Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis might have summed it up best, “we let a good opportunity get away from us today.” The Bengals had numerous opportunities but just couldn’t fully capitalize on them in the 17-13 loss to the Miami Dolphins at Paul Brown Stadium Sunday afternoon.
The Bengals did capitalize early on a pair of turnovers but they only managed two Mike Nugent field goals out of the Dolphin miscues. Rookie Dolphins quarterback, Ryan Tannehill, looked sharp early, hitting six different receivers in the first half. After a shanked Bengal punt, the Dolphins put together a 63 yard scoring drive capped off by a Daniel Thomas one yard touchdown run giving the Dolphins the 7-6 halftime lead.
In the second half, the Dolphins came out and intercepted Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton on their opening possession. That set up a three play 36 yard drive the ended in a Reggie Bush 13 yard sweep left run for a touchdown. “We rushed and hurried up to get up to the line and saw they were a little gassed. Immediately my read took me outside because they had the edge pretty much sealed off. I stuck with my read and it came wide open for me”, said Bush of the touchdown run. The Dolphins added added a 46 yard Dan Carpenter field goal giving them a 17-6 lead with 8:35 left in the third quarter.
It wasn’t until the Dolphins missed a 53 yard field attempt did the Bengals offense start to get some life. Dalton led the offense on a 57 yard scoring drive, finalized when he hit A.J. Green on a two yard touchdown pass in the right side of the end zone. The score brought Cincinnati back to 17-13 after they opted for the extra point instead of going for the two point conversion. “The way we looked at it was that is was we were at the beginning of the fourth quarter and it was early,” said Lewis. “If it was later on, it would have been a different situation.”
The Bengals the got ball back trailing 17-13. Dalton then hits Justin Leonard and Armon Binns on his first two plays to get near midfield. Andrew Hawkins then made a fantastic leaping catch over the middle to set them up at the Dolphins 28. After a couple of incomplete passes the Bengals brought on Nugent to try to bring the game to within a point but his field goal attempt went just right.
The Bengals had one more opportunity with 1:45 left. The Bengals got the ball at their own 20. After a penalty and on second and long Dalton threw a pick down the middle Reshad Jones to seal the win for the Dolphins. The loss drops the Bengals to 3-2 on the season and will travel to Cleveland next Sunday to play the Browns.
