Earl Thomas has 68-yard INT return canceled by penalty (Video)

Earl Thomas is not the guy you want to test, Andy Dalton

The Cincinnati Bengals were driving at the end of the second quarter against the Seattle Seahawks, trying to break a 7-7 tie before going into the locker room for half time. Just outside the red zone, Andy Dalton tried to take a shot at a touchdown, but that also meant testing Earl Thomas and that is never a good idea.

The prolific Seahawks safety read the play beautifully as Dalton tried to link up with A.J. Green and Thomas jumped the route in the front of the end zone. Then, Thomas was off to the races, evading would be tacklers beautifully and taking it up the sideline for 68 yards:

That was an absolutely gorgeous play by Thomas all around, from the moment Dalton let go of the ball until the moment that he went down. Unfortunately, a personal foul penalty on Michael Bennett negated the 68-yard return and only gave Thomas 32 yards to his credit.

Even still, this Seahawks defense is starting to look scarily like the unit that has led them to prominence over the past few seasons. With Kam Chancellor back in the secondary, Thomas is now opened up to make reads and plays like this, as is the rest of the secondary. Suffice it to say that this probably won’t be the last big interception and return by Thomas this season. Let’s just hope a penalty doesn’t negate the next one.