The Cincinnati Bengals scored 22 points in the third quarter and forced the Falcons to turn the ball over twice. But that doesn’t always lead to a victory as the Falcons scored 24 points in the first half and were able to take control of the game in the fourth quarter to come away with a 39-32 over the team from the AFC North.
“We were in control of the ball game for the first, second and fourth quarters,” Falcons head coach Mike Smith said. “The third quarter was a bit Halloweenish in terms it wasn’t a treat, it was a trick.”
The Bengals were down 24-3 going into the third quarter and slowly chipped away at the Falcons lead. They started with Mike Nugent kicking a 34-yard field goal to cut the Falcons lead to 24-6. On their next possession, the Bengals offense produced a six-play 88-yard drive which ended with a Carson Palmer 19-yard touchdown pass to Terrell Owens to make the score 24-13. Cincinnati got the ball back a minute later after Matt Ryan threw an interception to Leon Hall and that led to a Palmer 64-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Shipley to cut the Falcons lead to four. Then the Bengals took the lead 30 seconds later as Adam Jones forced a Roddy White fumble and returned it 59 yards for the score.
“It’s going to happen,” Ryan said in terms of teams making a comeback. “In this league there’s so many good football players that other teams are going to make plays to. And they made the plays in the third quarter.”
The Falcons were able to regroup in the fourth quarter, as Ryan threw a 11-yard touchdown pass to Roddy White to increase their lead to 32-25 (White caught the two-point conversion pass from Ryan to make it a seven-point lead instead of six). Bengals looked to tie the score on the ensuing drive, but Cedric Benson fumbled at the Falcons 39-yard line and was recovered by Brian Williams. That led to a Michael Turner 3-yard TD run and the Bengals could never recover.
“It was calm,” White said when the offense was in the huddle after being down 25-24 going into the fourth quarter. “Calm, cool and collected. Nobody was nervous.”
The reason for the offense not being nervous going into the fourth quarter was the fact they were able execute, just like they did in the first and second quarter. The Falcons wanted to start fast after getting off to slow starts the last few games. They were able to do that, as Ryan threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Brian Finneran on the opening series of the game to go up 7-0. In the second quarter after Nugent kicking a 20-yard field goal to put the Bengals on the board for the first time, the Falcons answered with a Matt Bryant 45-yard field goal to put the Falcons up by a touchdown.
Later in the quarter, Ryan found White for a 45-yard touchdown pass on a third-and-one play to give the Falcons the 17-3 lead. It was a play where White and Ryan worked on all week where if the defense was stacked with eight or nine players in the box, Ryan would hit White on a deep route.
“We had drew that play up all week,” White said who finished the day with 11 receptions for 201 yards and two touchdowns. It was a prime opportunity to go over their heads.”
The Falcons were able to score again before the half as Tuner scored on a 2-yard touchdown run to go up 24-3. Turner ended his day with 121 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns and Ryan has his one of his best games of the season, throwing for 299 yards and three touchdowns with one interception.
The Falcons now stand at 5-2 and are now in sole possession of the NFC South lead. They will not have a game next week and everyone is looking forward to the break.
“We would all like to have a 7-0 record,” Smith said. “We’ve been able to fight, scratch and get five wins. We look forward to taking some time off, evaluating our team on a number of levels and get some guys healthy to start the second half of the season.”
When the Falcons come back from the bye week, they will host Tampa Bay on November 7 and will play four days later as they take on the Baltimore Ravens at the Georgia Dome for a Thursday night tilt.
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