The fire and brimstone speech that was given after the Cincinnati Bengals loss last week to the Rams appears to have definitely resonated with the team.

On Thursday night in the final game of the preseason versus the Indianapolis Colts and before 56,527 fans at Paul Brown Stadium, the Bengals came out of the gate with a much larger sense of purpose. It definitely showed in their 38-7 victory.

The win gave the Bengals a 2-2 preseason record for the second year in a row. With their loss the Colts record dropped to 1-3. They haven’t had a winning preseason since 2004.

The Bengals have now won six straight games against the Colts during the preseason.

Marvin Lewis, Bengals head coach, said they were not going to brag about tonight’s statistics, but the first group did come out and set the tempo and were able to get things done. Then we had the opportunity to see some of the guys who needed to show why they deserve to be here. He added that they got good tape to look at, and that is what the game had been about.

The offensive line, after struggling during the game last week, performed a lot better. They allowed only one sack and were able to open up the running game where the backs continued to take advantage. Out of the 389 total offensive yards for the Bengals, 296 were on the ground and they averaged 6.9 yard a carry.

With many players fighting for a spot on the roster, Brian Leonard really helped his cause during the first half of the game. The 3rd running back who was acquired by the Bengals in a trade in May with the Rams, had a breakout performance finally which may have wrapped the third spot up for him.

Leonard had nine rushes for 64 yards along with a touchdown and two catches for eight yards.

DeDe Dorsey gave one more reason to consider him with his block of a punt from Pat McAfee in the early part of the fourth quarter and seven yard score. Dorsey finished the game with nine carries and 46 yards. Coming into the game he was the last Cincinnati player to block a punt two years ago while playing against Arizona.

Today the Bengals will be very deliberate before paring their roster down to 53 by the Saturday 4 p.m. deadline. The team will actually have 54 players since Andre Smith, first round draft pick, is exempt for two weeks.

The night was a fast one for the first teams. On the Colts’ opening drive the defense was able to force a three and out. The offense was then able to drive for 61 yards on five plays. The first 44 yards were all accounted for by Cedric Benson on three plays (two of the plays were runs which totaled 35 yards). Andre Caldwell was then able to get free and caught a pass of 14 yards from J.T. O’Sullivan in the end zone.

Two hours prior to the game, Carson Palmer did suit up and work on a practice field. However he did not participate in the pre-game drills and missed his third game in a row.

The Colts tied the game on their next possession when Jim Sorgi hit Taj Smith with a 22 yard pass for a touchdown. Defender Geoffrey Pope tried to break up the pass but mistimed the play, which allowed Smith to go free untouched. The Colts caught a break during that drive when an interception by Corey Lynch was disallowed when Pat Sims was penalized for being offside.

On the next drive, the Bengals were able to retake the lead on a 49 yard field goal from Sam Swank. The drive was started by Bernard Scott with his kick return of 35 yards down to the Bengals 47, and then rushed three times for 14 yards. The sixth round draft pick, who throughout the preseason continued to progress, finished the game with five carries and 43 yards.

It appeared that the Colts were on their way to scoring again when Morgan Trent stripped the ball from John Matthews which was recovered on the Bengals 34 yard line by Marvin White.

The Bengals were then able to break the game wide open during the final six minutes of the first half, with their two scoring drives. They increased the score to 17-7 on an 81 yard, eight play drive which was capped off by a seven yard Jordan Palmer pass to Chris Henry in the end zone. The touchdown was Henry’s fourth for the preseason.

Leonard on that drive made the play of the night, hurdling over defender Travis Key on a 23 yard gain. Palmer, three plays later on third down, scrambled for 26 yards and fumbled in Colts’ territory. However the play was reversed when he was ruled down by contact.

Frostee Rucker was able to force a fumble and then recovered the ball at the Colts’ 14. From four yards out Leonard then rushed up the middle in three plays. The score was 24-7 at half time.

During the second quarter, Cincinnati out gained Indianapolis 131-34 with Pat Sims having two key third down sacks that ended drives. The Bengals finished the game with six sacks.

The Bengals opening drive for the second half was a 10 play 72 yard drive that was capped off by a Palmer 25 yard pass to Kolomona Kapanui.

Palmer struggled at the beginning, but then settled down and went 8 for 16 with two touchdowns and 75 yards.

Jim Sorgi went 11 for 19 for the Colts for 119 yards in what was his first preseason playing action. The Colts sat all of their starters out except two.

There is a new name and new role for Chad Ochocinco.

International soccer fan and emergency kicker for Cincinnati kicked the extra point, and what proved to be the decisive point, late in the second quarter of the Bengals’ 7-6 victory over the Patriots on Thursday night.

Ochocinco said that “Estaban” Ochocinco, the most interesting soccer player in the world, was back. He said that everyone needed to remember that he had always said that his number one sport was soccer. He added that he thought Ronaldinho would be proud of him right now.

Ochocinco does practice kicking, but had never done so in any preseason or regular season games in his eight year career with the Bengals, with the first seven years being under the name of Chad Johnson. However with Shayne Graham suffering from a sore groin during the pre-game warm ups, Marvin Lewis, Bengals coach, decided to rest one of the team’s franchise players and let Ochocinco show what he could do.

He did it very well.

After the game was over, Ochocinco pulled his PDA out and showed off a photo of him with David Beckham, the soccer star.

He said that soccer was his first love and that kicking was easy for him, like riding a bike. He said he could kick from 50 to 60 yards from either the right or left hash mark and that he kicked all during high school.

The receiver, who is the team’s career leader in yards receiving and catches, was able to power the football through the uprights, which can be a tough task if it is not done on a regular basis.

Wes Welker, wide receiver for the Patriots who kicked an extra point and field goal for Miami on the same field in a 27-10 loss to the Patriots in October 2004, said it wasn’t easy. To kick the extra point was really something and he got some good height on the kick.

By the time the extra point was made, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was finished for the night and his backups Brain Hoyer and Kevin O’Connell were unable to bring the Patriots team back during the scoreless second half. However, Brady had already shown in the game that he could take a hit, coming back from his left knee injury which ended his season after suffering the injury during last year’s opening game.

He got knocked down twice during the 13 snaps that he took, following the game the week before when he stayed upright on all of the 24 snaps that he took in the Patriots’ 27-25 win in Philadelphia. Brady got up quickly each time he got knocked down.

Keith Rivers softly tossed Brady after the 2007 NFL MPV threw an incomplete pass during his third snap, with Brady landing on his back.

Rivers said he didn’t notice whether it bothered Brady, and that it felt just like a regular hit.

On the first play of Brady’s second and final series, Robert Geathers, left end, flattened him after easily getting around Nick Kaczur, the Patriots right tackle. Brady landed on his left side.

Fred Taylor, running back, said the good thing was that he got up after being hit good. He is tough.

New England scored twice on 32 and 41 yard field goals from Stephen Gostkowski. With 1:55 remaining in the half, the Bengals scored on a 24 yard pass from J.T. O’Sullivan to Chris Henry. Then Ochocinco trotted out onto the football field, lining up behind Kevin Huber, the holder. Everything worked as planned- snap, hold, kick.

O’Sullivan said that nothing surprises him, but that all the jokes aside, he was able to kick the ball through those uprights and won the game for us. He added that some people might find it funny but that it was important.

The Patriots later in the game drove all the way down to the Bengals 12 with a first down, but the Bengals’ Marvin White was able to recover a fumble from Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis with just 3:43 minutes remaining in the game. Bill Belichick, Patriots coach, said that in just about every aspect of the game that they were pretty sloppy.

O’Sullivan started for Cincinnati, with Carson Palmer sitting the game out due to a injury to his right ankle that was suffered in the team’s 17-7 loss against New Orleans in the exhibition opener for the Bengals. Palmer does not expect that he will miss the team’s regular season opening game and may return to playing before then.

Lewis said that they played a finesse team last week and that this week showed that they were capable of competing against a power team. He added that he thought they had a good response and were mature.

For the second week in a row, Brady proved that he has put his knee injury behind him. However, some of the passes he threw were off target, which included overthrowing an end zone pass to Welker. Brady was 4 for 8 with 57 yards, which included a 32 yard gain from Welker, who gained most of the yards running. Brady was more productive in the teams opening 27-25 win in Philadelphia where he passed for two touchdowns to Chris Baker.

However Brady could do nothing to overcome Ochocinco’s winning kick but watch from the sideline.

Lewis, smiling, said that he reminded him of that.

Mark Brunell and Drew Brees each threw touchdown passes in the New Orleans Saints 17-7 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in the preseason opening game for both teams.

Brees played in three series, which went into the second quarter, completing 6 out of 9 passes that included a 22-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Shockey. Brunell was 9 for 13 and passed for 128 yards, which included a 64 yard strike scoring Robert Meachem. Neither Brees or Brunell threw an interception in the game.

Meachem had three receptions totaling 77 yards, and Shockey caught three passes as well for a total of 61 yards. Reggie Bush, coming back from microfacture knee surgery, rushed for five yards on three attempts.

The Saints new look defense, which is under Gregg Williams, the new defensive coordinator, gave up 379 total yards to the Bengals but were able to hold them to just seven points and forced three turnovers. The game saw the return of Carson Palmer, after missing 12 out of the last 13 games for the Bengals last season when he decided against surgery to repair the injured elbow on his throwing arm. Palmer went 7 for 11 with 133 passing yards and 1 interception in his playing time during the first quarter.

Chris Henry scored the only Bengals touchdown when he caught a 14 yard pass in the second quarter from J.T. O’Sullivan. O’Sullivan went 9 for 11 with 100 passing yards and did not throw an interception.

At halftime the game was tied at 7-7. Shockey’s touchdown put the Bengals on the board first at the beginning of the second quarter, and then the Bengals evened the score on Henry’s touchdown seconds before half time. Midway through the third quarter the Saints took the lead in the game for good when Brunell connected with Meachem on a 64 yard touch down pass. A field goal of 54 yards was added by Garrett Hartley at the beginning of the fourth quarter for the game’s final score.

Game Notes
The Saints defense last year ranked 26th in points allowed and 23rd against the pass. The Bengals, who finished the games with 289 passing yards, ranked 30th in passing and were last in scoring. Chad Ochocinco, Bengals wide receiver, caught two passes for 73 yards and Marques Colston, Saints wide receiver, caught one pass for 14 yards.