The Cincinnati Bengals made history Thursday night and suffered a brutal loss in the process, falling 22-20 on a walk-off safety by Cameron Wake in overtime.
Even with the heroics of Giovani Bernard, who ripped off an insane touchdown run that shifted the momentum back in the Bengals' favor after a 17-3 deficit, they couldn't stop the Dolphins from tying the game in regulation and winning it in overtime.
Wake's sack of Andy Dalton capped off the miserable game for the Bengals, who blew countless opportunities to win a fun but ugly game in Miami. There was some dispute whether Dalton had gotten out of the end zone on the play, but it was reviewed by the booth and upheld.
Dalton finished with 338 yards, his fourth straight 300-yard game, but he also threw three interceptions. One was a perfect throw and not his fault on a bad Mohamed Sanu drop (plus a missed helmet-to-helmet call by the officials), but the other two were undercut "out" routes that Dalton threw off target — and one was run back 94 yards for a touchdown by Dolphins corner Brent Grimes after the Bengals were knocking on the door.
Dalton also took two red-zone sacks, and fumbled on one of them (also a Wake sack, when Andre Smith was beaten to the outside), in the first half. But he was haunted by drops, too, with at least two each from A.J. Green and Sanu. Green had a big night with a career-high 11 catches for 128 yards, and Bernard was outstanding with 104 yards from scrimmage and two scores.
But Bernard left with a rib injury and All Pro defensive tackle Geno Atkins left on a cart with a first-half right knee injury. Neither returned to the game, and the news doesn't appear to be good on Atkins, of whom Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said had "an ACL situation."
The Dolphins deserve some praise in what was a brutal October, with four straight losses coming in after a 3-0 start. The other bad news this week was the disturbing story about Jonathan Martin leaving the team amid talk of him being hazed by teammates. But Wake and a feisty defense, coupled with a solid run game — especially after Atkins left — allowed the Dolphins to even their record to .500 through eight games.
All around, though, it was a horrific Halloween nightmare for the Bengals, who were just starting to show themselves as a Super Bowl contender coming into the game. Instead, they fall to 6-3, their credentials are in doubt following such a sloppy game and they now must hold their collective breaths over the Bernard and Atkins injuries.
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via Y! Sports Blogs - Yahoo Sports http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/dolphins-beat-bengals-walk-off-safety-halloween-nightmare-041105594--nfl.html
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