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Who were those untested, unknown and previously castigated Bengals who — in a night of nonstop rain that ended up like some kind of glorious baptismal waters — became the most unlikely of heroes against the high-flying Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night at Paul Brown Stadium?
If you didn't see Cincinnati's 13-7 victory over the Ravens, you wouldn't believe it. In the most critical game the Bengals have played this season, lots of players deserved props afterward, but none more so than the usually uncelebrated: • There was the Bengals defense that mostly stymied the 9-3 Ravens and came within 61 seconds of recording back-to-back shutouts, something never done in franchise history. As it was, the defense — led by eight-tackle safety Dexter Jackson, the MVP of a Super Bowl five seasons ago who was signed specifically for a high-stakes game like this — set a club record by registering seven straight quarters holding opponents scoreless.
This is the same defense that was the laughingstock of the league, giving up 42 second-half points to San Diego in a loss just 18 days ago and yielding more than 1,000 yards in the Chargers and New Orleans games combined. • Third-string center Ben Wilkerson, who had never, ever taken a snap from center in a regular-season game in his two years in the NFL. He took over for Eric Ghiaciuc, who injured his knee in the second quarter. That made him the fourth Bengals offensive lineman not playing due to injury. With 310-pound Ravens nose tackle Kelly Gregg — part of a defense that had a league-high 19 interceptions and 39 sacks, including nine of Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger last Sunday — salivating just across the line from him, Wilkerson held his own. He opened holes on two straight Bengal runs — including a 14-yard rumble by Jeremi Johnson — and that set up the aggressive Ravens' defense for a trick play on the very next snap. The flea-flicker produced a 40-yard touchdown pass from Carson Palmer to a wide-open T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Afterward though, the first guy Palmer mentioned was Wilkerson: "Big Ben is a guy I've been waiting on to get an opportunity. For him to do it against that rush and the way they make everything so confusing — and to keep getting his calls right — was huge. Simply huge." • Then there was Ethan Kilmer, the rookie special teams player, who was unknown until 11 days ago. He ran an interception back for a score against New Orleans, and Thursday night he recovered a muffed Ravens punt that highlighted an excellent night for the Bengals' special teams. Before the game, veteran defensive tackle Sam Adams said, "I want to see what kind of character this team has." Adams got his answer Thursday. And so did a sellout crowd of 65,973 who endured downpours, whipping winds and plummeting temperatures and still gave the team its loudest support of the year, according to Houshmandzadeh. At 7-5, the Bengals are squarely in the hunt for a wild-card berth. "I think we showed what we're made of tonight," Adams said afterward. "This was a total team effort. Everybody played a part." Especially the untested, unknown and previously castigated
Dayton Daily News http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/pro/bengals/2006/12/01/ddn120106arch.html |
