With 118 yards on 25 carries in Sunday’s 20-13 win in San Diego, BenJarvus Green-Ellis became the first Cincinnati Bengals player to rush for more than 100 yards in three consecutive games since Corey Dillon did it in 1999.

“You know how happy we’ve been with Benny,” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said. “I’m pleased for him because he is the epitome of a pro.”

Having never had a run of longer than 33 yards, Green-Ellis has three in the last two games. He broke off big gains of 48 and 39 last week against the Raiders, and Sunday he ripped off a 41-yarder that led to Mike Nugent field goal in the second quarter.

Then in the fourth quarter, with the Bengals down four, he carried seven times for 26 yards on the game-winning drive.

“When we have the kind of guys that we have up front, and the type of runner that I am, we continually just pound on people,” said Green-Ellis, who has carried 69 times for 348 yards the last three games. “We just try to will our way to victories and that’s what we were able to do today.”

Gilberry grieves

Saturday’s tragic story of the murder-suicide committed by Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Javon Belcher hit Bengals defensive end Wallace Gilberry hard.

Gilberry spent four years as Belcher’s teammate in Kansas City, their lockers just one away from each other with defensive end Glenn Dorsey between them.

“Me and Glenn Dorsey are still just like brothers, so I talked to him as soon as I heard the news at 7:30 or 8 o’clock that morning,” Gilberry said. “He confirmed it, and it was just one of those long pauses and we both hung up without saying ‘bye.’ One of those things that you hope was a misprint or somebody got it wrong.”

Gilberry, who had one of the Bengals’ four sacks on the day, his fourth of the season, said he thought about Belcher throughout the game.

“He was definitely on my mind,” he said. “You always hear when something like that happens somebody always says, ‘He was never that guy.’ But really he wasn’t that kind of guy. It’s just one of those things. I’m praying for his daughter that got left behind — who is going to grow up without parents — and the family, his girlfriend and his family.”

Jones starts

Playing in front of a few dozen friends and family members, Bengals rookie wide receiver Marvin Jones made his first career start Sunday.

Jones, who was promoted following the injury to Mohamed Sanu, grew up two hours north of San Diego in Fontana, Calif. But his homecoming was anything but happy for awhile. In the third quarter, he had a pass go off his hands and into the arms of San Diego safety Corey Lynch.

“I feel like I had a pretty decent game other than that uncharacteristic drop,” said Jones, who finished with two catches for 20 yards and had a key block on the edge to spring Green-Ellis on his 41-yard run.

One of his catches came on the game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter.

“When you have a drop or something like that, you want another opportunity,” he said. “I wanted to go right back out there and show that that doesn’t happen. I’m glad I went back out there and kept going and put it behind me and we got the win.”

Dominant drive

The Bengals opened the game with a 16-play, 91-yard drive that quarterback Andy Dalton capped with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Jermaine Gresham.

It was the Bengals’ longest drive of the year in terms of plays and yards, and the second longest in elapsed time (longest was 7:46 vs. the New York Giants on Nov. 11), although it became the third longest in terms of time a few hours later when the team drove 55 yards on 14 plays in 7:28 for the game-winning touchdown.

The Bengals have scored on their opening drive three times during their four-game winning streak.