The Eagles won Sunday’s coin flip at Paul Brown Stadium and decided to take the ball and why not? The Bengals had given up a touchdown on the opening drive in each of the last four games.
But not this time. Try a three-and-out courtesy of linebacker Vincent Rey and safety ganging up on running back Wendall Smallwood for a two-yard loss on a stretch play on first down and left end Carlos Dunlap bull-rushing fill-in right tackle Allen Barbre for his 11th tipped pass of the season.
That set up Mike Nugent’s 32-yard field goal less than five minutes into the game for the Bengals’ 3-0 lead.