OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Cincinnati Bengals fell to the Oakland Raiders 20-17 Sunday.
The Bengals had a chance to give themselves some breathing room in the AFC North with Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Cleveland all losing Sunday afternoon. All they had to do was beat a bad Raiders team.
It looked like Carson Palmer and company would control the Raiders from the beginning. The Bengals offense ran nearly ten minutes off the clock on their first drive. The drive ended when Carson Palmer ran to the right and finished with a dive across the goal line.
In the second quarter, Carson Palmer ran for another one yard score to make it a 14-0 game.
That’s when Oakland made a game of it. Late in the first half, Bruce Gradkowski hit Zach Miller in the endzone to cut the lead in half.
In the third quarter, Sebastian Janikowski nailed a 52 yard field goal to cut the Bengals lead to just four.
After missing one field goal attempt, Shayne Graham came back and hit a 25 yarder to give the Bengals some breathing room.
The Bengals looked to deliver another score in the fourth quarter, but Jeremi Johnson fumbled on the Raiders 15 yardline. Oakland recovered the fumble.
With six minutes to play, Jonathan Fanane put a good hit on Gradkowski forcing a bad throw. Johnathan Joseph capitalized and intercepted the pass.
The Raiders got the ball back and executed a great two minute offense. Gradkowski drove down and hit Louis Murphy for a 29 yard score with 33 seconds left to play to tie the game at 17.
Andre Caldwell brought the kickoff out of the endzone and fumbled on the 17 yard line. Oakland recovered with great field position.
Janikowski came on with 19 seconds left for a 33 yard field goal attempt. The kick went right down the middle and Oakland took its first lead of the day 20-17.
The Bengals did not have enough time left on the clock to pull out another fourth quarter comeback this time.
Cincinnati falls to 7-3 on the season and Oakland improves to 3-7.
Bernard Scott was a bright spot. He made the most of his first NFL start. He ran for 119 yards on 21 carries while filling in for the injured Cedric Benson.
