ANDY DALTON AND A.J. Green connected for three touchdown passes as the Cincinnati Bengals continued their success over the Baltimore Ravens with a 34-23 win on Thursday.
Cincinnati knocked the Ravens out of NFL playoff contention last season and on Thursday Dalton dominated the Baltimore defence once again.
Dalton finished with four touchdown passes in the first half for the Bengals, who moved into sole possession of first place in the AFC North Division with a 2-0 record.
“It was a great win,” said Dalton. “To come out hot tonight and get the start, we did kind of set the tone for the game. You can’t ask for a better way to start.”
The Bengals were playing on short rest after beating the Indianapolis Colts 34-23 in Sunday’s season opener.
Dalton finished 24-of-42 for 265 yards, throwing four touchdown passes for just the fifth time in his career.
“We had good tempo. We just made plays. It wasn’t always how we always draw it up, but it works that way sometimes,” said Dalton.
Green had the best game of his career, grabbing touchdown catches of four, 28 and seven yards on consecutive possessions in the first half in front of a crowd of 50,000 at Paul Brown Stadium.
“It happened to work tonight. I am always trying to better my game,” said Green.
Cincinnati’s aggressive attack allowed them to take an early 21-point lead. They added another touchdown to lead 28-14 at halftime.
The Bengals held on to win despite being outscored 9-6 in the second half.
“We just had to grind it out. We were fortunate enough to come out with the win,” said Bengals runningback Joe Mixon, who finished with 84 yards rushing.
The loss dropped Baltimore to 1-1.
Next week the Bengals face Carolina, while the Ravens square off against Denver.
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