Andre Smith, the Bengals’ other starting offensive tackle, summed it up best afterward:

“A lot of us think of Andy as being something like our mom… And that out there, that felt like someone gettin’ a free shot on your momma.”

And that’s what Andrew Whitworth, Cincinnati’s massive left tackle, saw when Lamarr Houston, the Oakland Raiders’ 300-pound defensive end, flipped Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton on his head midway through the fourth quarter at Paul Brown Stadium Sunday, after the play had been whistled dead.

Instantly the 330-pound Whitworth marched toward Houston to lay down a cut-the-crap edict.

He said he figured he knew what was going on.

“A team like that, after the last couple of weeks they’ve had (the 3-7 Raiders had lost three in a row and been outscored 135-69), they had to be frustrated. And they weren’t getting it done on the field today either.”

And to top it off, the Raiders had just had an uplifting play — a Bengals’ fumble they had recovered and run in for a touchdown — denied them because an official had inadvertently blown his whistle during the action.

After a long consultation by officials, the play had been erased and the Bengals were being allowed to replay the down.

“Right then I knew they were spoiling for a fight, but you don’t cheap shot our quarterback,” Whitworth said. “The whistle had blown like four times and the guy still smokes (Andy) and it definitely was a violent thing. I took that personally. My job, first and foremost, is to protect Andy, so I ran over to tell him it wasn’t gonna happen again.

“But soon as I got there and got in his face, he lunged at me with his head and head-butted me. That’s when I grabbed his shoulders so he couldn’t swing on me and next thing I felt his buddies swinging at the back of me.”

Other linemen jumped into the fray — the Raiders 311-pound defensive tackle Desmond Bryant was one of the players punching away — and soon the scrum of behemoth brawlers tumbled to the ground as several other players pushed in toward the melee. Some players ran onto the field from the bench and coaches came out to pull players apart.

“It was strange,” said Bengals defensive lineman Domata Peko, who watched from the sideline. ”It was kinda the W.W.E. out there for a little bit.”

Whitworth was on the bottom of the mountain of bodies, a place no one wants to be, he said: “It’s tough because you’ve got the weight of the pile on you and you can’t do anything while other guys are taking free shots at you. A couple of guys tried to get in my face mask and claw at me and do all that good stuff.”

After several minutes of chaos, the players were separated, though tempers didn’t quite calm. Houston ripped off his helmet and stocking cap underneath and pushed toward Whitworth, who was being restrained as he wagged his finger and as if to say, “C’mon.”

Whitworth was ejected from the game, as was Houston and the Raiders’ 330-pound defensive tackle, Tommy Kelly.

As the 6-foot-7 Whitworth tromped off the field toward the dressing room, fans near the tunnel reached down to slap his upraised hand or pat his shaved dome. Later — after the Bengals had finished their 34-10 throttling of the Raiders — players and coaches acknowledged Whitworth, already a team leader, with added admiration.

“Sheriff Whitworth,” teased defensive line coach Jay Hayes as he walked by and clasped him on the shoulders.

Across the way, receiver A.J. Green , who at 207 pounds knew he needed to stay out of the way of the battling bears, explained the new dynamic going on with the suddenly resurgent Bengals, a team that has won three straight and at 6-5 finds the playoffs a possibility again.

“One thing about this team, when we lost four straight we didn’t panic,” Green said. “We may have dug ourselves into a hole, but we’d help each other out. This is really a family team. We all hang around each other we all talk to each other and look out for each other.”

Just as they have turned their season around, the Bengals turned that negative moment around in the fourth quarter Sunday.

Once order was restored, Dalton delivered a numbing knockout blow of his own.

On the very first play after the fight, he launched a 48-yard strike to Green, who made the catch between two defenders. Seven plays later Cincinnati scored again, putting the game completely out of reach at 34-10 with just 3:12 left.

The Bengals are a different team than they were a month ago. They’re playing their best football of the season, having beaten the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants by 18, the Kansas City Chiefs by 22 and now Oakland by 24.

“Beating the Giants at home was huge for us,” said Bengals kicker Mike Nugent, who kicked two field goals Sunday, including a 55-yarder that tied a Bengals record that had stood 33 years. “Beating the Super Bowl champs showed us how good we could be and you could feel that confidence in the locker room and on the practice field. We realized we’re a lot better team than our record says.”

Whitworth agreed: “We’re a very young team and early in the season we felt a little good about ourselves and relaxed and that allowed things to spiral on us.

“That ticked us off and we wanted to prove who we really were. Our preparations became more intense. There was more attitude. Our practices got a little more heated and we got better. And the chip on our shoulders stayed there.”

It’s what helped trigger Whitworth when he saw Dalton flipped head over heels and land on his neck.

“The guy attacked my guy,” he said. “It was a cheap shot and I wanted him to know it wouldn’t happen again. Period.”

Dalton, for one, was appreciative.

“It’s good to know guys have your back,” he said. “I love Whit and love the way he plays. And today he made a statement.”

Whitworth shrugged off the praise with a simple explanation: “I’ve just got two contracts in my life. One is with my wife and the other one is with Andy Dalton. I’ve got to take care of him, too.”

That’s because come game time the quarterback is like the one other woman in his life.

To quote Andre Smith again: “Our quarterback is like our momma.”