Cincinnati Bengals
'Cardiac Cats' wrap up title
By C. Trent Rosecrans, CNATI.com Posted December 27, 2009 8:06 PM ET
Marvin Lewis was bone-dry at his postgame news conference following the Bengals' 17-10 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
Nobody dared dump Gatorade on Lewis following the Bengals' AFC North-clinching victory at Paul Brown Stadium. After the Bengals clinched in Detroit four years ago in their last playoff appearance, players doused Lewis with Gatorade and the team lost its next three games, including the playoff opener at home to the Steelers. This time there would be no premature celebration.
"No Gatorade, no hat," said Lewis, who was not wearing an AFC North Champions hat that was passed out to all the members of the team. "There are two more hats to get (AFC Champions and Super Bowl Champions). If we want to earn a hat, there are two more to earn. That's what I told them. Enjoy it, congratulations. But there are two more to earn, and that's a different atmosphere (in the locker room) than it was a few years ago in Detroit, which is good."
Several of the team's younger players wore their AFC North Champions hats, but none of the players that were on the 2005 team seemed to crown themselves with the ballcap.
"The AFC North hat is just a hat," quarterback Carson Palmer said. "The AFC Championship hat is one you want, but the Super Bowl hat is what we are working for. The title is one of the many goals we set out to achieve. We are not going to pound our chest over this. We don't feel like we have conquered the world. We still have a lot of work to do."
The Bengals had chances in each of the previous two weeks to clinch the division with a win or a Baltimore loss. The Bengals got both on Sunday, but both came down to the wire, as it seemingly has all season long.
"I guess we're still the 'Cardiac Cats,'" guard Bobbie Williams said.
A team that's needed last-minute comebacks all season long got another one on Sunday. Cincinnati's had several close games against teams with losing records -- an overtime victory over Cleveland early in the season, closer-than-they-should-have-been wins against the Chiefs, Browns and Lions and the loss at Oakland. However, if playing down to the competition has been a trend, so is the sputtering offense recovering in the knick of time.
The Bengals did it with last-minute drives against the Steelers, Browns, Ravens and even in the loss to the Broncos. They also had a drive to tie it last week in San Diego before giving up the lead.
"I don't know why we make them so close," said running back Brian Leonard. "We've got to learn to shutout a team once we've got them by the throat."
It didn't happen Sunday with one of the worst offensive halves in Bengals history. The first half featured just 53 net yards for Cincinnati, the club's worst offensive half since 2002. Carson Palmer's 10 yards of net passing in the half was the worst by a Bengal since Jeff Blake against the Houston Oilers in 1996.
The two teams managed as many punts as first downs -- two each -- in the first quarter and in the second quarter, the Bengals' only scoring drive was handed to them after a bad snap gave them the ball at the Chiefs' 7. And even then, they went back four yards before Shayne Graham's field goal.
Cincinnati seemed to right the ship on the first drive of the second half, going 19 plays and 77 yards, finished by a 10-yard touchdown pass to Laveranues Coles from Palmer. But the following two drives sputtered.
Once again, though, the Bengals gave up the score and were knotted at 10 with when Dustin Colquitt pinned them at their own 2 with 9:21 left.
"We know that was it -- the chips are all in, we knew we weren't going to get the ball back," said center Kyle Cook. "We talk about Carson a lot as a leader, and it's the same guy we've seen that we know we can do it. It was the same guy we saw on the sideline in Cleveland who didn't want to go for the tie in overtime, who wanted the win."
The drive started with the Cedric Benson stopped behind the line of scrimmage on first down, adding to the Bengals' long field, giving them 99 yards to go. But on third-and-7 from the 5, the team's third-down specialist and unsung hero struck again. Palmer found Leonard on a shovel pass for a pickup of eight yards and a first down.
"When we heard the call in the huddle, we all knew it was going to work," Cook said. "Brian always seems to make those plays."
From there, the Bengals got out of the hole and drove downfield once again. In all, the Bengals had seven runs on the drive for 31 yards and Palmer completed 6-of-7 passes for 63 yards, plus the team had a penalty for five yards and a first down on an incompletion to Andre Caldwell.
Palmer was perfect on third downs, completing passes on all four third-downs of the drive and hit four different receivers on third down, Leonard, Caldwell, Laveranues Coles and finally Chad Ochocinco for 6 yards and a touchdown with 2:05 left.
It was the fourth games Palmer's led the team to a victory in the final 2:03 this season and seventh drive (in six games) he's led a late-game drive to tie or win the game in the same period of time.
"We have guys on this team that have played in that type of situation before. No matter how big or insignificant the game, we have guys that step up when it's time to go," Palmer said. "We have players who accept their roles and do their jobs. We don't try to play too hard. We don't get scared. We don't get shy. We understand there is a job to do, and we each must do our individual jobs and execute each play. That is what we have done on a number of game-winning drives this season."
And that's why they are where they are. The Bengals may not win pretty, but they've won enough to clinch their second playoff spot in the last 18 seasons.
"It'd be nice to not need (the last-minute drive), but that's Bengal football this year," Benson said. "Last year after this game (against Kansas City) we were packing up to go home. We'll take (the playoffs) how we can get it."
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Categories: Cincinnati Bengals, Featured Stories, News
Tags: Andre Caldwell, Bobbie Williams, Brian Leonard, Carson Palmer, Cedric Benson, Chad Ochocinco, Evan Mathis, Kyle Cook, Laveranues Coles, Marvin Lewis
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