1 p.m. Bye Week Mayhem: Bengals Trump Browns in Final Second of Overtime

Shutdown Corner’s Doug Farrar has some immediate Bengals reaction, and you know what? These Bengals might just be for real:

We’re still knotted at 20 with under three minutes left in overtime. Lots of punts, and incomplete passes, though, if that’s your thing. Could the Battle of Ohio really end in a tie?

The Browns weren’t able to mount a last-minute score in regulation, so now we’re headed to the fifth quarter. They won the coin flip, and we’re left to wait and see what Derek Anderson’s offense can produce in sudden death.

After a 15-play, 7 minute drive brought them into Baltimore’s red zone, the New England Patriots were on the brink of ending the game with a touchdown. Bill Belichick knew this—so he went for the kill! Rather than settle for a field goal, he tried a fake field goal that got the Patriots near a first down.

Unfortunately, the fake was negated by an illegal motion penalty, but before the Ravens could accept that penalty, we were treated to a 15-minute interlude whereby the previous play was challenged to see whether the Patriots would have made the first down without the penalty—if the Pats didn’t make it, the Ravens would have just declined the penalty and taken over on downs.

Clifton Smith fumbled the ball with 44 seconds left in the fourth quarter to give the Redskins the win. After Jason Campbell had a terrible first half and the Redskins were down 10-0, Campbell somewhat resurrected his game by throwing two touchdown passes, one to Chris Cooley and the other to Santana Moss. Campbell ended up at 12-for-22 for 170 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.

For the Buccaneers Josh Johnson was alright in his Buccaneer debut this season. Johnson threw for 13-for-22 for 106 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Antonio Bryant caught four balls for 44 yards and Cadillac Williams had 16 carries for 77 yards.

The Lions’ second-half game isn’t working, and neither is the coach-to-quarterback radio system, and neither is Matt Stafford’s knee.

The Bears have scored 13 unanswered points, and at some point in the third quarter, Stafford’s in-helmet headset stopped working, requiring him to jog to the sidelines to get the call.

The Browns are putting something together. They’ve held the Bengals scoreless in the second half while scoring 17 unanswered since the second quarter.

Quarterback Derek Anderson (who Terry Bradhaw referred to as “Derrick Alexander” in the halftime show, whoops!) has thrown for 207 yards, while Jerome Harrison has recovered from his first-quarter fumble to rush 20 times for 95 yards. Meanwhile, entering the fourth quarter, the Bengals’ Carson Palmer has managed only 120 yards passing.

Just as I updated the Redskins touchdown to Chris Cooley, Campbell threw an 59 yard touchdown pass to Santana Moss. The Redskins have officially turned around their game from a terrible first half and Campbell is now 12-for-21 for 170 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Well, at least the Lions were tied for about a minute’s worth of game clock. Chicago’s rookie kick returner, Johnny Knox(ville), made the Lions look like “Jackass”es (you like that? Eh?) He caught the half-opening kickoff in the end zone and blitzed 102 yards for a touchdown, and was completely untouched by Detroit.

These halftime scores are hand-painted and individually numbered collector’s items. My bosses think I’m crazy for giving them away!

The big story: the Lions are tied with the Bears at Soldier Field. Matt Stafford (221 yards passing) and Calvin Johnson (119 yards receiving) are hooking up like Legos.

Matt Stafford’s offense took over at the Lions’ own 2 yard line. Ten plays and 4:25 of game clock later, Detroit broke into the end zone. Remember two things: this team is supposed to be awful, and this team is playing on the road.

With the way Stafford is throwing, the Lions have preferred to go through the air in the first half. Stafford has thrown for 221 yards so far, 119 of which have been caught by Calvin Johnson.

The 0-3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers have missed two field goals so far--of course they have--but still lead 10-0 going into halftime. Because as mediocre as Tampa’s been, the Redskins have one-upped their ineptitude in every phase of the game. Starting with much-maligned--and subsequently defended--‘Skins quarterback, Jason Campbell.

But even the most strenuous Campbell apologists will have trouble rationalizing today’s performance. As the Washington Post’s Rick Maese observes:

Steve Slaton scored his second touchdown of the game on an 18 yard screen pass from Matt Schaub. This comes after a 32 yard touchdown run on the drive before. The Texans defense is having their way with the Raiders at this point in the game.

The game is still 10-7 in New England, but more significantly, Baltimore’s promising left tackle Jared Gaither has been immobilized on the field for about fifteen minutes now. He’s just been carted off the field, and his prognosis is unclear as of now. The announcers are speaking hushed tones, and players from both teams are praying—the uglier side of the game, in all its misery.

Let’s hope we’re not talking about a worst-case scenario, here, as Gaither was able to clutch doctors’ hands, and his legs appeared to moving slightly when he was on the ground. More details as they emerge.

I get to choose between two local broadcasts this afternoon—Tampa Bay at Washington, or Baltimore at New England. This would be like choosing between Iraq or the Bahamas as a vacation spot. Hmm…

And after stupidly subjecting myself to the horrors of Buccaneers-‘SkIns, I’m not watching two of the best teams in football. (Exhale). The Patriots are up 10-7 early, thanks in large part to an early fumble from Ravens KR Chris Carr, which gave the Patriots an easy field goal to open the game.

Cleveland’s Jerome Harrison fumbled four yards behind his line of scrimmage, and the Bengals’ Robert Geathers was right on top of it. Geathers scooped up the ball and ran 75 yards the other way for a touchdown.Geathers, by the way, weighs in at 280 pounds. Presumably, he is now using up all the oxygen in the greater Cleveland area.

After Jay Cutler led a 73-yard touchdown drive to tie it, the Lions have responded, scoring a touchdown of their own, this time on a 14-yard pass from Matthew Stafford to Will Heller. The touchdown punctuated a dominating drive by the Lions as they took it 87 yards on the Chicago defense, and actually looked like (gasp) a competent football team.Stay tuned, but the Jim Schwartz era in Detroit is off to an auspicious start.

The Bengals’ first drive stretched all the way to the Browns’ 4 yard line, but the Bengals had to resort to a field goal attempt, which they missed.Later in the first quarter, though, the Bengals worked its way back to almost the exact same spot. This time around, Chad Ochocinco caught a five-yard pass, and the Bengals lead by a touchdown.

So far, Carson Palmer has completed 10 of 12 passes for 111 yards.

It was a glum way for the Jaguars to start the season: experts had them pegged as one of the worst teams in the league, and attendance was so sparse that their home opener was blacked out. A win against the Titans, though, would put them at 2-2.David Garrard has completed 5 of 6 for 59 yards so far, and the Jags lead, 10-0.

After a Kansas City fumble gave them the ball deep in Kansas City territory, Eli and the Giants offense moved quickly, making quick work of the Kansas City defense, and capitalizing on the turnover to the tune of a 2-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Steve Smith.

On the first possession of the game, Lions quarterback Matt Stafford marched his team down the field with authority, completing 4 of 5 passes for 60 yards. Running back Kevin Smith punched through the goal line for a one-yard touchdown run.

Just to put it out there: if the Lions can pull out a win at Soldier Field today, they’ll have a .500 record (2-2) for the first time since December 2, 2007.

It took only a few minutes for the Redskins’ woes to continue. They did win the coin toss, which was a bright spot. Unfortunately, that led to an opening series that saw Jason Campbell sacked twice, and fumbling the second time. Gaines Adams of the Buccaneers recovered the fumble, and two plays later, Buccaneers QB Josh Johnson, in his first career start, hooked up with WR Antonio Bryant for his first career touchdown.