Cincinnati Lowers the Boom on Philadelphia

Defense was just a word in the dictionary as Boomer Esiason of the Cincinnati Bengals and Randall Cunningham of the Philadelphia Eagles engaged in a passing shootout Sunday.

Esiason fired the final volley, connecting with wide receiver Tim McGee on a 3-yard touchdown pass with 5:02 remaining to give the Bengals a 28-24 victory.

Esiason completed 20 of 32 passes for 363 yards and 4 touchdowns as he rallied the Bengals (2-0) four times. McGee and Brooks each caught two touchdown passes.

Cunningham completed 25 of 36 passes for 261 yards and 1 touchdown and scrambled for 85 yards in 9 carries.

Cunningham kept the Eagles (1-1) in the game to the finish, driving them from their 26 to the Cincinnati 11. But his fourth-down pass into the end zone fell incomplete with 22 seconds left.

Esiason was unemotional about his performance.

“If you do what you’re supposed to do, and do it right, you probably are going to have something happen,” he said. “It was important for us to recognize the defense and make the proper calls.

“A lot of people didn’t think we’d come in here and play well. That was motivation for us. We have a lot of weapons.”

Philadelphia Coach Buddy Ryan said his team had the opportunities to win “a great game.”

“But we didn’t,” he said. “The defense made a lot of mental errors. It’s just one game and we’ll come back.”

Philadelphia took a 24-21 lead when Cunningham drove the Eagles 78 yards in 7 plays, with Anthony Toney scoring from the one.

Esiason rallied the Bengals on a 15-play, 77-yard drive, completing passes of 13 and 21 yards to McGee and 9 yards to Brooks, moving the ball to a first down at the Philadelphia 7-yard-line.

Brooks barreled 3 yards to the 4 and rookie Ickey Woods picked up a yard before Esiason hit McGee in the end zone.

Esiason completed 4 passes to McGee for 114 yards and 6 to Rodney Holman for 98.