Bengals Escape With Win on Marvin Lewis Game Saving Call

Nov 30, 2014; Tampa, FL, USA; Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver James Wright (86) runs with the ball as Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Johnthan Banks (27) defends during the second half at Raymond James Stadium. Cincinnati Bengals defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 14-13. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Cincinnati Bengals improve to 8-3-1 after going 3-0 on their road trip in the South.They also will head to the locker room finding out that the Steelers, Browns, and Ravens helped them out by dropping their games and all fell to 7-5 on the season.

The real story out of Sunday’s game was by Marvin Lewis though. With less than a minute on the clock, the Buccaneers ran a pass play that went for a completion to the 20 yard line. The problem, they had 12 men on the field. The officials, who had thrown 21 flags on the day, missed the call and Marvin Lewis threw the challenge flag. He lost a timeout, since it is illegal to throw the challenge flag within the final two minute in the half, but it caught the attention of the replay official and they called the 22nd penalty of the game and pushed the Buccaneers 10 yards out of field goal range and they never recovered.

Andy Dalton was mediocre again as he threw 3 interceptions, all in the first half, and had 2 touchdowns to his credit. His defense continually bailed him out and after a poor decision to onside kick the ball after they took a 14-10 lead, the defense came up with the biggest stop of the game, making the Buccaneers settle for a field goal to come up one point short of a win. James Wright was spectacular on three catches for 59 yards and AJ Green had the only receiving touchdown.

The Bengals Defense came up huge on a number of occasions. Terrance Newman had an interceptions. Bengals had 1 credited sack, by Dunlap and Atkins, but also had 5 tackles for loss, and 4 QB hits. On top of the interception by Newman, the secondary had 5 pass deflections including 2 on the final seconds to keep Tampa Bay from completing the comeback.

Kevin Huber did the work on special teams making huge punts including one that Darqueze Dennard downed at the 2 yard line. Overall, he had six punts on the day and every single one gave the Buccaneers a long field to work with.

The Bengals will now head home to face off against the Pittsburgh Steelers, A Bengals win would put the Steelers very close to being out of contention for the division and two and a half games back. A Bengals loss would bring the Bengals back into reach for the rest of AFC North.