Bengals one victory from playoff berth

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

The stadium was only two-thirds full again. The Cardinals were on another one of their incredible comebacks, threatening to derail the Cincinnati Bengals’ surprising playoff surge.

A pair of tangled up feet made the difference.

The Bengals moved one win away from the playoffs Saturday, holding on for a 23-16 victory over Arizona that secured only their third winning record in the past 21 years.

Cincinnati (9-6) can clinch the final AFC wild card berth by beating Baltimore at Paul Brown Stadium next Sunday. The Bengals moved a game ahead of the Jets, who fell to 8-7 with a 29-14 loss to the Giants on Saturday.

“It’s been a big year for me and for this team,” rookie quarterback Andy Dalton said. “It’s something we believed we had a chance to do. We weren’t getting much credit from outside. We’ll find out next week.”

Dalton threw two more touchdown passes, becoming only the fourth rookie to have 20 in a season, and Cincinnati got a break when the NFL’s top comeback team tripped itself up in the closing minutes.

Wide-open receiver Early Doucet tripped at the goal line and went down, letting a fourth-down pass fall incomplete with 1:12 left. The Cardinals (7-8) got the ball one more time, but the clock ran out after a completion.

A few minutes later, the Jets’ loss put the Bengals in position to reach the playoffs. New York would have won the tiebreaker if both teams won out.

“We started this quite a while ago — seems like just yesterday,” coach Marvin Lewis said. “But now we’re right where we want to be at the end.”

Their rookie quarterback put them in position.

Dalton threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Jermaine Gresham and a 19-yarder to Jerome Simpson, who did a somersault over a defender and landed on both feet in the end zone.

Dalton joined Peyton Manning (26), Charlie Conerly (22) and Dan Marino (20) as the only NFL rookies to throw 20 touchdown passes.

Down 23-0 heading into the fourth quarter, the NFL’s best comeback team nearly pulled off its most improbable one yet. Arizona took advantage of Cedric Benson’s two fumbles, getting a pair of touchdown passes by John Skelton and Jay Feely’s field goal with 3:16 left.

The Cardinals then had their chance to pull even. The Bengals ran an all-out blitz on fourth down from the Cincinnati 17-yard line, and Doucet wound up uncovered at the goal line. Skelton lofted the ball into the end zone, but Doucet tripped and fell.

“It was a blitz and nobody was there,” Doucet said. “It was one of those deals where I hadn’t hooked it up and my feet got tangled. It’s a play I should’ve made. It was my fault. That’s a play I normally make.”