Broncos breeze past Bengals in penalty-filled battle

Bo Nix took advantage of an undisciplined, penalty-riddled Cincinnati defense, throwing for a career-high 326 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Denver Broncos past the Bengals 28-3 on Monday.

Nix finished 29 of 42 on the night as the Broncos (2-2) won for the second time in as many home games and outgained the Bengals 512-159 on the night. The Bengals (2-2) lost their second straight without injured quarterback Joe Burrow.

J.K. Dobbins finished with 101 yards on 16 carries, snapping the Broncos’ string of 37 games without a 100-yard rusher.

Cincinnati QB Jake Browning completed 14 of 25 passes for 125 yards and led an offense that struggled to pick up a first down for much of the first half and into the third quarter.

The Bengals went from the 14:08 mark of the second quarter to 6:11 remaining in the third without a first down. After their first drive ended with a 26-yard Evan McPherson field goal, the Bengals punted on their remaining eight possessions (excluding a kneel-down at the end of the first half).

It was another nightmare first half for Cincinnati, which trailed 21-3 at the half. The Bengals have been outscored a combined 55-6 in the opening half of their last two blowout losses.

The Bengals appeared to show some fight when rookie Demetrius Knight picked off Nix in the end zone to stop a red zone chance for the Broncos on fourth-and-1 from the Cincinnati 2. But after the Bengals went three-and-out, the Broncos answered.

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With Denver facing a third-and-10 from and its 33, the Bengals could not get to Nix, and the Denver quarterback connected on a 28-yard completion to Marvin Mims to the Cincinnati 39.

Four plays later, Nix found Courtland Sutton over the middle for a 20-yard touchdown with eight seconds left in the half, giving them a 21-3 lead at halftime.

The sloppy Bengals were flagged for 11 penalties (eight accepted) for 50 yards in the first half. Tee Higgins had a 37-yard completion wiped out due to an illegal-formation call against right tackle Amarius Mims.

The Broncos took full advantage of several Cincinnati mistakes, starting with a 24-yard punt by Ryan Rehkow that set up Denver’s first touchdown drive of 64 yards in nine plays. Nix ran 6 yards up the middle on a scramble for the score in the last minute of the opening quarter.

Marvin Mims Jr. added a 16-yard touchdown run as Denver piled up 305 yards in the first half, highlighted by Nix’s 17-of-26 success for 217 yards. Cincinnati had 94 total yards before halftime.

The Bengals ended up losing 65 yards on 11 penalties. The Broncos were flagged seven times for 72 yards.