By Kevin Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

There is videotaped evidence. Even so, Duane Clemons refrained from detailing how the Bengals subdued one of the NFL's best offensive teams Sunday.

"Shhh. Don't tell anybody," the Bengals defensive end said. "Let them wonder. Let them wonder the rest of the season.

"As long as nobody figures it out, we'll be fine."

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Photos of Sunday's game

It really is no secret what Cincinnati's defense did in the 24-19 win at Paul Brown Stadium.

From the defensive line to the secondary, and everywhere in between, the Bengals continually disrupted a timing-based Kansas City offense.

"That's excellent play-calling," linebacker Kevin Hardy said. "Whenever you get in a game and a team is trying to run a bootleg and you've got somebody in (the quarterback's) face, that means the opposing coordinator is in their coordinator's head. That's how you want to play."

The final stats are skewed by a big offensive fourth quarter by Kansas City and its quarterback, Trent Green, who passed for 178 yards and two touchdowns in the final minutes.

The Bengals held the Chiefs to 194 total yards (126 passing/68 rushing) and two field goals through the first three quarters.

The first half was worse: 85 total yards, four first downs and three points.

"We had to concentrate on making (Green) move his feet and move him around the pocket, getting hands on the receivers and just knocking off his timing," Bengals linebacker Brian Simmons said.

Kansas City entered with the NFL's fourth-rated offense and led the league by scoring 31.9 points per game.

Green was second in the AFC with 2,203 yards and third with 14 touchdowns. He wound up completing 28-of-42 passes for 313 yards to eight different receivers.

The Bengals sacked Green once, deflected five passes and hurried him several times.

"We knew we had to have pressure," cornerback Artrell Hawkins said. "Even when we didn't have blitzes called, we had to get our defensive lineman and our linebackers beating one-on-one blocking. They did a really good job at that."

Chiefs running back Priest Holmes, one of the league's most productive offensive players, had averaged 96 rushing yards and 44 receiving yards per game entering Sunday.

He was held to 62 yards on 16 carries, none longer than a 20-yarder on Kansas City's first possession of the second half, and four catches for 36 yards.

"No question it is our best (defensive performance)," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said.

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