“At times it felt ugly, especially on offense, but our defense stepped up and made some big plays for us that out allowed us to get out of there with a win,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said.
Mike Hilton came up with a red-zone interception in the third quarter, Cam Taylor-Britt made a diving catch for an interception in the fourth and two Seattle turnover-on-downs in the redzone enabled the Bengals to protect a lead the offense created with a strong first two possessions.
On the second-to-last drive for the Seahawks, Trey Hendrickson and Sam Hubbard both got sacks to force a turnover on downs in the redzone, and on the final play from the Cincinnati 9-yard line, BJ Hill’s pressure on Geno Smith led to his fourth-down pass falling incomplete with 41 seconds left.
The Cincinnati offense fizzled out at the end of the first half and never really got going again, as Joe Burrow threw an interception on the first drive of the second half and the Bengals managed just 32 net yards of offense the next three possessions.
Even after Taylor-Britt’s second pick of the season gave the Bengals the ball at the Seahawks 34, they couldn’t take advantage with more than a field goal. Evan McPherson made a 52-yarder to extend the lead to 17-13 with less than 12 minutes left.
“Our defense stepped up big second half,” Burrow said. “The offense was really good in the first half. We were horrible in the second half, so we just gotta be able to put together a complete game.”
Cincinnati’s defense had gotten off to a slow start on the opening drive, allowing the Seahawks to march down the field for the first lead on Kenneth Walker’s 1-yard run. But the Bengals responded with touchdowns on their first two possessions, the defense forced a three-and-out in between and Cincinnati carried a 14-10 lead into halftime.
The Seahawks, who were coming off a bye last week, drove 75 yards on 11 plays to get on the board first, but managed only a pair of field goals the rest of the way.
An offside penalty on fourth-and-2 near midfield helped keep Burrow and the Cincinnati offense on the field their first drive, and the Bengals took advantage, scoring on Burrow’s 5-yard pass to Tyler Boyd to tie the game with 2:22 left in the first quarter.
Burrow completed nine of his first 11 passes on the 13-play drive, and one of the misses was a drop by Joe Mixon. Burrow finished the half 18-of-22 passing for 143 yards and two touchdowns. He completed 15 straight passes before his first two attempts of the final drive fell incomplete.
After Seattle went three-and-out on its second possession, the Bengals dialed up a couple explosive plays to add another seven points to the board. Ja’Marr Chase had a pair of catches totaling 54 yards at the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second to move the offense into the redzone. Rookie Andrei Iosivas capped the drive with a 3-yard touchdown reception, the first of his career.
The Seahawks tacked on a 55-yard field goal from Jason Myers with 43 seconds left in the second quarter to cap the first-half scoring.
Burrow’s underthrown pass to Chase resulted in the first turnover of the game at the start of the third quarter, but the defense got the ball back for the offense as Seattle threatened to regain a lead. Hilton picked off Smith’s pass at the 3-yard line with 9:19 left in the third quarter.
The defense then held Seattle to a field goal the next drive, and McPherson’s field goal made it so the Seahawks had to go for the endzone on their final two possessions in the last seven minutes of the game. Cincinnati went three-and-out between those, giving Seattle a second chance after Hubbard’s fourth-down sack could have ended it with a little help from the offense.
Burrow completed just 6 of 13 passes for 42 yards in the second half. He finished 24-of-35 passing for 185 yards and two touchdowns.
NEXT GAME
Sunday, Oct. 29
Bengals at 49ers, 4:25 p.m., CBS, 700, 1530, 102.7, 104.7
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