Bengals running back Rudi Johnson runs into the proverbial wall in the form of the Patriots’ defensive line. 
 

CINCINNATI — The Bengals aren’t the first team the New England Patriots have made look awful this decade, as three Super Bowl titles can attest.

But Cincinnati thought it was well beyond playing the role of roadkill to Bill Belichick’s team.

Instead, the Bengals slink into their bye week having to swallow a 38-13 beating yesterday in Paul Brown Stadium. Cincinnati (3-1) fell out of a first-place tie with Baltimore in the AFC North.

Despite knowing that New England had gone 52 games without consecutive losses dating to 2002, the Bengals were stunned by the way they were dismantled.

"There’s no way when I played the game in my head that I thought we would lose," receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh said. "I go through different scenarios, and not in one scenario did us come out losing. And especially not losing like this, not with the kind of players we have. They would trade player for player with us any day, I think."

But football is played as an 11-man unit, and New England (3-1) has mastered that concept. The Patriots don’t bat an eye, for example, when they have to use receiver Troy Brown as a fill-in defensive back in an injurydecimated secondary, as they did yesterday.

The Bengals, in contrast, continually shot themselves in the foot on both sides of the ball. For the second game in a row, they tackled as if the opposing team had Vaseline on their jerseys. A week after giving up 170 yards on the ground to Pittsburgh, the Bengals allowed New England to average 5.8 yards per carry while racking up 236 rushing yards. Rookie Laurence Maroney (25 carries, 125 yards) shed three tacklers on a 25-yard touchdown run.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady provided the necessary balance, throwing for two touchdowns.

This from a New England team that managed only seven points last week against Denver.

Meanwhile, the potent Bengals offense gradually wilted as the game progressed, largely by self-inflected wounds.

After settling for a field goal on their first possession, the Bengals drove deep inside Patriots territory on their second. But on third down, Cincinnati was penalized for having 12 men in the huddle, turning a third-and-3 into a third-and-8 it couldn’t convert.

"A 12-men-on-the-field penalty should never happen, and it happened," quarterback Carson Palmer said.

Except for a 62-yard touchdown drive on their first possession of the third quarter to close to 14-13, the Bengals offense did little after that.

Cincinnati got fewer than two first downs on seven of 12 possessions.

"Coaches, players … have to figure out a way to capitalize on those moments," right tackle Willie Anderson said of the squandered early chances to seize control. "When the moment is big, we have to realize that each and every play against teams like these is important, and we can’t pee down our leg."

It only got worse late. Palmer was sacked four times in the fourth quarter, twice losing fumbles that the Patriots converted into short touchdown drives. Palmer has been sacked 14 times the past three games and fumbled five times in the past two.

The Bengals now have two weeks to salve their wounds, physical and mental.

"Every time you lose, it’s important that you use it as a lesson," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. "We’ve been flying along pretty good. Today, we got hit in the face."

The same thing happened last year when the Bengals lost at home to the Steelers. That proved to be a blessing in disguise as Cincinnati rebounded to win the divisional title.

"Hopefully, four, five, six weeks from now, we’ll look back on this game and realize that this was the best thing that could have happened to us," Palmer said.

Columbus Dispatch

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