CINCINNATI – Terrell Owens put some bite back into the Bengals' offense.
Owens caught a 43-yard pass along the sideline, setting up the only touchdown by Cincinnati's starting offense Friday night in a 22-9 preseason victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Eagles couldn't keep up with the 36-year-old receiver.
Owens caught a perfect throw from Carson Palmer along the right sideline, stretching over Joselio Hanson to pull it in before going out of bounds at the 6-yard line. Bernard Scott ran it in on the next play.
Owens had three catches for 67 yards in the first half, and ran 1 yard on a reverse.
So far, he's been the Bengals' top receiver.
Cincinnati signed him to a one-year deal as training camp opened with receiver Antonio Bryant sidelined by a troublesome left knee. Palmer worked out with Owens on the West Coast in July, saw that he could still run and urged the Bengals to bring him aboard, giving him another playmaker.
That one play showed why.
"That's what they brought me here for, right? Deep threat," Owens said. "Beat your guy, get down the field, make the catch. We've got it all in our arsenal."
His over-the-shoulder catch set up the only touchdown while both teams had their starters in the game. Cincinnati got the better of it in the half, but had to settle for the one score.
"We gave up a couple big runs, more than we wanted to, then they had the big play to T.O.," safety Quintin Mikell said. "We just wanted to see what we could do when we made bad plays, how we would bounce back. We're still gelling and still bringing this whole thing together."
Philadelphia's main goal was to get a touchdown out of its starters. In the preseason opener against Jacksonville, quarterback Kevin Kolb led the Eagles down the field on two possessions, but they had to settle for field goals.
Same thing again in Cincinnati. Six possessions, two field goals.
The Eagles kept their starting offense on the field for the entire first half and got less-than-desired results. Kolb was 11 of 17 for 126 yards, most of them in two drives at the end of the half when the Bengals began substituting. The most glaring disappointment: Philadelphia failed to score against a defense full of reserves after driving to a first-and-goal at the 7-yard line.
"We were a little stagnant on the first three drives there," Kolb said. "We needed to pick the energy level up. We did it and we were better in the second quarter.
"I think we did some good things. It was a positive day. But we have to start fine-tuning those details."
David Akers kicked field goals of 40, 25 and 48 yards. Cincinnati's Mike Nugent was short on a 59-yard attempt at the end of the first half, and Dave Rayner missed a 34-yarder. They're competing for the starting job.
Palmer was 15 of 23 for 169 yards with two interceptions, both while trying to get the ball to Chad Ochocinco, who had a painful night.
The first interception came on an apparent mixup. Palmer threw several yards short of Ochocinco, the ball going directly to cornerback Dimitri Patterson. Palmer raised both arms in a quizzical gesture toward Ochocinco, and talked to him on the sideline.
Patterson celebrated his easy interception by kneeling on the field and raising both arms, holding the ball aloft for several seconds. Bengals rookie tight end Jermaine Gresham swatted the ball out of his hand as he walked past him.
Palmer got picked off when he tried to squeeze a pass to Ochocinco, who was bracketed in coverage. The receiver was hit hard and the ball deflected to Mikell. Ochocinco lay on his back for several seconds, then popped up and jogged to the sideline without assistance.
The Eagles played without cornerback Asante Samuel, who has a hamstring injury. Receiver Jeremy Maclin left in the second quarter after he was hit hard on the left shoulder.
The Bengals had a couple of injuries. Scott injured his left shoulder in the second quarter and didn't return. Safety Gibril Wilson hurt his left knee in the second quarter and didn't return.
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