By Paul Daugherty
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HOUSTON - For so long, the Bengals have waited for plays like the one Artrell Hawkins made in the first quarter Sunday. Hawkins intercepted a David Carr pass 2 yards deep in his end zone, then started running.

"The last 30 yards, I was pretty tired," Hawkins said.

When he reached the Houston Texans' goal line, 102 yards into the run, Hawkins half-jumped, half-flopped for the touchdown.

"More fatigue than joy," he said.

This isn't the sort of story told much about the Bengals. They improved to 1-7 with a 38-3 thrashing of the Texans. Hawkins' pick-and-run was the catalyst.

"After that, we came alive like we haven't all year," Hawkins said.

It was 3-3 when Carr looked to his left to wideout Jabar Gaffney. Houston had driven 69 yards, to a third-and-goal at the Cincinnati 5. The home fans sensed an early 10-3 lead against the league's only winless team.

The Bengals were in nickel pass coverage, which usually means Hawkins has inside responsibility. On this play, he was on the outside, one-on-one with Gaffney. Carr threw a strike, but Hawkins stepped in front of it.

"I got a good break on it," he said. "The rest is history."

Hawkins received good downfield blocks from Mark Roman and Reinard Wilson but appeared to step out of bounds at the Houston 24 while making a cut. The Texans challenged the play, but it stood for lack of evidence.

"Scale-balancing," Bengals coach Dick LeBeau called it, a reference to last week's game, when a Bengals challenge on Corey Dillon's would-be touchdown run was denied. "That flipped the game around."

Suddenly, instead of probably trailing at least 6-3, the Bengals were up 10-3.

Hawkins deferred credit to the Bengals' offense, which scored quickly, then played ball control in the second half.

"The best defense you can play is the kind our offense played today," he said.