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Bengals jolt Redskins' playoff hopes

Dec 14, 2008 - 11:53 PM CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for one touchdown and ran for another, leading the Cincinnati Bengals to a 20-13 upset of the Washington Redskins on Sunday.

Shayne Graham kicked a pair of field goals as the Bengals snapped three-game losing streak and dealt a huge blow to the fading playoff hopes of the Redskins (7-7).

Cincinnati (2-11-1) also made a huge goal-line stand in the third quarter, twice stopping Mike Sellers en route to handing Washington its their third straight defeat.

"They stopped us on the goal line. That was the key," Redskins coach Jim Zorn said. "I thought the call was great. I thought we'd surge into the end zone. They (Bengals) played it very tough. We've done it to other teams but they did it to us."

Washington started the season 6-2 but has lost five of its last six games, failing to score more than 13 points in any of the defeats.

"We came in here anticipating that we would play at a high level and put some points on the board," Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell said. "We just came up short. One thing about games in the NFL, turnovers will always get you."

The Bengals had been outscored, 69-6, in the previous two contests and entered Sunday's matchup having failed to score a touchdown in 11 quarters.

Cincinnati bolted to a 14-0 lead after one quarter as Fitzpatrick ran for a 1-yard touchdown and tossed a 12-yard scoring pass to Chris Henry.

A 79-yard pass to running back Cedric Benson set up the second touchdown for the Bengals, who held the Redskins to five straight three-and-outs to start the contest.

"Offensively, we really got off to a fast start," Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis said. "We did a nice job of taking care of the advantage when we had field position. We kind of fell off in the second quarter and also when we had it there again in the third quarter."

After a 32-yard field goal by Graham extended the lead to 17-0, Washington started to chip away at the deficit.

Santana Moss caught a 10-yard touchdown pass to make it 17-7 with with 4:44 left in the half. Moss set up the scored with a 28-yard punt return.

The Redskins sliced the margin to 17-10 on Shaun Suisham's 23-yard field goal with 15 seconds to play in the half.

On their opening drive of the second half, Washington drove from its own 12 to Cincinnati's 1-yard line where it faced 1st-and-goal.

After Sellers was stopped on second down, the middle of the Bengals' line stuffed him on third down. Sellers stayed on his feet and tried to extend the ball over the goal line, but it was swatted away by Cincinnati's Corey Mays, who recovered the ball in the end zone.

"That goal line play by Corey Mays. He (Sellers) tried to extend the ball out over the goal line. That's the danger of doing that," Lewis said.

Redskins running back Clinton Portis, who traded barbs with Zorn earlier in the week, had no issues with the play-calling.

"I wasn't frustrated by not getting the ball on the goal line," Portis said. "The coach made the call. Everyone had confidence that Mike was going to get in."