Texans Hand Bengals First Loss

The “Red Rifle” was short on ammo in the Cincinnati Bengals’ 10-6 Monday Night Football loss to the Houston Texans.

The Bengals (8-1) were trying to make National Football League history and join New England and Carolina at 9-0; there has never been such a trio. The win boosts the club to 4-5 and brings them to a tie atop the AFC South with the Colts.

TEXANS HAVE DALTON’S NUMBER: Dalton’s hometown team made him look very bad while beating the Bengals in first-round playoff games in the 2011 and 2012 seasons.

Backup Texans quarterback T.J. Yates lofted a one-on-one ball to Houston star receiver DeAndre Hopkins, and Jones couldn’t break up the pass which ended up a one-handed, acrobatic touchdown catch.

But playing against a Houston defense that appeared to confuse him throughout the evening, Dalton managed a measly 5.2 yards per pass attempt while taking three sacks. Green fumble at the Texans’ 22-yard line with 40 seconds remaining.

Perhaps the outcome of the game would have been different had Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert not dropped three passes, two of which were crucial drops, but the Bengals were so lethargic offensively that it is nearly absurd to make excuses for them.

“We’re hoping that he’ll be able to play for us, but right now it’s day to day”, O’Brien said. His rookie season saw him beat the Bengals in the regular season as well as the playoffs when he orchestrated the first ever Texans post season win.

Yates was released by the Falcons on September 4 and had been in Atlanta spending his days looking for receivers to throw to, working out and waiting for another chance when Houston picked him up.

The Texans were all over Dalton again on Monday night. It would be “easy to pin the Bengals’ first defeat this season on quarterback Andy Dalton and credit him with another prime-time flop”, writes Coley Harvey.

“I got banged up in an area I don’t think we can talk about on ESPN”. It’s tough to lose.

Well that sucked. I expected a reality check to happen soon but not against the Texans in a primetime game and-now that I say that out loud it kind of makes more sense. “Not everything is going to be pretty”. “There’s no excuse for it. I dropped one, and I started fighting it. You’ve got to forget about it, but it’s hard”. Many of those passes came in the fourth quarter when the Bengals were behind, but their inability to establish a consistent rushing attack has been an issue all season. Hoyer had 15 yards on one scramble, and Dalton had 30 yards on five carries.

Hoyer was injured on a sack by Domata Peko on the third play of the second half. The Bengals are 11-21….