# 1995 Cincinnati Bengals season

The 1995 Cincinnati Bengals season was the team's 28th year in professional football and its 26th with the National Football League.
With Jeff Blake firmly entrenched as the starting quarterback, the Bengals won their first two games. However, the Bengals would lose their next two, heading into a rematch with Don Shula and the Miami Dolphins, in which the Bengals also lost, 26–23. The Bengals went on to play fairly well the rest of the season, but could not avoid their fifth straight losing season, ending with a 7–9 win–loss record.
One of the season's biggest disappointments was running back Ki-Jana Carter who the Bengals took with first overall pick out of Penn State. Carter would suffer a knee injury in his first preseason game, forcing him to miss his entire rookie season. He would never fully recover, in an injury plagued career.

## Offseason
### NFL Draft

1995 Cincinnati Bengals draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College |
| 1 | 1 | Ki-Jana Carter | Running back | Penn State |
| 3 | 69 | Melvin Tuten | Offensive tackle | Syracuse |
| 4 | 102 | Sam Shade | Defensive back | Alabama |
| 5 | 139 | David Dunn | Wide receiver | Fresno State |
| 6 | 175 | Ryan Grigson | Offensive tackle | Purdue |
| 7 | 213 | John Walsh | Quarterback | BYU |
| Made roster ||||||

## Regular season
### Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Attendance |
| 1 | September 3, 1995 | at Indianapolis Colts | W 24–21 (OT) | 1–0 | 42,445 |
| 2 | September 10, 1995 | Jacksonville Jaguars | W 24–17 | 2–0 | 48,318 |
| 3 | September 17, 1995 | at Seattle Seahawks | L 21–24 | 2–1 | 39,492 |
| 4 | September 24, 1995 | Houston Oilers | L 28–38 | 2–2 | 46,332 |
| 5 | October 1, 1995 | Miami Dolphins | L 23–26 | 2–3 | 52,671 |
| 6 | October 8, 1995 | at Tampa Bay Buccaneers | L 16–19 | 2–4 | 41,732 |
| 7 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| 8 | October 19, 1995 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | W 27–9 | 3–4 | 56,684 |
| 9 | October 29, 1995 | Cleveland Browns | L 26–29 (OT) | 3–5 | 58,639 |
| 10 | November 5, 1995 | Oakland Raiders | L 17–20 | 3–6 | 51,265 |
| 11 | November 12, 1995 | at Houston Oilers | W 32–25 | 4–6 | 32,998 |
| 12 | November 19, 1995 | Pittsburgh Steelers | L 31–49 | 4–7 | 54,636 |
| 13 | November 26, 1995 | at Jacksonville Jaguars | W 17–13 | 5–7 | 68,249 |
| 14 | December 3, 1995 | at Green Bay Packers | L 10–24 | 5–8 | 60,318 |
| 15 | December 10, 1995 | Chicago Bears | W 16–10 | 6–8 | 38,642 |
| 16 | December 17, 1995 | at Cleveland Browns | L 10–26 | 6–9 | 55,875 |
| 17 | December 24, 1995 | Minnesota Vikings | W 27–24 | 7–9 | 34,568 |

### Season summary
#### Week 2: vs Jacksonville Jaguars

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Jaguars | 7 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 17 |
| Bengals | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 24 |
at Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio
* Date: September 10, 1995
* Game time: 1:00 p.m. EST
* Game weather: Overcast, 67 °F (19 °C)
* Game attendance: 48,318
* TV announcers (NBC): Don Criqui and Beasley Reece
* Recap
Game information :
First quarter
CIN – Doug Pelfrey 27-yard field goal, 9:51. Bengals 3–0. Drive: 11 plays, 27 yards, 5:09.
JAC – Randy Jordan 71-yard pass from Steve Beuerlein (Mike Hollis kick), 8:43. Jaguars 7–3. Drive: 3 plays, 77 yards, 1:08.
Second quarter
CIN – Melvin Tuten 3-yard pass from Jeff Blake (Doug Pelfrey kick), 0:16. Bengals 10–7. Drive: 9 plays, 64 yards, 3:08.
Third quarter
JAC – Mike Hollis 29-yard field goal, 12:18. Tied 10–10. Drive: 5 plays, -7 yards, 0:25.
CIN – Harold Green 10-yard run (Doug Pelfrey kick), 8:14. Bengals 17–10. Drive: 9 plays, 71 yards, 4:04.
Fourth quarter
CIN – Carl Pickens 68-yard pass from Jeff Blake (Doug Pelfrey kick), 14:04. Bengals 24–10. Drive: 2 plays, 70 yards, 0:48.
JAC – Mark Brunell 8-yard run (Mike Hollis kick), 7:20. Bengals 24–17. Drive: 8 plays, 65 yards, 4:15.
Top passers
JAC – Steve Beuerlein – 4/12, 98 yards, TD
CIN – Jeff Blake – 20/30, 247 yards, 2 TD
Top rushers
JAC – Randy Jordan – 20 rushes, 64 yards
CIN – Eric Bieniemy – 14 rushes, 65 yards
Top receivers
JAC – Randy Jordan – 3 receptions, 80 yards, TD
CIN – Carl Pickens – 5 receptions, 102 yards, TD :

#### Week 16 at Cleveland Browns

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bengals | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 10 |
| Browns | 0 | 17 | 6 | 3 | 26 |
at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio
* Date: December 17, 1995
* Game time: 1:00 p.m. EDT
* Game weather: Overcast, 29 °F (−2 °C)
* Game attendance: 55,875
* TV announcers (NBC): Charlie Jones, Randy Cross and Jim Gray
Game information :
First quarter
Second quarter
Third quarter
Fourth quarter
Top passers
CIN – Jeff Blake – 22/46, 257 yards, INT
CLE – Vinny Testaverde – 22/23, 241 yards, 2 TD
Top rushers
CIN – Harold Green – 7 rushes, 33 yards
CLE – Earnest Byner – 31 rushes, 121 yards
Top receivers
CIN – Carl Pickens – 5 receptions, 90 yards
CLE – Earnest Byner – 7 receptions, 36 yards :

### Standings

AFC Central :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | STK |
| $^{(2)}$ Pittsburgh Steelers | 11 | 5 | 0 | .688 | 407 | 327 | L1 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 349 | 374 | W1 |
| Houston Oilers | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 348 | 324 | W2 |
| Cleveland Browns | 5 | 11 | 0 | .313 | 289 | 356 | L1 |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | 4 | 12 | 0 | .250 | 275 | 404 | W1 |

## Team leaders
### Passing

| Player | Att | Comp | Yds | TD | INT | Rating |
| Jeff Blake | 567 | 326 | 3822 | 28 | 17 | 82.1 |

### Rushing

| Player | Att | Yds | YPC | Long | TD |
| Harold Green | 171 | 661 | 3.9 | 23 | 2 |
| Eric Bieniemy | 98 | 381 | 3.9 | 27 | 3 |

### Receiving

| Player | Rec | Yds | Avg | Long | TD |
| Carl Pickens | 99 | 1234 | 12.5 | 68 | 17 |

### Defensive

| Player | Tackles | Sacks | INTs | FF | FR |
| Steve Tovar | 99 | 1.0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| John Copeland | 61 | 9.0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Bracy Walker | 85 | 0.0 | 4 | 1 | 2 |

### Kicking and punting

| Player | FGA | FGM | FG% | XPA | XPM | XP% | Points |
| Doug Pelfrey | 36 | 29 | 80.6% | 34 | 34 | 100.0% | 121 |
| Player | Punts | Yards | Long | Blkd | Avg. |
| Lee Johnson | 68 | 2861 | 61 | 0 | 42.1 |

### Special teams

| Player | KR | KRYards | KRAvg | KRLong | KRTD | PR | PRYards | PRAvg | PRLong | PRTD |
| David Dunn | 50 | 1092 | 21.8 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Corey Sawyer | 2 | 50 | 25.0 | 28 | 0 | 9 | 58 | 6.4 | 21 | 0 |

## Awards and records
### Conference Leaders

* Carl Pickens, Led AFC, Receptions, (99)
* Carl Pickens, Led AFC, Touchdowns, (17)

### Franchise Records

* Carl Pickens, Franchise Record, Most Touchdowns in One Season, (17),
* Doug Pelfrey, Franchise Record, Most Field Goals in One Season, (29),
* Doug Pelfrey, Franchise Record, Most Points in One Season, (121),

### Milestones

* Carl Pickens, 2nd 1,000 yard receiving season (1,234 yards)
* David Dunn, 1st 1,000-yard return season