It was a gutsy showing for the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday night, even though they came out with the short end of the stick. We've run through our MVP nominees for the week, and now it's time to give a tip of the cap for some of the Bengals who were a bit overshadowed for the limelight award.
Cast your vote and sound off on your winner for the Week 11 "Unsung Hero of the Week"!
WR Marvin Jones: A.J. Green and Tyler Efiert got more fanfare, but Jones made a few plays on the night as well. He finished with four catches for 60 yards, including a dazzling 22-yarder. Andy Dalton overshot Jones on a deep ball where he had a couple of steps on the defender from their own 14-yard line, that could have been six points and a bunch more stats for the fourth-year wideout, but the play was a microcosm of the poor third quarter.
K Mike Nugent: Special teams played a big part in the team making a solid comeback, with Nugent again hitting a big, late field goal. With about a minute to play, Nugent drilled the game-tying field goal from 43 yards out, and had four extra points to boot.
P Kevin Huber: The big Bengals' left-footer is making a bid for another Pro Bowl berth in 2015. He had a good night against Arizona, kicking five away at a 44-yard per punt clip, including a 57-yarder, and gave the coverage unit an opportunity to bottle up Patrick Peterson on returns.
WR/KR Brandon Tate: It's performances like his on Sunday night that begins to reinforce why the coaches have kept him around the past five seasons. He had a 58-yard return late in the fourth quarter to lead to a touchdown, and had another huge punt return that was negated by an awful block-in-the-back call on Dre Kirkpatrick. It was good to see Tate step up in the glaring absence of Adam Jones.
CB Leon Hall: Had the veteran corner not been victimized on the Cardinals' game-winning drive, we might be talking MVP consideration for Hall. However, Larry Fitzgerald made some tough catches on him with under a minute to play, making his night seem less spectacular. Still, he had a great early pick of Carson Palmer, along with six total tackles.
S Reggie Nelson: It was an up-and-down night for Nelson as well, who was part of a group that allowed a number of big plays, but also made a few. One was a nice interception on a Palmer deep ball, where he played center field and tracked down his fifth interception of the season. He also had three solo tackles.