The third-quarter play was executed perfectly. Lee Johnson sideswiped the kickoff and the football bounced downed the right sideline, where Ira Hillary snatched it before running out of bounds at the Houston Oilers' 34-yard line. Cincinnati Bengals ball. One more time. And the score before that onside kick was already Cincinnati 45, Houston 0.
And when the last of the 47,510 customers trickled gleefully out of Riverfront Stadium today, the final tally was Cincinnati 61, Houston 7.
Did Cincinnati rub it in and run up the score against their bitter rivals? You bet.
''I just don't like Jerry Glanville,'' Sam Wyche, the Bengals' coach, said of the Oilers' coach. Wyche chased Glanville for a word or two after this demolition. Glanville kept running for his team's exit, so Wyche simply stood and waved, and waved, and waved.
''I don't like phonies,'' Wyche continued, ''and I don't think Jerry is a very genuine guy. The cheap shots they tried after our quarterback was down, their big mouths. Jerry tries coming up and talking to me before the game and when the cameras start rolling he puts his arm around you and smiles behind those dark glasses. When your football team is so talented and yet so undisciplined, you got to be ready to get kicked and the score run up on you. And that's exactly what happened today.'' Whew! Play it again, Sam. ''I feel sorry for the Houston players having to put up with him,'' Wyche said. ''He can take that hit-the-beach stuff and take it back to high school or wherever he got it from. He's a joke.'' Wyche offered the words to match the onslaught, Cincinnati's largest margin of victory ever and Houston's worst loss and - doubly sweet for the Bengals - a victory that prevented Houston from clinching its first American Conference Central Division title.
This was a game of sheer retribution for the Bengals. The war of words and ill feelings between these teams built to a peak before the opening kickoff. Lewis Billups, a Bengals cornerback, had said the Oilers were scared because they were on the threshold of finally winning the division crown. Robert Lyles, a Houston linebacker, had said the Bengals were a sissy bunch.
''I saw defeat in their eyes,'' Billups said. ''When they couldn't do the things they wanted to do, they didn't quit, but they were just out of it.''
Out of it from their very first snap, which was low from center, bobbled by Warren Moon, kicked along the line and recovered by Cincinnati at the Houston 26. Three plays later, Boomer Esiason (20 of 27 passing for 326 yards and four touchdowns) zipped a pass to Eddie Brown that led to a 7-0 lead and the beginning of the massacre. Cincinnati led by 21-0 after one quarter, by 31-0 at halftime and by 52-0 after three quarters. The Bengals were throwing on first down all the while, converting fourth-down plays in the final quarter, and even kicking a field goal for their final points with 25 seconds left.
Glanville, the loose and blunt coach, was humble after this disaster.
''They played an excellent game and we have no alibis, no excuses,'' Glanville said.
Houston had won five of the last six in this series, but was outplayed in every area today. Cincinnati compiled a club-record 35 first downs. It had an overwhelming edge in plays (81-52), yardage (584-194), rushing yards (192-39) and possession time (40 minutes 41 seconds to 19:19).
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