Ochocinco, Benson Come Up Big For Bengals

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Chad Ochocinco showed some flash with a leap into the stands. It was Cedric Benson's quiet dashes that made the difference in Cincinnati's first win ever at Lambeau Field.

"It feels good being able to bounce back, especially after last week, man, the way we lost that one at the last minute," Ochocinco said.

A week after Denver's Brandon Stokley caught an unlikely carom and ran for an 87-yard touchdown with 11 seconds left to stun Cincinnati, the Bengals held off a Packers' rally in a 31-24 victory Sunday.

Carson Palmer was 15 of 23 for 185 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions, both by Green Bay's Charles Woodson, who returned one 37 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter.

Palmer said his mistakes forced the Bengals (1-1) to have to hang on.

"I gave them 14 points," Palmer said. "Two bad plays on my part."

Seventeen years to the day that Brett Favre came off the bench and rallied the Packers to a comeback victory over the Bengals with a TD pass with 13 seconds to go to begin his legacy, Aaron Rodgers almost did the same after an onside kick gave Green Bay one more chance.

After Mason Crosby's field goal made it 31-24, the Packers (1-1) drove to the Bengals 10, but the game ended on a false start penalty on receiver Greg Jennings with 2 seconds left.

"It felt like we were all lined up," Rodgers said. "They said Greg false started. If he's watching the ball I find that hard to believe, but I haven't seen the film."

Green Bay found itself in a bad position on its first offensive possession of the second half, when veteran left tackle Chad Clifton went down with an injury to his right ankle.

Packers coach Mike McCarthy said X-rays were negative, but defensive end Antwan Odom had four of his five sacks after Clifton departed.

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said they didn't do enough to win against Denver, but was proud of the effort against Green Bay. So were his players.

"It was big coming off last week just getting ourselves back," said Benson, who had 141 yards rushing on 29 carries.

It's been a good start for Odom after an injury-plagued season last year.

"He had to persevere through some tough things and now he's kind of doing the things we expected him to do when we brought him in here," Lewis said. "I think that's what this is all about, I think this football team is doing that.

"They're playing the football that we expected him to play from our punter to our rookie linebacker, they're doing the things we expect them to do."

Rodgers, who beat the Bears with a late touchdown pass to Jennings last Sunday, couldn't pull off another comeback after completing passes of 22 yards to Jermichael Finley and 25 yards to Donald Driver before running out of time.

Ochocinco called the final minute "very scary" but had a productive day after making good on a promise to do a Lambeau Leap following his go-ahead 13-yard TD catch late in the third quarter.

The talkative receiver didn't find any Packers fans willing to embrace him, but he managed to jump into a trio of Bengals fans in the northeast corner of the end zone.

"I didn't want to be disrespectful to the Packers, their tradition or their fans," Ochocinco said. "I was asking for a spot. The Bengals fans responded, but the Packers fans - they weren't happy."

Rodgers finished 21 of 39 for 261 yards and a touchdown and Jennings was held without a catch for the first time in 44 games.

"I think adversity is always good for a team," Rodgers said. "We're going to have to respond properly to this."