CINCINNATI -- Players get credit for half sacks in the NFL if they bring down the quarterback with one of their teammates. There is no splitting of interceptions. Only one person can catch the ball.
Bengals safety George Iloka wants half of the interception that defensive end Robert Geathers got in Sunday's 33-7 win against Tennessee. It was Iloka's hit on Titans tight end Delanie Walker that jarred the ball free and back towards Geathers, who grabbed it out of the air for the third interception of his 11-season career.
"I told Rob I need a point-five (0.5)," said Iloka. "You know how they do sacks and give a point-five? I need a point-five on that. I don't know if I still get a PBU (pass breakup) but I'm happy he got the pick. A turnover in that part of the field and our offense got some points out of it. That's key. I'd rather get my hand on it and knock it out of (Walker's)."
The Bengals did get points off of the turnover, scoring a touchdown on a 1-yard Giovani Bernard run that pushed their lead to 19-0.
Iloka led the Bengals with eight tackles against the Titans as well as being credited for the pass breakup on Geathers' interception. The 24-year-old had two interceptions among three total pass breakups in last week's 24-10 win against Atlanta.
According to NFL stats, Iloka has missed just one defensive snap all season. That came against Tennessee when he had to come off the field with a groin injury.
The Bengals chose Iloka in the fifth round of the 2012 draft out of Boise State in 2012. That makes him unique among the members of Cincinnati's secondary. He's the only one of the nine defensive backs who didn't enter the league drafted in the first three rounds.
All five cornerbacks -- Leon Hall, Terence Newman, Adam Jones, Dre Kirkpatrick and Darqueze Dennard -- were first-round picks, as was safety Reggie Nelson. Taylor Mays was a second-round pick of San Francisco in 2010 and the Bengals drafted Shawn Williams in the third round last year.
Iloka started all 16 games last season after playing in just seven games as a rookie. The Bengals were seeking someone to play safety next to Nelson and Iloka has stepped into that role.
"I think he's been a great student," said head coach Marvin Lewis. "He's a smart kid with great athletic skills, talents and ability and he's done a great job of learning every one of the great habits that these guys have. The ones that those guys on the outside have, he's learned from them, he's learned from Reggie.
"He's been a sponge and he's been able to take how to prepare in the NFL and how to do those things and turn it into being a productive player."
The Bengals defense has started as strong as any defense in the league through the first three weeks. The team is tied with New England for the NFL lead in turnover margin at plus-six, and only the eight takeaways by the Patriots are more than the seven the Bengals have accumulated. They've allowed opponents just six red zone possessions in the first three games, the second fewest total in the league behind the New York Jets. The Jets still have to play Monday night. They are fourth in the league in third-down conversions allowed at 31.7 percent.
They are No. 1 in the NFL in the biggest number of all -- points allowed. They've only given up 33 in starting off 3-0 for the first time since 2006. That number could have been lower. The Bengals were six minutes away from their first home shutout since 1980 against the Titans.
"Perfection is what you strive for, and we fell short of that today," said Iloka after Sunday's game. "It wasn't our best performance as a defense. We played with a lot of effort, we got off the field on third down but some of the things that they got out there we gave them."
