Cincinnati holds off Falcons

Associated Press

ATLANTA

Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton and the Falcons’ Matt Ryan each directed a pair of scoring drives before Cincinnati’s reserves held on for a 24-19 preseason victory over Atlanta on Thursday night.

In a matchup of teams that lost in the wild-card round of the playoffs last season, Cincinnati had the deeper roster.

The second- and third-string players for Atlanta struggled in the second half for the second straight week.

Ryan, who completed his first 11 attempts, finished 18 of 21 for 174 yards and one touchdown, a 2-yard screen to reserve fullback Lousaka Polite in the second quarter.

Spreading out the offense and connecting with nine different receivers, Ryan completed passes of at least 20 yards to Roddy White, Tony Gonzalez, Julio Jones and Michael Palmer.

Dalton was 8 of 14 for 125 yards and one TD, a 50-yard pass that star receiver A.J. Green caught while running past cornerback Asante Samuel down the right sideline.

NFL suspends Brown

SAN DIEGO

The NFL has suspended San Diego Chargers defensive tackle Garrett Brown without pay for the team’s first four regular-season games for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.

Brown, who signed as a free agent, will be eligible to return to the Chargers’ active roster on Oct. 1.

The league said Thursday that Brown is eligible to participate in all preseason practices and exhibition games.

General manager A.J. Smith didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

“There really is no reaction other than it’s a league issue,” coach Norv Turner said. “The league handles those things. Everyone knows what the penalties are. And they handle it with the players.”