Defense plays well in scrimmage

By Mark Curnutte
Enquirer staff writer

GEORGETOWN, Ky. --

The Bengals’ defense, despite heavily tempered comments by coaches, dominated the offense Friday night in the team’s annual intra-squad scrimmage.
The offense scored only one touchdown on a 43-yard touchdown pass by Carson Palmer to Chad Johnson, who had beaten rookie free agent cornerback Patrick Body on a fly pattern.
Johnson, a two-time Pro Bowl receiver, had nine receptions for 134 yards.
Otherwise, the defense had its way, winning 40-22 in an adapted scoring system at Georgetown College.
The first-team offense twice stalled in red-zone possessions inside the 20-yard line, and the second-team offense came away with no points, as well.
On its second drive, the first-team offense moved to the defense’s 9-yard line but moved backwards on a pair of pre-snap illegal motion penalties.
“You can’t do those things,” said Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, who reserved specific comment and comments about most players until he saw the film.
Backup linebacker Larry Stevens had a strong night with three tackles and a fumble recovery on the only turnover of the night.
“We have to improve our pad level in every area, blocking for the ball carrier, protecting ourselves from blocks, tackling. We’ve got to play lower,” Lewis said when asked for his general impressions, “We got a lot of good work done on special teams.”
Coordinator Chuck Bresnahan’s defense showed improvement compared to live work in practice Wednesday night.
“At least we got to the ball,” he said. “We’re still not a good tackling football team. We got a little more disciplined in our pass coverage. But we made one more step forward.”
E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com