Go back to three straight snaps at the end of the third quarter as the Bengals took a mere 3:19 to respond to the Texans' tying the game at 17. Allen was a surgeon and the Bengals were a tenacious scalpel when they went to work after the Bengals had just been dealt a massive blow when rookie wide receiver Tee Higgins' 31-yard catch was wiped out on tight end Drew Sample's interference penalty.
Now it was third-and-11 and Allen never hesitated drilling a stop route to wide receiver A.J. Green one-on-one with cornerback Keion Crossen. Crossen was on him like a University of Georgia blanket, but Green leaped and tore the ball away viciously in the biggest jump ball of the day for 14 yards.
On the next snap Allen then went play-action to suck up inside linebacker Zach Cunningham ever so slightly and Erickson got behind him down the seam and through the middle of a cover two zone for Bengals' longest play of the game, a 42-yarder. Next snap, Higgins got behind a fellow rookie, cornerback John Reid, and Allen put the 20-yard touchdown only where Higgins could catch it.
"On the outside Tee and A.J., A.J has been doing it forever and Tee is just unbelievable for a rookie to come in and make those plays," Erickson said. "The trust that we have in him out there it makes it pretty tough. You can go either way - down the middle or either side - and we were running on all cylinders there."
No question, Allen was feeling it. He dished the praise like he did the ball.
"He's Mr. Reliable, really," Allen said of Erickson. "You can put him, I would say, anywhere on the field, and he's going to be in the right spot, run the right route, do what he needs to do, and on the big one he caught down the middle, that's a play where he has to see the coverage and know exactly what to do on his route. He did it perfectly and we were able to give him the ball."
But Allen knew it was Green's play that spurred the drive. Talk about professionalism. Green keeps grinding in a season that hasn't been kind to him stat wise in the lowest output of his career. But like his team, he's a lesson in perseverance. For the second straight week he had his longest catch of the season, 33 yards (accounting for more than half of his 64 yards), and the 14-yard killer on third down.
"That aggressive hands catch on really tight coverage and getting us the first down is what really got us going during that second half and getting those big shots down the field," Allen said. "Without him making that play, I don't think we get those big shots. We don't get a chance to."
It had been a cold week, but as the Bengals walked off the field in the 70-degree weather, they had to sensing they just may be warming up.
"There's never been a question within this team of us moving the right direction," Allen said. "I think you kind of can just see in these last two weeks that this team knows how close it can be, and we've finally been able to have two really good games and put them together and get wins. We can just take that momentum and move it forward."
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Allen Has Bengals Offense All Systems Go In Houston - Bengals.com
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