Cincinatti ? Playing with a chance to win a title, the Baltimore Ravens crossed midfield once in the first three quarters. Their fearsome defense got caught flat-footed by a sandlot play.

Maybe T.J. Houshmandzadeh is right after all.

Houshmandzadeh caught a 40-yard touchdown pass on a flea-flicker Thursday night, sparking the Cincinnati Bengals to a 13-7 victory that kept the AFC North title up for grabs.

“It’s huge,” quarterback Carson Palmer said. “We’re rolling now. Hopefully we’ll wind up getting a spot in the playoffs.”

A surprisingly stout Bengals defense is keeping them in contention.

Coming off a 30-0 shutout in Cleveland, one of the NFL’s lowest-ranked defenses held Baltimore (9-3) scoreless until Steve McNair threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Derrick Mason with 1:01 to play.

Even though it missed out on a second straight shutout, the defense did something that no other Cincinnati unit has done: go seven straight quarters without allowing a point.

“We’ve put a couple of complete games together,” coach Marvin Lewis said.

The Ravens had won five in a row and were coming off their most complete game of the season, a 27-0 victory over Pittsburgh. With a chance to win the AFC North title outright, Baltimore’s offense came apart, crossing midfield only once in the first three quarters. Keiwan Ratliff clinched it by recovering the onside kick after Baltimore’s late score.

“It’s a lost opportunity,” tight end Todd Heap said. “We had a chance to come in here and win the division. Give them some credit. A lot of things went their way tonight. We just never got in the groove.”

All of it supported Houshmandzadeh’s main point: Right now, Cincinnati (7-5) just might be the better team.

“I still feel the same way,” he said.

After the Ravens won, 26-20, on Nov. 5, the long-haired receiver insisted that everyone knows the Bengals are better. He repeated it again this week, getting a rise out of some of the Ravens. Safety Ed Reed suggested that Houshmandzadeh should just shut up.

The Ravens were in no position to argue after Houshmandzadeh caught 10 passes for a season-high 106 yards, including the trick-play touchdown that made it 13-0 early in the second half and allowed the defense to dig in on a rainy night.

“I thought we played great in every area tonight,” Palmer said. “They didn’t do a whole lot different. We just played better.”

So, did the win prove that Cincinnati is better?

“In a sense,” said Bengals receiver Chad Johnson, who had eight catches for 91 yards. “We’re 1-1. We’ll see who’s the better team if we have to face them again in the playoffs.”

The Ravens would love it.

“I’d play them every day of the week,” linebacker Bart Scott said. “We missed an opportunity, but our destiny is still in our hands. We might see them again. We might not.”

The Bengals don’t usually resort to trick plays – their offense has enough firepower to beat teams straight-up. They did something different against one of the league’s nastiest defenses.

On their first drive of the second half, Palmer handed off to Rudi Johnson, who then flipped the ball back to him. Houshmandzadeh was well beyond the coverage when Palmer let fly with the flea-flicker pass.

Reed was the only player close to Houshmandzadeh when he caught the ball at the 12-yard line and ran untouched into the end zone.

Palmer had a solid showing against a defense that led the league in interceptions, ranked second in sacks and was third in points allowed. The Ravens rarely got to Palmer, who was on the mark on a rainy night – 21-of-32 for 234 yards with only two sacks.

More stunning was the Bengals’ defense.

Cincinnati’s defense plummeted to last in the league rankings after giving up 42 second-half points to San Diego and nearly 600 yards to New Orleans. The defense got itself straightened out during the shutout in Cleveland, its first in 17 years. It was even more impressive against Baltimore.