Defense turns away Bills time after time
Just like that, the 0-3 start is a distantmemory after the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Buffalo Bills 20-16 Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.
The win moves the Bengals to 2-3 heading into their bye week, while the firstplace Pittsburgh Steelers lost at home to Jacksonville to fall to 3-2.
Here are five things to know about the Bengals’ victory:
Dalton’s day: Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton threw his first two interceptions since tossing four inthe season opener against Baltimore, but he was able to laugh about it after the win.
Both picks hit usually surehanded receiver A.J. Green in the hands.
“I just told him the good thing about it is, it doesn’t end up on his stats, it ends up on mine,” Dalton joked.
Dalton finished 22 of 36 for 328 yards with one touchdownand two interceptions. Itwashis first300-yardgame of the season and the 22nd of his career, leaving him one shy of Boomer Esiason for the franchise record.
The performance came after Dalton suffered an ankle injury with 11:10 left in the second quarter. Buffalo defensive tackle Cedric Thornton came up the middle on a rush, and Dalton rolled his left ankle trying to escape the pressure.
He got the ankle taped at halftime and was noticeably limping the rest of the game, but he tried to downplay it after the game.
Mixon milestone: Joe Mixon gave the Bengals the leadfor goodwhenhe scored his first career touchdown on a 5-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter.
The play was designed to go up the middle, but as has often been the case this season, there was no hole. So Mixon bounced to the right, got the edge and beat everyone to pylon.
In addition to being the first of Mixon’s career, the rushing TD was the first of the season for the Bengals.
Sack stats: The Bengals wasted no time extending their NFL-best streak of consecutive games with a sack to 34when Michael Johnson got to Tyrod Taylor on Buffalo’s third snap of the game.
The Bengals, who came into the game ranked third in the league with 12 sacks, went on to drop Taylor five moretimes. Itwasthesecond time in threeweeks the Bengals had six sacks in a game after doing so at Green Bay.
According to Pro Football Reference, the last time the Bengals had two games with at least six sacks in the same season was 2001.
With 18 through five games, the Bengals are on pace for 58. The franchise record is 51, set in 2012.
Closing time: After allowing the Bills offense to capitalize on Dalton’s first interception with a game-tying touchdown, the Bengals defense was at its best sudden-change situations in the third and fourth quarter.
They held the Bills to a three-and-out after Dalton’s secondinterception gave Buffalo the ball at the Cincinnati 36 in the third. They held Buffalo to a field goal after a Green fumble. And when Brandon Tate returned a punt 41 yards to the Bengals 12 with Cincinnati clinging to a 17-13 lead in the fourth quarter, the defense held Buffalo to 2 yards and forced another field goal.
Burfict’s back: Linebacker Vontaze Burfict returned from his threegame suspension last week at Cleveland, but you could argue Sunday marked his official return. Burfict was brilliant — 13 tackles, three for losses, and a sack.
One of Burfict’s tackles for loss came on the second play after the second Buffalo interception gave the Bills the ball at the Cincinnati 36. Another one, a 4-yard loss for LeSeanMcCoy, came on the second play after theTate punt return gave Buffalo the ball at theBengals 12. Andhis sack came on a third-down stop three plays after the Bengals had taken the lead on Mixon’s fourth-quarter touchdown.