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 that showed he’s still got a lot left.

“According to sources and anybody that analyzes talent or what-have-you: I’m 36, I’ve slowed down, I don’t have it anymore,” Owens said. “I’m a different person. I’m very talented, I keep myself in shape. So everybody can think I’ve slowed down. If they want to play me like that, that’s fine.”

The Eagles couldn’t keep up with him.

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 six-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.

“He’s as good as anyone when he gets on top of a corner,” Palmer said. “We’re going to take shots when we get opportunities.”

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 jelling and still bringing this whole thing together.”