Highlights, box score and MVP from Bengals’ wild win over Texans

It took longer than the Bengals hoped for, but they’re finally having their breakthrough under Zac Taylor after beating the Texans 37-31 in Houston.

Just when things were looking as bleak as they’ve been since the days of Dave Shula, Bruce Coslet and Dick LeBeau, Taylor found a way to lead the Bengals to consecutive wins for the first time since Weeks 4-5 during the 2018 season. The win in Houston is also Cincinnati’s first road win since Week 4 of that same season.

What’s most impressive is how the Bengals have done it with Ryan Finley and Brandon Allen, two guys who have struggled mightily in their brief careers.

Well, that is until last week against the now 12-3 AFC North champion Steelers, who the Bengals manhandled behind Finley en route to a 27-17 win.

This week, it was Allen leading the charge to score his first win of 2020. Including rookie Joe Burrow, that means the Bengals have won games with three different quarterbacks this season.

What made today’s win even more sweeter is it came over a Texans franchise that has dominated this series, winning seven of the last eight matchups, including two playoff wins.

Not today.

Box Score/Gamebook

Game MVP

There’s really no question who gets this week’s award, as Brandon Allen just had a career day that the Bengals needed very bit of to win on the road for the first time in over two years.

With no Tyler Boyd or Joe Mixon, Allen had one of the best games a Bengals QB has had in recent memory, throwing for 371 yards and two scores while guiding his offense to seven scoring drives, five of which came in the second half when he was nearly unstoppable. His 126.5 passer rating was the best by a Bengals QB since Andy Dalton vs. the Chiefs in 2015 (127.1) when he was an MVP candidate.

While it’s still unclear if Allen can be a legitimate starter in this league or simply a nice backup, he looked every bit as good as Texans franchise QB and Pro Bowler Deshaun Watson today.

Doesn’t winning just feel really good?

Highlights

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