Before the game, the Bengals once again welcomed back Brandon Tate who suffered an injury a few weeks back while returning a kickoff.
Detroit quickly got things started on offense with a flea flicker play that found Nate Burleson deep. This got the Lions in deep Bengal territory with a fresh set of downs.
But as the Bengals D has proven all season long, it is tough to score against them in the red zone. A Geno Atkins sack of Matthew Stafford on third down forced the Lions to settle for a David Akers field goal.
Unfortunately for Cincinnati, the Detroit defense came out ready to play. An Ashlee Palmer sack put Andy Dalton in a third and very long situation.
This would force the Bengals QB into making an ill-advised throw on the next play that resulted in an interception.
With the decent field position, Stafford quickly found Burleson deep again. But this time, he took it all the way to the house for a touchdown. So the Bengals would find themselves in a hole early, down 10-0.
Just when the Bengals thought things couldn't get much worse, disaster struck on the next Bengals possession. On second down, Dalton was unable to find anyone open so he tucked the ball and tried to will his way to a first down. But the dangerous Detroit defense made him pay, leaving the quarterback injured and unable to get off the field on his own.
Backup quarterback Josh Johnson would get the call. And what a position he would get thrown into as his team was already down by two scores on the road.
His first official passing play as a Bengal would be incomplete, forcing Cincinnati to punt the ball away, still down 10-0 in the second quarter.
Vontaze Burfict, however, continued his breakout season with a sack, leaving the Lions with a third and long situation.
But this time Stafford would find Calvin Johnson deep for the first down, keeping their drive alive.
Again, the Lions would find themselves in a third and long situation, but not only did a pass to Burleson get them a first down, he again took it all the way for the score. This gave Detroit a comfortable 17-0 lead late in the first half.
Keeping the momentum going, Ndamukong Suh squashed Josh Johnson on the next Bengal drive for a sack.
But Johnson quickly shook off the first-game jitters and found a wide open Jermaine Gresham for the first down.
Johnson would connect again with Gresham, this time in the back of the end zone for the touchdown, and Johnson's first official score as a Cincinnati Bengal.
Heading into halftime, the Bengals trimmed that 17-point deficit to 10, giving them huge momentum heading into the locker room.
Once the Detroit Lions heard about the Bengal Marching Band's performance of "Blurred Lines" several weeks back, the Lion Marching Band came back with a medley of their own. They excited the crowd with a trio of Miley Cyrus hits, including "Party in the USA," "We Can't Stop" and her latest single, "Wrecking Ball." It will be interesting to see if Cincinnati tries to top that in the coming weeks.
Continuing what they started at the end of the first half, it didn't take long for the Bengal offense to shred up the Detroit defense. A 70-yard drive was capped off by a touchdown run from BenJarvus Green-Ellis, cutting the deficit to just three points.
The Bengals defense was clicking too as they immediately recovered a Matthew Stafford fumble, putting Josh Johnson and the offense inside the red zone.
Johnson then found Orson Charles in the end zone for the score, giving the Bengals their first lead of the game at 21-17.
Just when Mike Zimmer thought he had the Lions figured out, Reggie Bush broke free for a 51-yard touchdown run, shifting the lead back to the Lions, 24-21.
It was more bad news for the Bengals, as Brandon Tate yet again got injured on a kickoff. This spurred chatter among Bengal fans wondering if Special Teams Coordinator Darrin Simmons brought Tate back into action too soon.
But the Bengals would go on to get the ball to about midfield before another Suh sack left the Bengals at 4th and 20 in Lions territory.
Cincinnati elected to go for it, and it was none other than "The Law Firm" yet again bailing out the Bengals, as he took a short pass and muscled his way to the first down.
This would set up a short touchdown toss to newcomer Tyler Eifert who got in the red zone for the first time this Tecmo Super Bowl Season. And more importantly, he gave his team a 28-24 lead over the Lions in the fourth quarter.
From that point on, the Detroit Lions just collapsed. A fumble on the ensuing kickoff led to a safety, giving the Bengals a 30-24 lead.
The Bengals would take the opportunity to run the clock down some with a few plays for Green-Ellis. With just 1:12 left in the game, Mike Nugent drilled a 40-yard field goal, giving Cincinnati a 33-24 lead.
And how do you follow up a game-changing safety play? With another safety. This time, Domato Peko planted Stafford on the ground for the two points.
This would seal the game for Cincinnati as Detroit was now all out of timeouts. The Bengals managed to escape a wild one on the road with a 35-24 victory.
Josh Johnson filled in for the injured Dalton nicely, completing 63 percent of his passes for 172 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions. He also got a lot of help from BenJarvus Green-Ellis who had 80 yards on the ground to go along with 55 yards receiving. The extent of Andy Dalton's injury was unknown at the end of the game. We hope to have more information next week.
With the win, the Bengals move to 6-1 and find themselves with a two-game lead in the division as Cleveland fell on the road against the Packers.
Cincinnati will try to keep their momentum going next week as they welcome the New York Jets to Paul Brown Stadium.
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