Cincinnati Bengals

Kirkpatrick, Bengals defense come up big in prime time

Published Dec. 23, 2014 3:25 a.m. ET

foxsports

CINCINNATI -- Since being the 17th overall pick in the 2012 draft, Dre Kirkpatrick has had his share of frustrating moments with the Bengals.

His rookie season was beset by injuries and limited to five games. He started to show some promise last season with three December starts. Over the past two weeks, Kirkpatrick is showing another late-season surge as he came up with two huge plays in the Bengals 37-28 win over the Broncos on Monday night at Paul Brown Stadium. The win clinches a playoff spot for the Bengals for the fourth straight season.

"He has had a tough start to his career. This season, he's really made the best of every opportunity he's had," head coach Marvin Lewis said. "He got a chance to play last year and had some ups and downs, but boy this year he's done a great job. He came through tonight in a big football game."

Over the past 20 regular-season games, Kirkpatrick has an team-high six interceptions, which is also tied for fourth in the league in the same span according to STATS LLC. He has three over the past two games. After being the first to pick off Johnny Manziel last week in Cleveland, Kirkpatrick had two against Peyton Manning in the fourth quarter.

With the Bengals holding on to a 30-28 lead and 2 minutes, 50 seconds remaining, Kirkpatrick made a good read on a pass intended for Demaryius Thomas at the Broncos 30 and picked it off for a touchdown to give the Bengals the cushion they needed.

Said Kirkpatrick of the Pick Six: "Man, I just played leverage. We were in a man-to-man, so I saw Peyton give him a signal, so I kind of knew that he was coming my way, but I just played my technique and everything fell my way."

Manning tried to mount one final drive when Kirkpatrick picked him off again, this time at the Bengals 5 to put it out of reach and give Cincinnati its first win over Manning in nine games.

Manning threw for 311 yards and two touchdowns but he was also intercepted four times, which was only the fifth time in his career he has been picked off four or more times in a game.

"Dre came in and played tremendous. He listened," said Adam "Pacman" Jones, who also had an interception. "We had a couple of press plays and on the last play he did exactly what coach told him. He got out of his break good and made a heck of a play. I think he has caught up with the speed of the game."

In the first 13 games, Kirkpatrick had been on the field for only 128 snaps and there were three games where he wasn't on for a single defensive play. With Terrence Newman out last week due to an ankle injury, Kirkpatrick got his first start of the season and was in for all but four plays. Newman was back for Monday night's game but Kirkpatrick saw most of the snaps in the second half.

For a defense that might have lost a little of its swagger midway through the season, Monday's game was the giant boost in confidence that they needed.

Going into the fourth quarter, they had seen a halftime lead evaporate for the second straight home game and there was the backdrop of their past pratfalls in prime-time games.

"Everyone had been talking about the prime-time jinx (four straight going into the game) and not beating a contender yet this season. We answered a couple questions tonight and prove everyone wrong," defensive tackle Domata Peko said.

En route to a 20-7 halftime lead, the Bengals did a good job of containing Manning as they held the Broncos offense without a touchdown. But Denver got the ball to begin the second half and scored on all three of their third-quarter drives. In the quarter Manning was 12 of 16 for 168 yards and two touchdowns as the Broncos went ahead 28-27.

The Denver rally brought back memories of the Bengals' most recent home game two weeks ago against Pittsburgh where they held a 21-17 lead after the third quarter only to see the Steelers score 25 unanswered points. No one talked about it in the defensive huddle, but it was prevalent in the player's minds.

"It's powerful to remember things and I wanted to do everything in my power not to let it happen again," linebacker Vinny Rey said. "At the end of the day it is about us being on the same page on defense and getting to the ball. Effort takes care of a lot of things."

Jones started to swing momentum back in the Bengals' favor early in the fourth quarter when he picked off a Manning pass intended for Thomas at the Broncos' 34 and returned it 11 yards. A taunting penalty on Reggie Nelson though would push it back to the Denver 38 and out of field-goal range as the drive stalled.

On the next series, Rey Maualuga made a key stop on C.J. Anderson to force a three-and-out. After a Mike Nugent field goal put the Bengals in the lead, Denver appeared like it might battle back when Manning completed a 27-yard pass to Thomas to put it in Bengals' territory. But Thomas would be called for a face-mask penalty and on the next play Taylor Mays got his first career sack.

Denver got the ball back with 4 minutes, 4 seconds remaining on its own 20 when three plays later Kirkpatrick came up with the Pick Six.

As much as everyone will focus on Manning, a good amount of credit also has to go to the Bengals' run defense. After allowing 163.3 rushing yards in the past four prime-time games, they allowed just 85 to Denver.

"As a defense we did a good job. After we gave up some plays we went to the sidelines, realized what we did wrong and got back on the horse," Rey said. "Manning is going to make plays but the defensive line was getting pressure and we were making plays as a unit."

Stopping the run will be crucial over the next couple weeks. Sunday night is a rematch in Pittsburgh for the division title followed by the playoffs.

"If you don't have any confidence after this you might as well stop playing this game," Jones said. "This was a playoff game. Hopefully we can take this momentum and learn from our mistakes."