Jon Kitna had to get the ball to him, true, but the significance of the loss of veteran wide receiver Darnay Scott last season was apparent Sunday. Scott, who sat out last season with a broken leg, had five receptions for 104 yards in the Bengals' 23-17 victory against New England. Scott had more than half of the 204 receiving yards.

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Darnay Scott made a triumphant return. (Craig Ruttle photo) 600 | 800 | 1024

        Two of Scott's receptions came on third downs, one for 19 yards in the first quarter and the other for 8 on the Bengals' third-quarter touchdown drive.

        “It couldn't have been scripted any better,” Scott said. “I felt good about my self and my team. It wasn't really a plan to go to me. I was in there when we went after them. We connected on some good plays.”

        The Bengals had only one 100-yard receiving game in 2000 — Danny Farmer's 102-yard effort against Jacksonville in Game 15 — a season when they were last in the league in passing at 122 yards a game.

        Scott's big day, coupled with Corey Dillon's 104 yards rushing, gave the Bengals their first 100-yard individual rushing and receiving game since Dillon and Carl Pickens combined for the double-triple in a 44-30 victory Dec. 5, 1999 against San Francisco.

        Scott's longest catch Sunday, 34 yards, came on the Bengals' first play of the second half. It led to a career-long 47-yard field goal by Neil Rackers. It also kept the Patriots' defense off-balance.

        “That first play of the second half, when Darnay makes that catch, now they don't know what to do,” Kitna said. “We can run it. We can throw it. That hurt them. That kind of took them out of the game.”

        The Bengals scored on that possession and their next two.

        “The thing that helped us was getting that safety to play a little bit honest and quit coming up to play the run,” Dillon said.

        With Scott catching deeper balls and posing a threat each time he lined up, short passes were open for Peter Warrick, who had seven catches for 38 yards.

        Said coach Dick LeBeau, “It was good to see Darnay have a strong game out of the gate.”

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