NFL Week 12: Cincinnati Bengals beat Houston Texans, 22-13

Bengals QB Andy Dalton played an efficient game for Cincinnati to earn the team’s second straight road win.

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The Cincinnati Bengals defeated the Houston Texans 22-13 to maintain the lead in the AFC North in Week 12 of the NFL season.

With a TD pass from Bengals QB Andy Dalton to Mohammad Sanu in the first quarter, Cincinnati took an early lead that they never surrendered.  In the second quarter, Texans RB Alfred Blue committed a safety, giving the Bengals a 9-0 lead.  A field goal from Texans PK Randy Bullock cut the Cincinnati lead to 9-3 heading into halftime.

In the second half, the Bengals extended their lead on an easy 2-yard TD from rookie RB Jeremy Hill.  Four minutes later the Texans got their first TD of the day off an Andy Dalton INT which CB Johnathan Joseph returned 60 yards for the score. And towards the end of the third quarter, the Texans got another field goal to make the score 16-13 Cincinnati.  But in the 4th quarter the Bengals were able to keep control of the ball and added two more FGs from PK Mike Nugent to give them the 22-13 win.

Bengals QB Andy Dalton played efficiently, completing over 68% of his passes on the day and finishing with an 84.6 passer rating. Texans QB Ryan Mallett, getting his 2nd career NFL start after winning his first against the Browns, was not nearly as effective the second time around, completing less than 50% of his passes and throwing an INT while failing to lead the offense on a single TD drive.

With the win the Bengals improve to 7-3-1 on the season, improving their lead in the AFC North division race.  Cincinnati’s next game will be against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road.

With the loss, the Texans fall to 5-6 and are now two games behind the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC South title race. The Texans next game will be against the Tennessee Titans.