The Bengals were matched up against the Indianapolis Colts in their preseason finale. It was their first and only home game of the preseason, and Cincinnati entered with an even 1-1 record in their previous two, coming off a road win in Washington.
The Colts got out to an early 3-0 lead in this one. After the two teams traded punts, Indianapolis then extended their lead via a pick 6. Ridder seemingly didn’t see the defender, and sent it right into the waiting arms of Scott, who took it back 35 yards to the house. 10-0 Colts.
Cincinnati would answer, with Didder finding Burton for 19 yards to start the drive off. After a few shorter gains, Milton ripped off a 41 yard run to set up the offence with 1st & goal. They needed all 4 downs to find the end zone. Ridder was the one to bring it in. He was able to execute the QB sneak from less than a yard out. 10-7 Colts.
After this, it was all Colts for nearly the whole game. They would finish the 1st half with 2 long TD drives. The first was capped off by a 2 yard run by Bently. On the second, it was Leonard who found Treadwell, the Vikings’ 2016 1st round pick, for a 59 yard score. It was 24-7 Colts at the half.
Indy added two more TD drives in the 3rd quarter. The first of which was another TD for Bently, who this time ran it in from 12 yards out. Their second one capped off a 98 yard drive that took nearly 7 and a half minutes off the clock. A handful of chunk plays were picked up by the Colts, and Bean capped it off with a 7 yard TD pass to Owen. At this point, it was 38-7 for the road team.
In the 4th quarter, the Colts added a field goal, while the Bengals scored their second TD of the game in the dying seconds of regulation. On Indy’s field goal drive, Howard Cross III actually came up with an interception, but fumbled it back to them after a nice return. A bit disappointing for him, as he actually had a solid game.
For Cincinnati, Payton Thorn found Owens for 12 yards to move the chains on 3rd down. Owen caught the screen pass at the line of scrimmage, and had to do some dirty work. An offside penalty on the defence bailed out Cincy after a botched snap on 4th & 1. After taking a big sack, Thorne found Burgess for 16 yards, before a 9 yard pitch and catch to Moore moved the chains again. The drive was eventually capped off by a 4 yard TD run by Quali Conley.
The final score was 41-14 in favour of the Colts. The Bengals will now shift their focus to Tuesday’s cutdown day, and the practice squad in the days after that. Once the roster work is completed, it will be on to Cleveland for the regular season opener against the Browns.
