The Bengals drilled the Rams with a suffocating defense and a resourceful 173-yard passing effort from quarterback Jake Browning in a 16-7 win in Saturday night’s preseason finale at Paycor Stadium.
Despite switching to a 4-3 defense to compensate for lack of bodies, the Bengals defense continued to swarm in the third quarter. Rookie defensive tackle Zach Carter had a third-down sack-strip that was recovered by the Rams. Then on the next series, linebacker Tegray Scales punched out the ball from running back Trey Ragas and it was recovered by rookie cornerback Delonte Hood at the Bengals 30.
But the offense couldn’t do much and it was left to 14-year vet Kevin Huber and first-year challenger Drue Chrisman to hammer out the punting job. They gave special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons plenty to think about.
Huber earned his second fair catch on his second kick of the night that went to the Rams 11. Then Chrisman, who also forced a fair catch on his first punt Saturday, had a shot and he showed off his power with a 65-yard missile that hit inside the 5 and bounced into the end zone for a 45-yard net.
The defense held the Rams to just 162 yards and nine first downs heading into the fourth quarter, but the defense was on the field for a bunch in that third quarter. The wear showed on the first few plays of the fourth quarter when Hood didn’t play the ball on quarterback Bryce Perkins’ 32-yard loft job to wide receiver Lance McCutcheon down the left sideline and rookie edge Jeff Gunter couldn’t finish off a sack and Perkins reversed field for a scrambling three-yard touchdown that broke the shutout with 11:25 left.
That’s when the Bengals offense got going. With Browning moving in and out of the pocket, he sifted nine of 11 passes for 63 yards in a 75-yard drive and got 12 of them wheeling right out of the pocket on a nifty scramble.
Browning (19 of 24 passing) converted two third-down passes to rookie wide receiver Kwamie Lassiter II and the last one overcame an…
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