PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania: BenJarvus Green-Ellis ran for 106 yards and a touchdown while Andy Dalton ran for one touchdown and threw for another to lead Cincinnati over Philadelphia 34-13 in an NFL game yesterday.
The victory boosted the Bengals to 8-6 and ahead of Pittsburgh for the final American Conference play-off spot, although the Steelers (7-6) could move back in front of Cincinnati with a triumph at Dallas (7-6) tomorrow night.
Cincinnati will visit Pittsburgh on December 23 and host Baltimore one week later and would reach the play-offs with triumphs in both contests.
The Bengals produced 27 points off five Philadelphia turnovers in dropping the Eagles to 4-10.
Ellis scored on a one-yard run 3:50 into the game and Josh Brown added a 24-yard field goal to give Cincinnati a 10-0 lead, but the Eagles scored all their points in the second quarter on Nick Foles’ 11-yard touchdown toss to Riley Cooper and two Alex Henery field goals for a 13-10 half-time lead.
“We jumped out to a big lead and jumped ahead of ourselves and came out flat in the second quarter, but we got it back in the second half,” Green-Ellis said.
Dalton scored on an 11-yard run in the third quarter and Wallace Gilberry returned a fumble 25 yards for a touchdown just 49 seconds later to give the Bengals a 24-13 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Brown added a 32-yard field goal and Dalton flipped a five-yard touchdown pass to AJ Green for the final points.
“We just keep practicing to be perfect,” Green-Ellis said. “Early in the season things were hard for us. We just kept working and things have gotten easier and hopefully it keeps going for us.”
New England, Houston and Denver have already clinched American Conference play-off spots. AFP
