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Graham kicks Bengals past Rams

Dec 9, 2007 - 11:35 PM CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- Marvin Lewis and the Cincinnati Bengals are having a forgettable season, but hope to finish strong.

Shayne Graham kicked four field goals and Rudi Johnson ran for a touchdown as the Bengals posted a 19-10 victory over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday.

Graham kicked field goals of 27, 36, 38 and 32 yards to help the Bengals bounce back from last week's 24-10 loss in Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, Carson Palmer completed 21-of-29 passes for 189 yards with two interceptions for the Bengals (5-8), who are looking to avoid their first losing season since Lewis took over as coach in 2003.

"We were able to run the ball and on the other side we were able to stop the run," Lewis said. "We put more Rudi runs in our game plan."

Johnson has been struggling with injuries this season and still is not 100 percent. He came into the game with 389 yards rushing and a 2.8 average, well below his career average of 4.0 yards per carry.

"We ran more power stuff downhill," Johnson said. "We ran right at them. I'm getting better and better each week. We just have to stick to it."

On its second possesion of the game, Cincinnati took a 7-0 lead thanks to a pass interference penalty on linebacker Will Witherspoon in the end zone on 3rd-and-11. That set up a 1-yard run by Johnson which gave the Bengals the lead with 5:37 to play in the first quarter.

After St. Louis (3-10) punted, Cincinnati traveled 84 yards in 11 plays and Graham kicked a 27-yard field goal to stretch the lead to 10-0 with 9:50 left in the half.

The Rams were forced to start third string quarterback Brock Berlin, who had never thrown a pass in a regular-season game. Berlin got the start because Mark Bulger is still not fully recovered from a concussion, and backup Gus Frerotte has a partially torn labrum.

Berlin was 17-of-28 for 153 yards without an interception for St. Louis, which failed to establish any rhythm on offense. The Rams had 241 total yards and converted just 3-of-13 third downs chances.

"I try to prepare each and every day," Berlin said. "It was fast. You have 11 All-Americans out there on each side of the ball. Anytime you play anything, you have some nerves. As the game went on, I think I started getting a better feel for the guys and started to make plays. Then it was just football."

"It was a tough task," St. Louis coach Scott Linehan said. "He didn't take too many reps until Friday. That's basically the first snap he has taken in an NFL game. He has never played in an NFL game unless you count Europe. I was proud of him. I thought he gave a great effort."

Still as hard as Berlin tried, the Bengals took advantage of his inexperience. Safety Dexter Jackson repeatedly blitzed off the corner to confuse Berlin and his teammates.

"We wanted to force them to pass the ball which is not their strength," said Jackson, who sealed the game by intercepting Berlin's desperation pass.

While the Rams' offense was stagnant behind Berlin, the defense helped St. Louis cut the lead to 10-7. Fakhir Brown cut in front of T.J. Houshmandzadeh and returned an interception 36 yards for a touchdown just 54 seconds into the third quarter.

But the Bengals answered as Graham kicked a 38-yard field goal with 4:41 left and added a 32-yarder to make the lead 16-7 with 19 seconds remaining in the third.

Jeff Wilkins cut the lead to 16-10 with a 50-yard field goal with 5:08 to play, but Graham sealed the outcome by capping an eight-play, 46-yard drive with a 46-yard field goal with 2:22 remaining.