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Oilers 44, Bengals 14
Oilers finally win at home
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The Tennessee Oilers finally are winners in their new hometown.
The Oilers, who had lost their first two games in Nashville, scored on their first six possessions in routing the Cincinnati Bengals 44-14 Sunday. The team that moved from Houston in 1977 played in Memphis last season.
Steve McNair, with his two starting receivers out with injuries and bandaged from wrist to elbow, had one of the best games of his career. He ran for a touchdown and threw for another.
Al Del Greco kicked three field goals and backup running back Mike Archie even got into the action with an 18-yard TD toss in the Oilers' best offensive performance this season.
Maybe it was a letdown from last week's last-second victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the Bengals (2-4) couldn't get anything going behind Neil O'Donnell and Carl Pickens.
O'Donnell, the AFC's highest-rated quarterback, repeatedly overthrew receivers. He lost Cincinnati's first fumble this season in the third quarter when sacked by Darryll Lewis. Joe Bowden picked off the ball in the air and scored from 12 yards, giving the Oilers a 30-0 lead.
It hadn't looked so promising for the Oilers (3-3) before the game. Receivers Willie Davis (chest) and Pro Bowler Yancey Thigpen (hip) were both deactivated, and rookie Kevin Dyson and second-year Isaac Byrd were making the first starts of their NFL careers.
But McNair huddled with his receivers before kickoff, and the replacements did just fine with plenty of help from McNair and Eddie George.
The Oilers rolled up 515 yards and wound up controling the clock for 36:55. They also scored their most points since December 1991, when they beat the Raiders 47-17.
McNair scored on a 1-yard run and tossed a 45-yarder to Dyson, and he finished 16-of-21 for 277 yards for the second-best outing of his career. George had his third 100-yard game this season with 25 carries for 107 yards.
The Bengals got into Tennessee territory only once before halftime and had only 72 yards total offense. When they got their offense going, it was too late. Dillon scored Cincinnati's first TD on a 12-yard run with 6:11 left in the third and cut the score to 30-7.
O'Donnell did find Damon Gibson on a 76-yard TD early in the fourth quarter, but he found himself on the bench for Jeff Blake late in the game.
Summary
NFL FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
CINCINNATI 0 0 7 7 14
TENNESSEE 7 13 17 7 44 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QUARTER: TEN - TD, JACKIE HARRIS 18 YD PASS FROM MIKE ARCHIE (AL
DEL GRECO KICK), 4:50. Drive: 9 plays, 72 yards
in 4:50. Key plays: McNair 22-yard pass to
Wycheck on 3rd-and-5 to Cincinnati 12.
TENNESSEE 7-0
2ND QUARTER: TEN - FG, AL DEL GRECO 35 YD, 2:12. Drive: 15 plays, 66
yards in 9:28. Key plays: McNair 8-yard run on
3rd-and-7 to Tennessee 28; George 13-yard run
on 3rd-and-1 to Cincinnati 35; McNair 6-yard
pass to Byrd on 3rd-and-4 to Cincinnati 23.
TENNESSEE 10-0
TEN - TD, STEVE MCNAIR 1 YD RUN (AL DEL GRECO KICK),
12:42. Drive: 13 plays, 74 yards in 7:22. Key
plays: McNair 21-yard pass to Dyson to
Tennessee 47; George 3-yard run on 3rd-and-1 to
Cincinnati 30; George 4-yard run on 3rd-and-2
to Cincinnati 2. TENNESSEE 17-0
TEN - FG, AL DEL GRECO 38 YD, 14:57. Drive: 5 plays, 58
yards in 0:44. Key plays: McNair 44-yard pass
to Sanders to Cincinnati 19. TENNESSEE 20-0
3RD QUARTER: TEN - FG, AL DEL GRECO 42 YD, 4:33. Drive: 6 plays, 45
yards in 2:59. Key plays: McNair 38-yard pass
to Wycheck to Cincinnati 30. TENNESSEE 23-0
TEN - TD, JOE BOWDEN 12 YD FUMBLE RETURN (AL DEL GRECO
KICK), 4:55. TENNESSEE 30-0
CIN - TD, COREY DILLON 12 YD RUN (DOUG PELFREY KICK),
8:49. Drive: 8 plays, 80 yards in 3:54. Key
plays: Odonnell 46-yard pass to Pickens to
Tennessee 34; Dillon 7-yard run on 3rd-and-6 to
Tennessee 12. TENNESSEE 30-7
TEN - TD, KEVIN DYSON 45 YD PASS FROM STEVE MCNAIR (AL
DEL GRECO KICK), 9:09. Drive: 1 play, 45 yards
in 0:08. Key plays: Archie 50-yard kickoff
return to Cincinnati 45. TENNESSEE 37-7
4TH QUARTER: CIN - TD, DAMON GIBSON 76 YD PASS FROM NEIL ODONNELL
(DOUG PELFREY KICK), 2:45. Drive: 3 plays, 91
yards in 1:26. TENNESSEE 37-14
TEN - TD, RODNEY THOMAS 1 YD RUN (AL DEL GRECO KICK),
10:30. Drive: 5 plays, 65 yards in 2:15. Key
plays: Krieg 46-yard pass to Sanders on
3rd-and-3 to Cincinnati 12; Thomas 11-yard run
to Cincinnati 1. TENNESSEE 44-14
TEAM STATISTICS
CIN TEN
-------- --------
FIRST DOWNS 14 24
Rushing 6 11
Passing 6 13
Penalty 2 0
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 4-12 9-13
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 1-2 0-0
TOTAL NET YARDS 334 515
Total plays 51 65
Average gain 6.5 7.9
NET YARDS RUSHING 148 171
Rushes 23 39
Average per rush 6.4 4.4
NET YARDS PASSING 186 344
Completed-attempted 13-25 20-25
Yards per pass 6.6 13.2
Sacked-yards lost 3-16 1-8
Had intercepted 0 0
PUNTS-AVERAGE 5-43.4 2-48.5
RETURN YARDAGE 69 103
Punts-returns 1-3 2-26
Kickoffs-returns 3-66 2-77
Interceptions-returns 0-0 0-0
PENALTIES-YARDS 5-40 6-54
FUMBLES-LOST 1-1 0-0
TIME OF POSSESSION 23:05 36:55
PLAYER STATISTICS
Missed field goals: None.
Cincinnati rushing: Corey Dillon 14-124, Brandon Bennett 6-14, Jeff
Blake 1-5, Neil Odonnell 2-5.
Tennessee rushing: Eddie George 25-107, Rodney Thomas 11-48, Steve
Mcnair 3-16.
Cincinnati passing: Neil Odonnell 11-22 for 192 yards, 0 INT, 1 TD,
Jeff Blake 2-3 for 10 yards, 0 INT, 0 TD.
Tennessee passing: Steve Mcnair 16-21 for 277 yards, 0 INT, 1 TD,
Dave Krieg 3-3 for 57 yards, 0 INT, 0 TD, Mike Archie 1-1 for 18
yards, 0 INT, 1 TD.
Cincinnati receiving: Brian Milne 3-16, Carl Pickens 2-51, Darnay
Scott 2-29, Eric Bieniemy 2-18, Brandon Bennett 2-10, Damon Gibson
1-76, Corey Dillon 1-2.
Tennessee receiving: Isaac Byrd 5-53, Frank Wycheck 4-84, Kevin Dyson
4-82, Chris Sanders 3-101, Jackie Harris 1-18, Michael Roan 1-8,
Rodney Thomas 1-3, Mike Archie 1-3.
A: 33,288.