Bengals' A.J. Green: 'I gotta make that play'

For a moment, it looked like déjà vu all over again on Monday night for the Cincinnati Bengals in a 10-6 loss to the Houston Texans at Paul Brown Stadium. The offense struggled, all game, yet in the waning moments of the fourth quarter, Andy Dalton needed just one touchdown to pull out a victory.

So he looked to A.J. Green, who had been held silent since the first quarter. The first strike came on 3rd-and-18 from the Bengals' 11-yard line, following a sack of Dalton by J.J. Watt. Green worked his way open for 26 yards.

A dump to Giovani Bernard for 15. Tyler Eifert held on for six more. Bernard for another four. And then on 4th-and-8 from the Houston 33, with 50 seconds left, Dalton found Green again for a 10-yard gain.

But, as rookie corner Kevin Johnson pulled Green to the ground, the receiver put his left hand down to break his fall. But the key was that Johnson spun underneath Green, leaving the Bengals' receiver open to an extra shot from a teammate.

That gave Texans safety Quentin Demps a window – and he took it. He popped the ball out of Green's hands as he laid on Johnson's torso.

"Dude just came out of nowhere," Green said. "And punched it out."

Demps and Johnson said it's a scenario the Texans practice in their secondary as the second man in on a tackle.

"I was just focused on that when I broke (to Green) – get the ball out," Demps said. "I just used my instincts and knocked it out."

Fumble. Game over.

"We still put ourselves in the best situation to win this game and I gotta make that play," Green said. "I just can't fumble the ball like that."

Prior to that final drive in which Green caught two passes, he had just three in the previous three and none since the first quarter. Green noticed that the Texans cut the field on him, with sound coverage over the top with the safety and the cornerbacks on his side of the field.

"They played us well today," Green said. "We couldn't do anything. I just gotta make that play. We still put ourselves in position to win the game. That's on me. They're not giving up nothing deep and taking away the underneath stuff."

But down the row of lockers inside Paul Brown Stadium, Adam Jones insisted the game should not have come down to that play. For the Bengals' cornerback, DeAndre Hopkins should never have made the impressive one-armed catch over his head along the boundary of the end zone 33 seconds into the fourth quarter that proved to be the game-winning score.

"Today, I didn't make the play that could've potentially won us the game," Jones said. "If they don't score right there, they probably get a field goal and we go to overtime. It is what it is man. I gotta look at it. But right now I'm pissed at myself, man. I should've (expletive) pushed him out."

Jones was in solid coverage on the play as Hopkins took off upfield on the go route, and the receiver said he and Jones were hand fighting through the route, and he knew the referees were going to let them play it out.

As Hopkins went up, Jones' momentum carried him away from the ball – and the solid placement by T.J. Yates made it a catch-or-not scenario for the Texans.

"I knew I wasn't going to get the call, I knew I had to stay in bounds and go up and make a play," Hopkins said.

But Jones didn't care about any of that.

"I gotta make the play," Jones said. "I gotta make the play. Put that in the blogs. Put the game on me."

Like Green, Hopkins was held in check for the entirety of the game by Dre Kirkpatrick and Jones until late, when they moved him closer to the line of scrimmage (shortened his splits), which prevented the Bengals' corners from pressing too tightly.

"I was in great position, but like I said again, I just gotta make the play," Jones said. "I'll make that play nine times out of 10. Today I guess they had a rabbit tail in their pocket. I was very shocked but I still could've pushed him out (of bounds)."