By Mark Curnutte
Enquirer staff writer

The Bengals, who didn't score a touchdown in the preseason opener at Tampa Bay, found the end zone on their first three possessions Saturday night against New England and defeated the defending Super Bowl champions 31-3 at Paul Brown Stadium.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Saturday's game

Starting quarterback Carson Palmer threw touchdown passes from 13, 9 and 9 yards and had a passer rating of 133.6 in the first half. He was 12-for-19 passing for 179 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

"I just like the way my team is playing around me," Palmer said. "The receivers made some plays."

The Bengals are 1-1 in the preseason, rebounding from a 20-6 loss five nights earlier at Tampa Bay.

"I hope we're on the way up," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. "Obviously, we feel good about winning the football game. But it's a preseason game."

An announced crowd of 50,287 saw the Bengals take an early lead on a 1-yard run by Rudi Johnson.

Johnson ran 16 times for 76 yards and a 4.8-yard average.

The big play of the first drive was a 48-yard pass from Palmer to Chad Johnson, who got behind New England's secondary but tripped on the new FieldTurf surface at the Patriots 18-yard line.

The Bengals scored on their second drive after the defense forced the Patriots into a three-and-out punt.

On the second drive, Palmer showed patience in the pass offense. Instead of forcing the ball into coverage on two plays, he rolled right to buy more time. He first threw incomplete to Kelley Washington, who had stepped out of bounds. But New England linebacker Tedy Bruschi was called for roughing the passer, which gave the Bengals a first down on the 14. After Rudi Johnson ran for a yard, Palmer again was forced right from the pocket. As he ran right on the 25-yard line, Palmer threw a 30-yard strike back across his body and into the end zone to tight end Tony Stewart.

FIRST-QUARTER STATS

The Bengals dominated the first half Saturday night against New England. The first quarter was especially lopsided: Category Bengals Patriots First downs 12 0 Net yards 176 7 Passing yards 98 0 Rushing yards 78 7 Offensive plays 23 6 Points 14 0 Possession time 11:39 3:21

Corey Dillon, the Bengals' tailback for seven years who was traded in April, started for the Patriots and was greeted by a mixture of mostly boos but some cheers.

For the night, Dillon ran 11 times for 31 yards and had two receptions for 14 yards. He fumbled on his second pass reception in the third quarter. Dillon definitely noticed the negative crowd reaction.

"They paid for their tickets to act bananas," he said.

The Bengals defense played well, forcing three turnovers and collecting four sacks.

After taking a 14-0 lead, the Bengals defense forced a second consecutive three-and-out punt from the Patriots.

On the third possession, the Bengals caught a break when New England cornerback Asante Samuel was called for illegal contact on a third-and-11 play from the Bengals 36-yard line. The Bengals mixed the pass and run on the 14-play, 75-yard drive, which ended with Palmer hitting T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown pass.

Trailing 21-0, New England scored on a 25-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri to cap a 12-play, 87-yard drive. The Bengals defense gave up pass completions of 31, 17 and 28 yards to quarterback Tom Brady.

The Bengals punted on the fourth and fifth drives before safety Kevin Kaesviharn intercepted a tipped Brady pass and returned it 11 yards to the New England 42-yard line. Kaesviharn also recovered Dillon's fumble.

Palmer then worked the two-minute drill to perfection. He threw 18 yards to Houshmandzadeh on a slant and 14 yards to Washington out to the 9-yard line. Then Palmer rolled right and threw incomplete twice against good coverage, once tossing the ball into the stands. Then he hit Watson on a dump pass, and the third-string back ran the final 12 yards behind downfield blocking by guard Bobbie Williams.

Palmer, who played just 17 snaps in the loss at Tampa Bay, played 40 offensive snaps in the first half against New England.

On defense, Bengals defensive end Duane Clemons had two sacks and forced Brady to fumble once.

The Bengals' final score came in the third quarter on a 38-yard field goal by Shayne Graham. Graham is now perfect on three attempts in the postseason.

Jon Kitna played most of the third quarter and went 3-for-7 passing for 55 yards.

Five of the Bengals' first six possessions in the second half ended with three-and-out punts.

New England	0	3	0	0-3
Cincinnati	14	14	3	0-31

First Quarter
Cin-R.Johnson 1 run (S.Graham kick), 12:36.
Cin-Stewart 13 pass from Palmer (S.Graham kick), 7:44.
Second Quarter
Cin-Houshmandzadeh 9 pass from Palmer (S.Graham kick), 13:08.
NE-FG Vinatieri 25, 6:04.
Cin-Watson 9 pass from Palmer (S.Graham kick), :32.
Third Quarter
Cin-FG S.Graham 38, 3:21.
A-50,287.

	NE	Cin
First downs	12	21
Total Net Yards	254	385
Rushes-yards	20-77	37-155
Passing	177	230
Punt Returns	4-37	4-12
Kickoff Returns	6-75	2-52
Interceptions Ret.	0-0	2-38
Comp-Att-Int	18-37-2	15-27-0
Sacked-Yards Lost	4-35	1-4
Punts	8-45.0	7-38.0
Fumbles-Lost	5-1	0-0
Penalties-Yards	7-51	9-65
Time of Possession	27:45	32:15

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-New England, Cloud 6-43, Dillon 11-31, Pass 1-3, Faulk 1-1, Brady 1-(minus 1). Cincinnati, R.Johnson 16-76, K.Watson 7-38, Perry 7-20, Goodman 3-10, Lynch 2-8, Bramlet 2-3.

PASSING-New England, Brady 8-13-1-126, Davey 10-24-1-86. Cincinnati, Palmer 12-19-0-179, Kitna 3-7-0-55, Bramlet 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING-New England, Branch 3-55, Gessner 3-17, D.Graham 2-32, Faulk 2-31, B.Watson 2-28, Dillon 2-14, Givens 1-12, B.Johnson 1-9, Fauria 1-7, Pass 1-7. Cincinnati, C.Johnson 3-62, Washington 3-39, Houshmandzadeh 3-39, Perry 2-24, Stewart 2-19, P.Johnson 1-42, K.Watson 1-9.

MISSED FIELD GOALS-None.

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E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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