Bengals Take Control of AFC North
November 15, 2009 by David Kindervater
Filed under Cincinnati Bengals
When the Cincinnati Bengals were chosen for HBO’s annual reality series Hard Knocks this past offseason, I kind of laughed it off and figured the show was in trouble if the best team they could come up with were the lowly Bengals. Well, the laugh’s on me now as the Bengals are off to an impressive 7-2 start. And this afternoon, they took control of the AFC North with an 18-12 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Carson Palmer, Cincinnati Bengals / Image: Zuma Press
After the game, quarterback Carson Palmer credited his team’s work in the trenches:
“We kept grinding, and at the end of the day, I think the offensive line won that battle up front and pushed them around and gave us a chance to finish off that last drive with a field goal. We had a couple of nice first downs on some runs, and kept battling. And if you’re winning with field goals, you win. If you’re winning with touchdowns, you win. We’ll take a win any way we can get it.”
Check out these facts. It was the first time since 1998 the Bengals have season-swept the Steelers. And they essentially opened a two-game lead on Pittsburgh because they own the tiebreaker, should it come down to that. Plus, for the first time in the team’s history, the Bengals are 5-0 in the AFC North. Who dey! Who dey! Who dey think gonna beat dem Bengals? In the AFC North, nobody.
Sources: Bengals.com, NFL.com
