NASHVILLE — It wasn’t supposed to happen this fast for the Cincinnati Bengals.

At the midway point of the 2011 season, the Bengals sit tied with the Baltimore Ravens atop the AFC North at 6-2 after a 24-17 win at Tennessee on Sunday.

One year ago, the Bengals finished 4-12 with big names like Carson Palmer, Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco on the roster.

That trio is gone, replaced by rookie quarterback Andy Dalton and rookie wide receiver A.J. Green, yet the Bengals are thriving. With Dalton showing the poise of a veteran and a defensive unit that is starting to turn heads throughout the NFL, Cincinnati has pieced together its first five-game winning streak since 1988 and improved to 4-1 on the road.

“We have confidence in ourselves,” Green said. “We really don’t pay attention to what people say about us. We just go out there and play as hard as we can, play for each other. We have a long way to go, but I feel like we’re on track to be one of the best.”

Cincinnati used a familiar formula to pick up its fourth fourth-quarter comeback of the season Sunday. Trailing 17-7 at halftime, the defense forced punts on the Titans’ five second-half possessions, then sealed the victory with a fumble recovery by cornerback Nate Clements, leading to a Mike Nugent field goal. It was the third game this season Cincinnati’s defense didn’t allow a second-half touchdown. The Bengals have outscored their opponents 87-43 in the fourth quarter and 126-59 in the second half this season.

“That’s the difference in teams that win,” Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap said. “You can’t let the bad plays get you down. You have to worry about the next play and make up for it. If you can keep doing that, anything can happen.”

Dalton had one of the best games of his young career, engineering a 13-play, 75-yard drive early in the fourth quarter that gave the Bengals the lead for good.

Dalton finished 22-for-39 for 217 yards with three touchdown passes.

“He can play pretty well,” Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. “He has missed some throws that we would like for him to make, but all in all, you know, he played well. We didn’t turn the ball over and that’s huge. We knew that would be the key to this football game.”

Firmly entrenched in the AFC playoff picture, the real test for Cincinnati will come in the final eight games, starting Sunday with a visit from the 5-3 Pittsburgh Steelers. Cincinnati will face the Steelers and Ravens twice each in the second half of the season. The AFC South-leading Houston Texans will also visit the Bengals on Dec. 11.

It’s going to take a lot of work for the team that adapted the motto “find a way” during training camp to find a way to stay on top of the AFC North, but Dalton says the Bengals are confident they can maintain their momentum and continue to be one of the biggest surprises in the NFL in 2011.

“We have been in every game we have played in,” Dalton said. “Even our two losses, we were in it in the fourth quarter and (we) had a chance to win. We are doing a lot of good things. We have got some momentum right now and just need to keep it going.”

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By Joe Kay,

Associated Press

9:36 AM Tuesday, November 1, 2011

CINCINNATI — Nobody expected much out of the Cincinnati Bengals this season, given that they were starting a rookie quarterback and a rookie receiver.

A 5-2 start has changed everything.

The Bengals surpassed their victory total from last season when they beat Seattle 34-12 on Sunday. They’ve won four in a row, their longest such streak since 2009, when they reached the playoffs.

It’s a complete reversal from the same time a year ago, when the Bengals were in the midst of losing 10 consecutive games with receivers Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco getting most of the attention.

The 30-something reality show stars are gone, and the young Bengals team they’ve left behind is quickly growing up.

“The fact (is) that we’re all young and no one has a name for themselves and everyone wants to make a name for this team,” second-year defensive end Carlos Dunlap said on Monday. “That’s the big difference from last year to this year. Everybody’s playing for one another.”

There’s significance to the strong start. It’s only the fourth time the Bengals have started 5-2 since 1990. The last three times, they reached the playoffs — 1990, 2005 and 2009. They won their first playoff game in 1990, but lost their first-round games in ’05 and ’09.

The Bengals play at Tennessee (4-3) next Sunday, followed by a four-week stretch against AFC North opponents that will give them a good feel for how they match up. They’re tied for second with Baltimore, a half-game behind Pittsburgh.

“The confidence has always been there,” Dunlap said. “I don’t know how you explain it. I think everybody’s more comfortable with where we’re at, but they’re not complacent. They see the potential and strive to get there together.”

They’ve done it with a defense that ranks among the league’s best, special teams that have been solid throughout, and an offense that does just enough with its limited experience.

Dalton ranks 18th in the NFL with an 82.7 passer rating, completing 62 percent of his passes for 1,479 yards with nine touchdowns and seven interceptions. He’s the second-highest ranked rookie passer in the league, trailing Cam Newton’s 87.1 rating. Newton has thrown for 2,393 yards with 11 touchdowns with nine interceptions.

Dalton completed 18 of 29 for 168 yards against the Seahawks with two touchdowns and two interceptions. The Bengals’ fast start has been largely a function of Dalton’s ability to avoid the game-changing mistake.

After the game in Tennessee, Dalton and the young offense will get tested during games against Pittsburgh, at Baltimore, home against Cleveland and at Pittsburgh. The game against the Steelers at Paul Brown Stadium on Nov. 13 will provide a chance to break their streak of seven straight home games that have failed to sell out.

At 5-2, they’ve given themselves a chance to make something of the rest of their season.

“It’s great,” Dalton said. “We have to keep this momentum going.” Notes: Coach Marvin Lewis had no update on CB Adam “Pacman” Jones’ sore hamstring, which forced him out of the game Sunday following a 63-yard punt return. … MLB Rey Maualuga said he jogged without pain on Monday for the first time. He’s missed the last two games with a sprained left ankle, but hopes to be back for Tennessee. … The Bengals received a two-day roster exemption on RB Cedric Benson, who was suspended for the game in Seattle because he violated the NFL’s conduct policy. The Bengals will have to remove someone from the 53-man roster by Wednesday to open a spot for Benson.

The Bengals surpassed their victory total from last season when they beat Seattle 34-12 on Sunday. They’ve won four in a row, their longest such streak since 2009, when they reached the playoffs.

It’s a complete reversal from the same time a year ago, when the Bengals were in the midst of losing 10 consecutive games with receivers Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco getting most of the attention.

The 30-something reality show stars are gone, and the young Bengals team they’ve left behind is quickly growing up.

“The fact (is) that we’re all young and no one has a name for themselves and everyone wants to make a name for this team,” second-year defensive end Carlos Dunlap said on Monday. “That’s the big difference from last year to this year. Everybody’s playing for one another.”

There’s significance to the strong start. It’s only the fourth time the Bengals have started 5-2 since 1990. The last three times, they reached the playoffs — 1990, 2005 and 2009. They won their first playoff game in 1990, but lost their first-round games in ‘05 and ‘09.

The Bengals play at Tennessee (4-3) next Sunday, followed by a four-week stretch against AFC North opponents that will give them a good feel for how they match up. They’re tied for second with Baltimore, a half-game behind Pittsburgh.

“The confidence has always been there,” Dunlap said. “I don’t know how you explain it. I think everybody’s more comfortable with where we’re at, but they’re not complacent. They see the potential and strive to get there together.”

They’ve done it with a defense that ranks among the league’s best, special teams that have been solid throughout, and an offense that does just enough with its limited experience.

Dalton ranks 18th in the NFL with an 82.7 passer rating, completing 62 percent of his passes for 1,479 yards with nine touchdowns and seven interceptions. He’s the second-highest ranked rookie passer in the league, trailing Cam Newton’s 87.1 rating. Newton has thrown for 2,393 yards with 11 touchdowns with nine interceptions.

Dalton completed 18 of 29 for 168 yards against the Seahawks with two touchdowns and two interceptions. The Bengals’ fast start has been largely a function of Dalton’s ability to avoid the game-changing mistake.

After the game in Tennessee, Dalton and the young offense will get tested during games against Pittsburgh, at Baltimore, home against Cleveland and at Pittsburgh. The game against the Steelers at Paul Brown Stadium on Nov. 13 will provide a chance to break their streak of seven straight home games that have failed to sell out.

At 5-2, they’ve given themselves a chance to make something of the rest of their season.

“It’s great,” Dalton said. “We have to keep this momentum going.”

Notes: Coach Marvin Lewis had no update on CB Adam “Pacman” Jones’ sore hamstring, which forced him out of the game Sunday following a 63-yard punt return. … MLB Rey Maualuga said he jogged without pain on Monday for the first time. He’s missed the last two games with a sprained left ankle, but hopes to be back for Tennessee. … The Bengals received a two-day roster exemption on RB Cedric Benson, who was suspended for the game in Seattle because he violated the NFL’s conduct policy. The Bengals will have to remove someone from the 53-man roster by Wednesday to open a spot for Benson.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

At Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis’ golf tournament last week, Bucs coach Raheem Morris reportedly said he’s got no beef with Lewis for his critical comments about the Tampa Bay’s methods in signing receiver Dez Briscoe.

“That’s business, this is about the community and the bigger picture,” Morris told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “It’s not about whether you have a disagreement on the field or whether I like him on game day.

“I wanted to come in for Marvin and be supportive of him because he’s always been supportive of me.”

Briscoe joined the Bucs’ practice squad after being offered a rookie minimum contract of around $325,000, substantially more than the typical practice squad salary of less than $100,000.

That left Lewis fuming.

“When you overpay a guy on the practice squad, you create a problem for teams,” Lewis said before the Bucs and Bengals met last season. “I don’t know that teams want to set that precedent and they did with Dez.

“That’s not a great precedent for teams to set as we try to keep the NFL and doing the things we’re trying to do as a league. It’s still a league of 32 teams and things are put together a certain way.”

Am I the only one who thought then — and now — that Lewis sounded bitter? Shouldn’t coaches want their organizations to go all out to land the best talent?

The fact that Lewis works for the notoriously cheap Bengals might have a lot to do with his strong feelings on the matter. While the Bucs have been fielding the league’s lowest payroll for a while now, the Bengals have a much longer and richer history of being tight-fisted.

Anyway, the point is not who said what. Instead, I thought it was worth pointing out that, in retrospect, Lewis’ comments were very telling. After watching Briscoe star for the Bucs in the team’s season finale at New Orleans (he had four receptions, including a 54-yard touchdown), it became clear why Lewis was so bothered by losing Briscoe. And for those of us who have seen Briscoe on the practice field, the Saints game wasn’t much of a surprise.

Similarly, Lewis knew even before Briscoe took the field in a regular-season game that he was a potential gem. And his surprisingly strong comments offered a confirmation of this. Briscoe shined for the Bengals in training camp and during preseason games, and his upside was tantalizing.

The Bengals had used a sixth-round pick on Briscoe last year but were loaded at receiver with a unit headlined by Terrell Owens and Chad Ocho Cinco. They ended up releasing Briscoe at final cuts and hoped to quietly sneak him onto their practice squad. But Bucs general manager Mark Dominik was clearly determined to prevent that, swooping in with a lucrative offer that Briscoe jumped at.

The moral of this story is, if you don’t want to risk losing a player, don’t cut him. The NFL is about competition, the Bucs are trying to win games, and Dominik rightfully will not apologize for the bold move.

Lewis is probably even more bothered by the loss of Briscoe now that his team faces the likely departure of Owens and Ocho Cinco. The team did spend its fourth overall draft pick on A.J. Green, but he’ll need help on the opposite side of the field from someone. Briscoe certainly would have been an attractive option.

Of course, now that he’s lining up for the Bucs, Briscoe’s no longer available to the Bengals – like it or not.