BS. You play to win. Complete that and the game is pretty much over. Run it for a couple against a stacked box and the Bengals still get the ball back, albeit with a bit less time.
Funny thing is, if they ran it and didn't get the first down, you'd have the same people complaining that they have no balls and should have gone for the jugular.
Having said that, the defensive calls on the last cincy drive was way too conservative. Shouldn't have even gotten to a jump ball situation.