akili rolls right and throws left, always a risky proposition, but just for a change it's a Bengal who gets on the end of it this time, Peter Warrick for a 23-yard gain. Laughing in the face of the risk to the quarterback's life and limb, we come out in a 4-wide spread, Akili spots a linebacker trying to cover Willie Jackson and guns the ball in there, Jackson eventually dancing out of bounds at the Baltimore 23, 35 ticks left. The last 4WR set was so much fun, we go for another, motioning rookie Jason Harris across to make it trips left. Peter Warrick takes his corner with him on a crossing-route, putting all four wideouts and almost every defender onto that left side... leaving just the strong safety all on his lonesome trying to decide whether to come up and stop the run that Akili Smith is threatening to make on the rollout, or to drop back and cover Corey Dillon, who's snuck unnoticed into the flat then taken off down the right sideline. In the end, the poor goon takes a step up toward the line of scrimmage just as Smith floats a beautiful touch-pass over his head and finds Dillon in his attempt to set a new world record for the Most Stupidly Wide-Open Man In History - there's literally not a Raven within ten yards in any direction as he takes the catch and skips over the goal-line. That's shut the crowd up. Heh heh heh. Half-time, CIN 21-10 BAL.

-

I'm pretty confident that this one's in the bag if we can avoid turnovers in the second half. One series aside, our defence has played well, and our offence has been sporadic but effective. All that said, I'm just starting to wonder if it's not going to be our day when Pierre Shelton launches a bomb toward Travis Taylor, Jon Crane gets in front of the receiver to bat it down but Jamal Lewis trailing behind the play makes a shoestring catch a milimetre from the sideline, getting out at our 42. That's pretty much as far as they get, though, Brian Simmons hammering Lewis inches from converting a third-and-short, and Matt Stover missing the long field-goal wide right.

We're looking to chew up the clock and protect the ball, and that means the run and lots of it. 7 straight rushes batter the increasingly tired Baltimore defence, then we catch them flat-footed with a play-pass, backup tight end Matt Schobel continuing his good year so far with a 16-yard grab to the Raven 2-yard line. As time runs out in the 3^rd quarter, Lorenzo Neal, who's been a bit of a forgotten man in the offence this year, gets his first touchdown of the season to give us daylight. CIN 28-10 BAL.

The defence are keen to wrap up a second-half shutout, and they're playing well enough that it's a real possibility. The score has effectively taken Jamal Lewis out of the game, so now we can concentrate on pressuring the rookie quarterback and stopping the pass. Baltimore's last chance effectively dies with a play made by all three of my defensive rookie starters... Pierre Shelton feels defensive end Roderick Reed getting close, and tries to force the ball in to Todd Heap despite good coverage from outside linebacker Aaron Hall. Hall gets his hand in front, tips the ball, and Jonathon Crane comes off his corner to scoop up the interception. We can't punch it in, Corey Dillon spilling his first fumble of the year and allowing the Ravens to recover at their 17, but Baltimore have had one decent drive all day and they're not about to double their total now, stalling out when Takeo Spikes cuts down Jamal Lewis behind the line on a 4^th and 2 at our 39. The game's won, and rather than risk Akili Smith or Corey Dillon against Baltimore's big-hitting linebackers, Kitna and Adam Smith go in to see out the last couple of offensive series. Akili and Corey have done the job, anyway, and we've lain a ghost to rest. Final score CIN 28-10 BAL, we move to 3-1 and sole possession of the lead in the AFC North, half a game in front of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who've already had their bye-week.

Not a bad week’s work by anyone’s standards. :)

...

Week 5 sees us back home at Paul Brown, entertaining the Atlanta Falcons. We'd needed a late comeback to beat them in pre-season, a game that saw us absolutely gouged by Atlanta's passing attack. That, though, was before the reconstruction of our secondary and, of course, pre-season means nothing.

"First off, pre-season means nothing."

I just said that.

"Well, it's worth repeating. The Falcon's defence is very average. You'll face worse this season, but you'll face a lot better, too. Like Denver, their top 2 corners - particularly Ray Buchanan - are great, but there's a very steep drop-off once you start looking at safeties and nickel-backs. You should have success with the run, you're facing a so-so linebacker corps and defensive line. Keep an eye out for rookie right end Bobby Reeves, though, he's quick and strong and ferocious in the tackle."

Yeah, yeah. Whatever. And on offence?

"TJ Duckett is out with an ankle injury, so the only healthy halfback Atlanta have left is Warrick Dunn. Watch out. Dunn's by far the quickest running-back you've faced this year, and he's their most reliable receiving target, too. He's too pacy for a linebacker to cover, and too strong for a corner. Give him half a chance and he'll burn you."

Alright, I get the message, God, no need to rattle on about it...

"Basically, the Falcon's receiving unit is Dunn and the tight end, Alge Crumpler. The wideouts start off poor and go downhill from there. Rookie Levi Williams is like a rocket – mostly because big flaming metal cylinders aren’t very good at catching the ball, either. The offensive line is mediocre at best.”

Groovy. Anyone else on the offensive side of the ball I need to know about?

“Well, apparently the quarterback is some guy called Vick. I’ve never heard of him, but by all accounts he’s pretty useful.”

Hardy ha-ha.

And away we go. The first drive is the Corey Dillon Show – Atlanta just look completely unable to deal with him, and we ride that as long as we possibly can. Camped at the Falcon 16, Corey comes off the left tackle at a decent fraction of light-speed, picks up some blocking, and makes tracks for the corner of the endzone. The free safety sees the danger and comes sprinting across on an intercept course. You can see it in Dillon’s eyes as he comes over all Top Gun... “I’ll just throw on the brakes...” he thinks, “...and he’ll fly right by.” Dillon stops dead, and jukes inside the desperately flailing arm of the safety. “OLÉ!” shout the crowd, as the poor chump disappears toward the cheerleaders and Corey cuts back to trot in untouched for the game’s first score. Our defence take a breath, and brace themselves to deal with the Vick onslaught.

It never comes. It doesn’t have to. Simple hand-off to Warrick Dunn up the middle, and the little swine tiptoes through every player at the heart of my defence – Spikes, Harris, Simmons, Thompson, Sam Adams, the lot – races past a couple of safeties who look amazed he’s made it that far and disappears in a small scarlet-and-black blur for 71 yards. The fans, the players, the coaches all have exactly the same expression – “What the hell just happened?” ATL 7-7 CIN.

The Atlanta coaches have obviously been giving a few of their players a refresher-course in Basic Tackling during the thirty seconds or so they were off the pitch, and we go 3-and-out. Damn.

Damn is right. It’s another of those drives, becoming frustratingly common this season, where we constantly look like we’re about to stop the Falcons without ever lowering ourselves to the mundane task of actually doing it. We’re having terrible trouble stopping Alge Crumpler, and added to Vick’s seeming ability to throw perfectly no matter how hard he’s hit we’ve got a major problem on our hands. Crumpler, who else, takes the catch on third down, when else, and we’re at the bottom of a bit of a hole... ATL 14-7 CIN.

And very quickly, it starts to look like a lot of a hole, with us facing a 3^rd and 20 at our own 30-yard-line. “When the going gets tough,” as the saying has it in Bengalville, “the tough chuck the ball at the tight end.” Daniel Graham’s been having a less high-profile season than last year, when he almost carried the receiving unit on his own at times, but that’s only because his supporting cast has improved so much. All the same, it feels like every single catch he’s made has been a vital one, and none more so than this, outmuscling the coverage to bring down Akili’s deep ball – it’s a pickup of 26, it’s a first down, and it’s a second wind for our offence. Atlanta had their chance to stop us, they blew it and they don’t get another – the 14^th play of a crisp drive finds veteran wide receiver Willie Jackson dragging across the front of the endzone, and finds us levelling the score at 14.

The offence is back in the groove, but our defence still looks horribly off-balance. Dunn and Crumpler are just killing us, and the drive only stalls when a wicked hit from left end Justin Smith knocks the air out of Mike Vick and out of the Atlanta offence. Jay Feely slots the short field-goal and we’re behind yet again – down by three with just over a minute to play.

There’s still time to get at least to parity by the break. 1^st down, Akili Smith drops back, looks for Peter Warrick on the post... and doesn’t see the linebacker closing in ‘till way too late. Down he goes... and down he stays. Christ. “Head injury” is rarely good news... and neither is seeing your starting quarterback leaving the game on a stretcher. We run out the clock, and head for the locker-room, concerned but not yet panicking. There’ll be plenty of time for that later. Half-time, ATL 17-14 CIN.

-

The report comes back from the medical staff – Akili’s pinched a nerve. I breathe again – he’s done for today, but it’s not anywhere near as serious as it might have been. Now I can stop worrying about my quarterback, I can start worrying about the game - we need something to happen on defence, and we need it to happen right now. Try Something Different is the best I can come up with. I’m not scared of the receivers beating us deep, but I am scared of Vick or Dunn getting space to get outside us. So. What we laughingly call the plan for the second half is to get up in the receivers’ faces, double-cover the fricking tight end so the quarterback’s got no-one to go to, then throw blitzers off the edge every chance we get and have a shot at smacking Vick into the middle of next week. It’s got to be worth a try, we can hardly do worse than we are at the moment.

And, blimey if it doesn’t work – we don’t quite get to Vick, but the sudden lack of space to manoeuvre is obviously making him jumpy, and there’s no longer space for Warrick Dunn to slash into... the sudden speed-bump they seem to have hit brings the crowd back into it, and three-and-out go Atlanta. Nice.

 Jon Kitna’s been solid as a rock every time we’ve had to call his number, but this is as tough a situation as we’ve dropped him into. On a 3^rd and 2, seeing nothing open he takes off... although in this case, “takes off” might be the wrong term. It’s more like he taxis along the ground, reeeeeeeaaallly sloooooooooowly, rolling out to his left. It seems to take about half an hour, but at some point he gets the first down and more, sliding down for a pickup of 11. We don’t give the Falcons any opportunity to get the initiative back, pounding them with Corey Dillon and Adam Smith, then the Bengalville faithful rise up as one as Kitna hits Peter Warrick on a deep hitch for 17 yards and the go-ahead score. ATL 17-21 CIN.

Vick’s getting hit, and he really doesn’t like it. He manages to squeeze one 1^st down in to Crumpler, but that’s his lot as our defence shuts like a steel trap and forces Atlanta to kick away again. We’re in clock-eating mode, now, because the Falcons haven’t yet had the Big Play that every team that visits us seems to get allocated, and I’ve no intention of letting them get back into it now we’ve got our noses in front. The defensive line seem to be tiring, yards are once again coming easily on the ground, and it’s Corey Dillon who puts the tin lid on the drive, taking the ball in the flat and running over a couple of DBs on his way to a 13-yard touchdown. ATL 17-28 CIN.

Our defence really seems to have Atlanta’s number, now. As the third quarter runs out, they’re forced to punt yet again, and once again we get on the drive. Just as it looks like we’re about to nail the score that’ll finish Dan Reeves’ boys off good and proper, we trip ourselves up, the normally sure-handed Jim Kleinsasser spilling a fumble 7 yards from the goal-line. Atlanta recover and, with tiresome predictability, go 93 yards in 1 play, the receiver outrunning my entire defence the length of the field. Now, this’d annoy the hell out of me if the scorer was, say, Warrick “SPD 91” Dunn, or Levi “SPD 98” Williams... but I’d understand it. Who is it, then, who tacks 88 yards-after-catch onto a 5-yard pass? Mack Strong. Mack flippin’ Strong. Mack “The Fullback” Strong. Someone explain this to me. Explain how this is possible, because I don’t understand it. Anyway, another defensive-back coach goes onto the barbeque, Atlanta tack on the 2-point, of course they do, and we get back on with the game. ATL 25-28 CIN.

Yeah, well. You can have all the freak plays you like, chum, it ain’t going to matter if you can’t stop the run. To taunt the Falcons still further, I send the rookies out to wrap the game up. Adam Smith carries the load and does the damage – 8 carries for 51 yards – and Marquise Reeves gets the glory, using that ridiculous speed of his to outrun the entire Falcon defence outside, then slant out to the goal-line as time expires for an 18-yard TD, his first in the NFL. And that’s game over – final score ATL 25-35 CIN, our record now a very healthy 4-1. The Bengal Bandwagon is now officially rolling, my advice is to hop on while you can... ;)

...

“I warned you about Warrick Dunn.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What’ve you got for me on the Titans?

“Well, they’re pretty injury-riddled, but that means nothing, they always are. This is a very strong offence – they’re built around Eddie George, who’s the league’s leading rusher right now and as fit as he’s ever been. You can’t afford to key on him, though, because as a quarterback Steve McNair’s got the lot – he’s strong, he’s quick, he’s got a great arm and he’s got a terrific group of receivers around him. The two rookies, Terrell Sears and Derrick Richardson, have good burst and terrific hands. The third and fourth wideouts, Derrick Mason and Kevin Dyson, have all that and speed too. If by some miracle you manage to cover all of those, there’s Erron Kinney and Frank Wycheck, who’re as good a pair of tight ends as any in the league.”

Except Daniel Graham and Matt Schobel, obviously.

“Obviously.”

So, we were getting to the good news? There is good news, isn’t there?

“Oh, there’s good news – their offensive line’s full of holes. You’ll get your chance to make some plays on McNair, and the run-blocking’s not all it might be. You’d better take the opportunities when they’re there, though, because if you give them time, this team will kill you. More good news – the secondary’s banged-up. So long as you’re not throwing at Samari Rolle, and you keep away from the strong safety, you should find plenty of space. Assuming you get the ball away at all – Jevon Kearse and Kevin Carter are as good a pair of ends as any in the league.”

Whoa, déjà vu...

“Shut your face.”

As the long-standing reader may remember, last year’s game against Tennessee was an absolute thriller, with Akili Smith leading us out of the wilderness to the tune of 28 unanswered points, bringing us back from absolutely nowhere to win the game 35-28. Here’s hoping that this game’s a bit less demanding on the local cardiac ward...

As usual, we win the toss, as usual, we receive the kick and, as usual, we lead off with an awful lot of Corey Dillon. We’ve identified the interior of the Titan’s defensive line and their outside linebackers as weak links, and that’s where we concentrate our efforts, working the ball slowly downfield. On 2nd and long at the Tennessee 42, Akili draws in the linebackers with his Oh-Look-I’m-Just-A-Defenseless-Quarterback-Please-Sack-Me routine, then pops the ball over the heads of the bloodthirsty blitzers to Corey, who brushes off a safety and breaks away for a pickup of 22, and three plays later it’s that man again, easing through the gap between our two blocking tight-ends and snaking untouched into the endzone from 8 yards out. TEN 0-7 CIN.

The Titans have plainly come out with the same idea that we did, and want to run outside where they had success against us last year. What they don’t take into account is that we’ve had a bit of an upgrade on the perimeter of our defence... Eddie George, meet Jonathon Crane. WHACK! Eddie stumbles back into the huddle not remembering much about his 2-yard loss, and 2 passes batted by our d-line later, Tennessee are having to put up a punt... and not a good punt, either, the ball sailing cheerfully out of bounds still inside the Titans’ half. Whoops.

The way our offence is playing this year, you really, really can’t afford to give us a short field. Dillon does the dirty work softening the defence up, then Akili Smith finishes them off with a 1-2 punch, to Daniel Graham on a sharp out to the left to give us 1st and goal, then to Chad Johnson on the out the other way to give us a 14-point lead. Sweet.

Tennessee can see they’re about to get left in the dirt, and get their groove on, bullying George up the gut and running a series of quick routes that don’t give us time to get any pressure on the quarterback. On 2nd and 10 at our 32, McNair aims to float the ball over the defence to Derrick Richardson on a corner-pattern, but doesn’t manage to get the flight quite right, and Willie Middlebrooks nips in front to pick the ball off at full stretch. Heh heh heh. Not-Enough-Air McNair, as he’s known round here...

It’s not our usual game – partly because we don’t get many turnovers, admittedly – but we go for the dagger-to-the-heart play first snap after the interception, Chad Johnson on a straightforward fly-pattern, far too quick for the corner on his side to cover. The ball’s just a touch underthrown, and the safeties get across to tackle Chad before he can break away for the score, but it’s still a big 33-yard gain taking us deep into Titan territory. Two plays later, there’s a bit of a nasty moment when Corey Dillon, the man who’s at least 50% of my offence, comes off the field limping, leaving us to face a 3rd and 6 without his services – we get a break, though, when Tennessee deign Jim Kleinsasser beneath their notice when he’s sneaking downfield from the fullback spot... Akili guns it in to him, and the big galoot wanders all the way to the 6, a 30-yard gain, before the collective efforts of the Titans’ secondary, linebackers, waterboys, mascots and other assorted close friends can bring him down. A quick toss to Daniel Graham takes us to the 1-inch line, and from there rookie halfback Adam Smith puts us as far ahead as we’ve been of anyone, at all, in history, ever. TEN 0-21 CIN, 2:41 to play in the 1st half. We can't shut this team out, can we?

No, of course we can’t. Scary-Bloke-With-The-‘Tache  - although I see in last week’s game against Pittsburgh that it’s a proper full-on beard these days, rather than the Freddie-Mercury, Blue-Oyster-Club effort that he had before... Shame. Shame. But I digress – Scary-Bloke-Who-Until-Recently-Had-A-‘Tache has been giving it the shouty-shouty on the sidelines, his players come out looking terrified and promptly attempt to placate him by going 66 yards in 6 plays, Frank Wycheck taking a 20-yard catch to cut the lead to 14, with a minute and a half left before the break. Time to get the gap back up a bit, surely?

No, there isn’t, and don’t call me Surely. We go 3-and-out at the most mind-meltingly inconvenient time possible, punt the thing away and get a visit from our old friend, the Unable To Cover Kick Returns Fairy. We finally ride Derrick Mason down at our 31, and this time it only takes 4 plays to score, Wycheck again getting on the end of the TD lob, and from out of nowhere suddenly we’ve got a game on. TEN 14-21 CIN, 59 seconds to play.

I’m trying not to think about the fact that the Titans were 21 points up just before the half when we started our comeback last year. Because we’re not at home to Mr. Freaky Coincidence.

Just to make the game that little bit more interesting, we gamely stick to the plan of trying to get another score before the half. And just to be even more more interesting, Akili Smith aims for Peter Warrick over the middle but neglects to check if, for example, there’s a safety standing smack in his throwing lane. It gets picked off, of course it does, and taken back to our 33. The only saving grace and mild surprise is that they can’t turn it into 7, instead having to settle for a long Nedney field-goal. That’s enough for me, and off we come to the background of a slightly restless Bengalville crowd... half-time, TEN 17-21 CIN.

-

We trot out for the second half after a bit of a crisis meeting in the locker-room, and once again are greeted by a wave of crowd noise as the Cincinnati fans try and urge us on when they could easily have gotten on our backs.

Allllllrighty then...

Their offence, blazing hot in the 2^nd quarter, seems to have cooled a bit during the break with help, it has to be said, from a tweaked defensive scheme that sees us less aggressive on the blitz and relying on our 3-man defensive line to bring the pressure while our linebackers hang back to sweep up wherever they’re needed. Lamont Thompson, our 2^nd-year free safety who’s been having a quietly outstanding year, steps up to take Eddie George to the deck a yard shy on 3^rd and short, and God, does it make a difference to have a punt returner who doesn’t spill the rock if there’s a defender within fifteen yards of him. Jon Crane brings the ball to halfway, giving us tremendous field-position to start our first drive of the second half.

It’s still not a good idea to give us a head-start on our way to the endzone, and this drive is the Danny ‘N’ Corey Show, Graham receiving for half the yards and Dillon rushing for the rest, including his bounce outside for a 2-yard score that’s surely the momentum-killer. TEN 17-28 CIN.

They still can’t get the ball moving – but that’s okay, because suddenly neither can we. The third quarter peters out with both teams playing some pretty scruffy football and achieving a whole lot of not-very-much. It’s getting toward do-or-die time for the Titans and, like so many teams who’ve visited the Paul Brown Stadium before them, Tennessee do. It’s a methodical drive, McNair never looking for the big play, just making sure he hits the open man – and with a receiving corps as good as the one he’s playing with, there’s always an open man – and marching down the field. Eddie George finishes the job from close-range, then they line up for 2 in a 4-wide spread... and as my backs shuffle out to cover, George takes the draw up the middle for the conversion. Hey... that’s our routine! 3:40 to play and it’s getting too close for comfort, TEN 25-28 CIN.

Tennessee haven’t really gotten to grips with our running game all day, though, and it completely falls apart for them just when they need the defence to be at its toughest. To the delight of the Bengalville faithful, 3 Corey Dillon runs pick up 34 yards and take us to the 2-minute warning, then one more 1^st down puts us in a position to take a couple of knees and put this one to bed – Dillon ends the day with 22 carries for 143 yards (that’s 6.5 yards a carry, average fans!), a brace of scores and NFL Offensive Player Of The Week honours – the first time this season a Bengal has bagged the award. We’ve survived a very nasty little wobble, we’ve put a torpedo into Tennessee’s playoff challenge for the second year in succession and we’ve gone a full game and a half clear atop the division... Final score, TEN 25-28 CIN.

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(c) daniel roe 2003