SportsDirect Inc. staff
Dec 8, 2013
Bengals 42, Colts 28: Andy Dalton passed for 275 yards and three touchdowns and added a rushing score as Cincinnati outlasted visiting Indianapolis.
Dalton went 24-for-35 and A.J. Green made six catches for 72 yards and a score as Cincinnati (9-4) maintained a two-game lead over the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North with three games left. BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushed for a pair of touchdowns and Giovani Bernard picked up 148 yards from scrimmage out of the backfield.
Andrew Luck completed 29-of-46 passes for 326 yards and four touchdowns as the Colts (8-5) missed a chance to clinch the AFC South. Lavon Brazill and Da’Rick Rogers each caught a pair of scores for Indianapolis, which can still clinch with a Tennessee loss later Sunday.
The Bengals went for it on fourth-and-goal late in the second quarter and Green-Ellis appeared to be tripped up short of the goal line before bouncing across but was given the touchdown after a review could not conclusively reveal that he had been touched down by contact, giving Cincinnati a 14-0 lead at the break. Green-Ellis’ 1-yard burst on the opening drive of the third quarter made it 21-0.
Luck needed only three plays and 44 seconds on the ensuing drive to get the Colts on the board, hitting Rogers for a 69-yard TD pass. Indianapolis forced a quick punt on the next drive and Luck again got his team into the end zone in only three plays with a 19-yard TD pass to Brazill before Dalton took advantage of a pair of key penalties and got the Bengals back into the end zone with a 1-yard pass to Jermaine Gresham.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Cincinnati S George Iloka went to the locker room in the third quarter after taking a hit to the helmet on Brazill’s first TD grab. … The Bengals can clinch the division with a win at Pittsburgh next week. … Rogers was making his NFL debut and finished with six catches for a game-high 107 yards.