(Betting Express) - The Cincinnati Bengals rebounded from their loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers last week with a less-than-spectacular performance against the dismal Green Bay Packers on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.

They did enough to win, though, as Carson Palmer threw for 237 yards and three touchdowns and T.J. Houshmandzadeh had 77 yards receiving and a score to help the Bengals escape with a 21-14 win.

Rudi Johnson had 22 carries for 72 yards and Chad Johnson caught five balls for 62 yards for the Bengals (6-2), who won for the second time in their last three games and are at six wins for the first time at this stage of the season since their 1988 AFC Championship campaign.

At 6-2, Cincinnati is atop the AFC North - a half-game ahead of Pittsburgh - and tied for the second-best mark in the AFC, trailing only the undefeated Indianapolis Colts. The Denver Broncos are also 6-2.

"First place. It's on us," said Bengals cornerback Tory James. "It's in our hands. We don't have to worry about anybody else. It's all on us."

It was the defense that was the star on Sunday, as it forced future Hall of Famer Brett Favre to throw a regular-season career-high five interceptions. It was the third time this season that the Bengals forced five interceptions.

"I give the Bengals credit," Favre said. "There is something that they have been doing all year - they intercept the ball. They create turnovers, regardless of how they happen. They are creating turnovers and they did it again today."

The Bengals' five takeaways upped their NFL-leading total to 28 and they are a plus-20 in turnover differential for the season. The team improved to 6-0 when having a positive turnover margin

Even with all the turnovers, Green Bay still had a chance late in the game.

Trailing by seven, the Packers drove into Cincinnati territory with under a minute left in the game, but since Favre had no timeouts left, he raced to the line of scrimmage to get another play off, but it was blown dead as a fan ran onto the field. As Favre turned around to see the reason for the whistle after he took the snap, the fan stole the ball from him and raced down the field about 50 yards before he got tackled by security. The Packers got as far as the Bengals' 26-yard line before time ran out.

"Look man, don't take this man lightly, he's done it before," said Deltha O'Neal, who had two picks. "That's a dangerous man to have the ball with less than 20 seconds left and down by seven. I told them, You can't go easy on this guy, he's the Comeback King.' He'll make a situation really big and end up winning it or going into overtime."

HISTORIC PACE

The Bengals now have 20 interceptions on the season, 14 short of the team record set in 1996. They are a distant 29 shy of the all-time mark of 49, which was established by the 1961 San Diego Chargers in just 14 games.

Rookie middle linebacker Odell Thurman had two interceptions in the win and has four on the year, which is one shy of the team record for picks by a rookie, currently shared by Tommy Casanova in 1972 and Ray Horton in 1983.

POLLACK MISSES GAME

Rookie first-round pick David Pollack was forced to miss his first game on Sunday because of a sprained knee suffered in the loss to the Steelers. Instead, Landon Johnson started at linebacker and recorded eight tackles - second only to safety Kevin Kaesviharn's 10.

WILLIAMS PLACED ON IR

Cincinnati placed safety Madieu Williams on injured reserve on Monday because of a shoulder injury.

Williams was hurt in practice on September 30 and didn't play the next two games, but returned for the October 16 contest against Tennessee before sitting out the past two weeks.

In four games this season, including three starts, Williams had 23 tackles and one interception.

The Bengals selected Williams with a second-round pick in the 2004 draft. The Maryland product played in all 16 games, starting 13, in his rookie season and had three interceptions.

Cincinnati filled the roster spot by activating rookie guard Steven Vieira off the physically unable to perform list, but subsequently waived him on Tuesday.

UP NEXT

The Bengals head to Baltimore this week to face the struggling Ravens. They split their two matchups last season, but Cincinnati has lost five of the last seven head-to-head meetings.