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Maroney And Patriots Run Roughshod Over Bengals

(Sports Network) - Laurence Maroney ran for 125 yards and two touchdowns to lead the New England Patriots over the Cincinnati Bengals, 38-13, at Paul Brown Stadium.

Former Bengal Corey Dillon added 67 yards and a score rushing for the Patriots (3-1), who literally ran all over the Bengals and grabbed sole possession of the top spot in the AFC East. The Patriots ran for 236 yards and scored the final 24 points of the game, knocking the Bengals from the ranks of the unbeaten.

Tom Brady finished 15-of-26 for 188 yards with two touchdowns and one interception for New England, which used suffocating defense to stymie the high-powered Bengals' attack. Jarvis Green had three sacks and the Patriots forced two Carson Palmer fumbles on their way to victory.

Palmer ended 20-of-35 for 245 yards, but he didn't throw a touchdown for Cincinnati (3-1), which was coming off a road win in Pittsburgh last weekend and could have established itself as one of the teams to beat in the AFC with a win against New England.

Instead, the Bengals now trail the Baltimore Ravens by one game for the lead in the AFC North. Baltimore and Indianapolis are the two remaining undefeated teams in the AFC. The Patriots, meanwhile, reminded everyone that they are still an elite team despite a disappointing home loss last week to Denver.

"We knew that we had to come out here and work twice as hard," said Maroney. "We knew that the run was going to have to play a big part. Basically, I came out here just to help Corey (Dillon), because it meant a lot to the guy. I just wanted to help get a win."

Rudi Johnson ran for 65 yards and a score and T.J. Houshmandzadeh had four catches for 95 yards for the Bengals, who had only 71 yards rushing and 279 yards overall compared to 424 yards of offense for the Patriots.

"Everyone needs to look in the mirror," said Johnson. "Maybe we're not as good as we think we are. Something's got to change. Now what are we going to do to change it?"

"We've been flying along pretty good," said Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. "We got hit in the face. And they kept coming.

"No excuses about it. We got beat, but we've got a lot of football left to play."

After Cincinnati ended its first possession of the second half with a two-yard touchdown run by Rudi Johnson to draw the club within 14-13 with 7:03 to play in the quarter, the Patriots took over.

New England's ensuing drive resulted in seven points for the Pats. Maroney ended a five-play, 75-yard march with a 25-yard TD run for a 21-13 cushion. Brady went 2-of-3 for 34 yards on the possession, which was aided by a 15-yard unnecessary roughness call on the Bengals' Kevin Kaesviharn that brought the ball to the Cincinnati 25-yard line.

Then, after the Bengals were forced to punt, New England bridged the third and fourth quarters with a nine-play, 88-yard drive, ending it with a 24-yard Stephen Gostkowski 24-yard field goal.

The woes continued for the Bengals as Palmer was stripped by Green on the third play of the next possession, giving the Patriots the ball at the Bengals' 13.

Six plays later, Dillon punched it in from one yard out on fourth down to make it a 31-13 contest with 11:15 to play.

Palmer then fumbled again on the second play of the ensuing drive and Ty Warren recovered for the Patriots at Cincinnati's 29.

This time, Brady hit Daniel Graham with a three-yard touchdown pass to increase the lead to 25 points with a little more than half the quarter to play.

Cincinnati didn't threaten after that.

"I just need to hold on to the ball," said Palmer. "There's no way to sugar- coat it. When your quarterback fumbles the ball twice in two consecutive series, you don't have a chance to win the game, especially when you fumble the ball inside your own red zone."

Chad Johnson ended with just 64 yards on six catches for the Bengals.

Gabriel had four catches for 57 yards for New England.

The Bengals' first two possessions resulted in field goals and the wasted opportunities later proved costly. Shayne Graham hit a 40-yard field goal to start the scoring and then connected on a 45-yarder for the 6-0 going into the second quarter.

The Pats finally got on the board in the second when Maroney ran in from 11 yards out to put New England ahead 7-6 with 8:38 left. The run capped an eight-play, 83-yard drive that took nearly five minutes off the clock.

Two possessions later, New England went ahead by eight points. After taking over at the Bengals' 42-yard line following a 42-yard punt return by Kevin Faulk, the Pats needed just six plays to go ahead 14-6. This time, Brady hit Gabriel with a 25-yard scoring pass with 1:54 left in the half.

Game Notes

Bengals' wide receiver Chris Henry was inactive for the game after his off- field actions earlier this week. Henry was with teammate Odell Thurman was he was arrested for drunken driving earlier this week. The arrest resulted in the year-long suspension of Thurman. Lewis refused to go into too much detail about Henry, saying that he just wasn't one of the best 45 players...Rudi Johnson celebrated his 27th birthday on Sunday...Maroney leads all NFL rookies in rushing yards with 294...Dillon holds the Bengals' franchise records for rushing yards (8,061) and attempts (1,865)...Palmer threw four touchdown passes last week against Pittsburgh...Rudi Johnson tied Larry Kinnebrew and James Brooks for third on the club's all-time rushing TD list with 37.

Source: www.intwebnews.com

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Maroney And Patriots Run Roughshod Over Bengals

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