Posted by ESPN.com's James Walker
Nearly four hours of football settled nothing at Paul Brown Stadium Sunday.
And you can now add the first tie in the NFL in six years to the already zany Cincinnati Bengals' season. Bengals kicker Shayne Graham missed a 47-yard field goal attempt towards the end of overtime to wrap up a 13-13 tie.
It was a valiant effort for the Bengals, who are now 1-8-1 and seem to play their best football against the rugged NFC East. Cincinnati also suffered close defeats to the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys this season.
Cincinnati apparently spent a lot of time during the bye week working on defense. The Bengals were scrappy Sunday in forcing four turnovers, including three interceptions of Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.
The Bengals are relishing the spoiler role. Cincinnati hurt the postseason aspirations of the Jacksonville Jaguars two weeks ago and dealt a mild blow to the Eagles (5-4-1), who needed a win to prevent falling behind in their competitive division and conference.
Cincinnati will have a chance to hurt the Pittsburgh Steelers in the standings next week as both teams face off Thursday.
Walker joined ESPN.com in 2008 after three seasons covering the Cleveland Browns for the Columbus Dispatch. He also covered the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Cavaliers at the Dispatch. Walker grew up in Hyattsville, Md., before attending Temple University, graduating in 2001 with a B.A. in communications and mass media. He resides in the Cleveland area.
