The Broncos win was officially sealed when Bengals quarterback AJ McCarron fumbled a shotgun snap and Ware recovered the ball on the final play of the contest which featured two of the best teams in the American Football Conference. “It felt great to finish the game that way”.
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“Diving for the football, and it just happened”, McCarron said. “The snap caught me a little by surprise”.
With Monday’s loss, the Bengals (11-4) slipped to the No. 3 seed among AFC playoff teams, but a win Sunday coupled with a Broncos loss against the Chargers would lift Cincinnati into the No. 2 spot and a first-round bye.
The Bengals got on the scoreboard first when on 3rd and goal from the DEN 5, quarterback A.J. “We got the job done, but we have more to do”. “We just have to take care of business and after our game see we’ll where we’re at”.
The second-year player has been filling in for regular starter Andy Dalton, who broke a bone in his right thumb trying to make a tackle against the Pittsburgh Steelers on December 13. “There were a lot of things we wish we could’ve had back”.
The Broncos, however, had a chance to win the game in regulation, but kicker Brandon McManus shanked his 45-yard field goal attempt. With 9:53 left in overtime, Broncos pass-rusher Von Miller clearly forced the ball out of McCarron’s throwing hand before he was able to move the ball forward, but Ed Hochuli’s crew called it an incompletion and somehow kept the call on review.
After Green hauled in an 8-yard completion on the sideline, Burfict attempted to strip the ball from Green before shoving him further out of bounds. It was a costly penalty.
“It’s disappointing to lose a football game like that”, said head coach Marvin Lewis.
Asked whether the most recent video could prompt him to bench Manziel again, Pettine said, “I don’t have all the information on it, and I’m just not going to comment on it at this time ’cause I don’t have all the facts with it”.
A few plays later and McManus atoned by hitting a 37-yarder. And then, Cincinnati got Cincinnati’d.
Led by quarterback AJ McCarron, the Bengals jumped to a 14-0 lead and enjoyed a 14-3 advantage at halftime. “Our conversation at half-time was to pick up the tempo, show them a look they had not seen on tape”. “It was my fault, simple as that”.
McCarron and the Bengals began strongly, leading 14-0 in the first-half, but blew their chance to seal a bye in the play-offs as Denver rallied in the second half, going 17-14 up on CJ Andersen’s 39-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Brandon McManus’s 23-yard field goal with 18 seconds left in the first half were the first points Denver put on the board.
That one was just shy of the longest touchdown drive of the season in term of yards, coming up 36 inches shy of a 91-yard march in the first Cleveland game on November 5.
Wide receiver Mohamed Sanu took a direct snap and scampered untouched for a 6-yard touchdown, creating boos from the shivering and angry sellout crowd.
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After Mike Nugent’s 52-yard field goal tied it with 6:45 remaining, the Broncos twice drove to the Bengals 26 only to come away empty, once on Anderson’s fumble and then on McManus’ miss.
