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Week 5 Game Recap: Cincinnati Bengals 22, Dallas Cowboys 31
What you need to know
| Cincinnati Bengals |
The Bengals got off to a shaky start, and the Cowboys jumped to an early 17-0 lead. The game changed in the second half, though, as Carson Palmer started clicking with his receivers and a fired up Bengal defense put the screws on the Cowboys attack. A fourth quarter offensive surge by the Bengals put the outcome in doubt, but a late Dallas touchdown sealed the Bengals' fate.
QB Carson Palmer threw an INT on the first play from scrimmage, and he looked shaky and out of synch with his receivers in the early going. After halftime, Palmer and his teammates played with more confidence, and the Bengals dominated at times on both sides of the ball. The second of two Carson to T.J. Houshmandzadeh TD passes brought the Bengals to the brink of a tie, but a failed two point conversion gave the Cowboys an emotional lift, and the Bengals did not score again.
RB Chris Perry ran hard and was pretty involved in the passing game, but he finished with modest totals. Perry's fourth quarter fumble cost his team a chance to take the lead, and the Cowboys scored two plays later to retake control of the game. RB Cedric Benson made his Bengals debut and took on a decent workload for a player who was signed by the team only four days before.
WR Chad Johnson was invisible for much of this game and seemed to have communication problems with Palmer at one point in the third quarter. WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh was Palmer's favorite target and scored his two receiving TDs in the second half. WR Antonio Chatman was quite busy and finished with the same number of catches as Houshmandzadeh. WR Chris Henry was active for this game and played, but apparently he did not figure into the game plan (zero targets).
PK Shayne Graham was perfect, KR Glenn Holt had a couple of long kickoff returns, and the Bengal special teams had a very solid day all around. The Bengal defense gave up two long TD drives early in the game, but thereafter they shut down the Cowboys attack until Terrell Owens broke loose for his long TD catch in the fourth quarter.
| Dallas Cowboys |
The Cowboys offense was clicking early, but after jumping out to a big early lead, the entire team seemed to go flat. The offense was held scoreless for more than thirty minutes while the Bengals slowly climbed back into contention. The Cowboys committed two turnovers and also gave up a couple of long kickoff returns, but the offense came back to life in the fourth quarter and scored two TDs to clinch the win.
QB Tony Romo turned the ball over twice and had less than 100 passing yards going into the fourth quarter. He threw two late scoring passes to finish with a solid bottom line, but his performance was spotty overall.
RB Marion Barber had a couple of 16 yard runs, but was otherwise held fairly well in check by the Bengal front seven. RB Felix Jones broke loose for a 33 yard TD on his first carry and finished with 100+ yards total offense on only ten touches.
TE Jason Witten was by far the most targeted Cowboys receiver. He pulled down a second quarter TD reception that gave the Cowboys a 17-0 lead. WR Terrell Owens was targeted only three times in this game but had the long TD catch to make his fantasy owners a little happier. Miles Austin whiffed on the only pass thrown his way, but Patrick Crayton caught the deflection for the game clinching TD.
PK Nick Folk was solid as usual, but overall the Cowboys special teams did not have a great day, as they could not break off any long returns, and also allowed an onside kick to be recovered by the Bengals in the fourth quarter when the game was very much in doubt. The Dallas defense played well in the first half, but they had trouble stopping the Bengal pass attack in the second half.
What you ought to know
| QB Carson Palmer, Pass: 23 - 39 - 217 - 2 TD / 1 INT |
Palmer's elbow injury has kept him from practicing the last two weeks, and the lack of work showed in the first half. Palmer looked a little rusty, and at times he didn't seem to be on the same page with his receivers. Palmer came to life after halftime, completing 73% of his passes in the final two quarters, and his intensity seemed to spark his team. He hurried his throws at times, especially in the first half, and for the game he had one turnover (on his first pass) and was sacked twice. Palmer got it clicking late with T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and the two combined for a pair of second half TDs. Palmer seems frustrated with Chad Johnson, and the two have little chemistry right now. At one point in the second half, Palmer became visibly upset at Johnson for running a wrong route.
| RB Chris Perry, Rush: 13 - 31 - 0, Rec: 3 - 19 - 0 (6 targets) |
Perry had a 17 yard TD run called back, and he was wide open in the end zone on another play, but Palmer overthrew him (Houshmandzadeh scored on the next play). Perry was also wide open in the flat late in the second quarter and might have taken it to the house, but Palmer threw the ball over his head. So Perry's bottom line was close to being a whole lot better. More disconcerting was Perry's fourth quarter fumble when the Bengals had momentum and were moving into position to take the lead; instead, the Cowboys scored two plays later. The fumble was Perry's fifth in five games, and that coupled with the arrival of Cedric Benson (who was pretty active in this game) could eventually hurt his workload.
| RB Cedric Benson, Rush: 10 - 30 - 0 |
Benson was surprisingly effective in his first series, considering the Bengals signed him only four days before this game. Benson carried the ball four times for five yards in the second half.
| WR Antonio Chatman, Rec: 7 - 55 - 0 (7 targets) |
Chatman played well and caught every pass thrown his way, including two on third down to keep drives alive.
| WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Rec: 7 - 85 - 2 (13 targets) |
Houshmandzadeh was by far Palmer's favorite target and caught 7 of the 13 passes thrown his way, including the two second half TD catches. Most of the passes were of the short variety, which is typical for Houshmandzadeh.
| WR Chad Johnson, Rec: 3 - 43 - 0 (6 targets) |
Johnson had two receptions of 15+ yards. Other than that, he had another quiet game, going for long stretches without being targeted. Johnson and Palmer seem to have some issues, and at one point in the third quarter, the QB became visibly upset with Johnson when he apparently ran an incorrect route.
| WR Chris Henry |
In case you were wondering, Henry was active for this game and did play, but Palmer never threw to him.
| TE Reggie Kelly, Rec: 1 - 1 - 0 (2 targets) |
Kelly started at TE along with Utecht and caught one short pass.
| TE Ben Utecht, Rec: 1 - 3 - 0 (6 targets) |
Utecht also started at TE (the Bengals opened with a 2 TE set) and had just the one reception. He had a 21 yard grab in the second quarter that would have given the Bengals a first and goal at the two, but after a Cowboys challenge, and the referee reversed the call and ruled that Utecht was out of bounds. Utecht was also targeted on a two point conversion attempt in the fourth quarter that would have tied the game, but Palmer missed him.
| TE Dan Coats, Rec: 1 - 11 - 0 (1 targets) |
Coats caught the only pass thrown his way.
| PK Shayne Graham 3 - 3 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 10 points |
Shayne Graham was perfect in this game, converting FGs of 31, 40 and 41 yards, and planting most of his kickoffs into the end zone (only two were returned). Graham successfully executed a surprise onside kick in the fourth quarter after his team had pulled within a point, and the Bengals recovered.
| CIN Rush Defense |
All things considered, the Bengals did a good job containing Marion Barber, but they had no answer for the speedy Felix Jones. The Bengals run defense was led by LB Dhani Jones (8 solos, 2 assists) and SS Chinedum Ndukwe (7 solos).
| CIN Pass Defense |
The Bengals pass rush was not effective, sacking Romo only once. The Bengals secondary clamped down the Cowboys passing attack for most of the game, limiting Romo to only 90 passing yards through three quarters. In the final stanza, Terrell Owens got loose for a long TD, and Patrick Crayton caught a deflected pass in the end zone for a second score. Rookie LB Keith Rivers came up with a big INT late in the third quarter that he returned 39 yards to set up a Bengals FG.
| QB Tony Romo, Pass: 14 - 23 - 176 - 3 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 4 - 7 - 0 |
Romo had a decent start and completed his first TD pass to Witten early in the second quarter. The Cowboys went up 17-0 on that play, and Romo and the rest of the offense went dormant after that. Whether Dallas became a little overconfident or the Bengals started playing better is hard to say; it seemed a little of both. Before his fourth quarter fireworks, Romo had completed only 10 of 19 passes with one INT and one fumble through three quarters. The Cowboys QB rarely threw to Terrell Owens in this game (only three targets), but at least Owens got loose for the long TD. As usual, Jason Witten was Romo's favorite target, but Patrick Crayton seemed an afterthought. Miles Austin had only one target, which he muffed and Crayton caught for a TD.
| RB Marion Barber III, Rush: 23 - 84 - 0, Rec: 2 - 8 - 0 (2 targets) |
Barber got off to a quick start (eight carries for 44 yards in the first quarter) but had 15 for 40 yards after that. Barber ran hard and with his usual determination, though his owners may have been expecting better production given the propensity of the Bengal defense to surrender lots of yards on the ground. Barber had four red zone carries, but as the numbers show, he was not very involved in the passing attack.
| RB Felix Jones, Rush: 9 - 96 - 1, Rec: 1 - 7 - 0 (1 targets) |
Jones was incredibly explosive in this game. On his first carry, he bounced outside and made a bee line 33 yards to the end zone. He also had an 18 yard sprint, and two other runs for nine yards. The biggest challenge for an offense as loaded as the Cowboys may be to get enough touches to keep all their talented players happy, and after watching this game, the Cowboys will be crazy to go another game (as they did last week) without Jones touching the ball.
| RB Deon Anderson, Rush: 1 - 3 - 0 (1 targets) |
Anderson had one carry, which was in the red zone.
| WR Terrell Owens, Rush: 1 - 8 - 0, Rec: 2 - 67 - 1 (3 targets) |
Owens wasn't much of a factor in this game until his long catch and run for a TD in the fourth quarter. It was hard to tell if the Bengals had him covered well, or if there was some other reason for the inactivity. Owens did collect his 900th career reception in the first quarter.
| WR Patrick Crayton, Rec: 1 - 15 - 1 (2 targets) |
Crayton did not have a big role in this game. His fourth quarter TD catch came on a deflected pass intended for Miles Austin.
| WR Miles Austin (1 targets) |
Austin muffed a TD catch in the fourth quarter that fell in the hands of Patrick Crayton.
| WR Sam Hurd |
Hurd played in this game but was not targeted.
| TE Jason Witten, Rec: 8 - 79 - 1 (11 targets) |
Romo looked for Witten often, and the two connected for a four yard TD in the second quarter. Witten is the safest play in this pass offense, as he is targeted heavily no matter the opponent.
| TE Martellus Bennett (1 targets) |
Bennett had one red zone target in the first quarter.
| PK Nick Folk 1 - 1 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 7 points |
Folk was perfect, converting all his extra points and his lone FG. He planted two of his six kickoffs in the end zone.
| DAL Rush Defense |
The Cowboys rush defense did a good job containing Chris Perry and Cedric Benson, holding the two backs to 61 yards on 23 carries, with no TDs.
| DAL Pass Defense |
The Cowboys pass rush kept steady pressure on Carson Palmer and sacked the Bengals QB twice. The Cowboys secondary succeeded in taking Chad Johnson out of the game, and most of Palmer's completions were dinks and dunks (only one catch for more than 20 yards). Palmer's YPA was only 5.1 yards.
