The 27-10 win Sunday in Jacksonville marked the third consecutive game in which the Cincinnati Bengals have set the tone immediately.

Two weeks ago against Cleveland, the Bengals scored the first time they touched the ball when Adam Jones returned a punt for an 81-yard touchdown.

Last week in Washington, wide receiver Mohamed Sanu hit wide receiver A.J. Green with a 73-yard touchdown pass on the first snap of the game.

And against the Jaguars, Domata Peko’s sack of Jacksonville quarterback Blaine Gabbert on the first snap set the stage for what would be the best performance of the season by a Bengals defense that came into the game ranked 29th out of 32 NFL teams.

“Starting out with a sack right way kind of gets everyone going” Peko said. “That’s the kind of statement we try to make in away games, going out there and showing them that we ain’t playing around today.”

Peko’s sack was the first of six on the day for the Bengals, giving them an NFL leading 17 while marking the first time they have recorded six or more in back-to-back games since December 2001 (six vs. Tampa Bay, eight vs. Jacksonville).

“Any time you get a sack on the very first play of the game, that’s huge,” Bengals cornerback Terence Newman said. “It changes the dynamic of the game. As long as we keep getting to the quarterback, stopping the run and (having the) secondary playing well, we will do pretty good in this defense.”

Making the defensive effort even more impressive was the fact the Bengals were down to just three cornerbacks with starters Leon Hall and Nate Clements and backup Jason Allen out with injuries.

They also were forced to use safety Chris Crocker, who had just signed 72 hours earlier and who ended up grabbing the team’s first interception of the season, on 19 of the 60 defensive snaps (32 percent).

“It’s pretty much the walking wounded back here right now,” Newman said. “Guys had to step up. That’s why you have six or seven former first-rounders on this team. Somebody goes down somebody has to step up. I think that’s definitely one of the advantages of having a secondary like this.”

The depth up front showed as well with defensive tackle Geno Atkins adding two sacks to give him five for the year, while defensive end Carlos Dunlap registered one.

Meanwhile, defensive end Michael Johnson, the reigning AFC Defensive Player of the Week after a three-sack performance at Washington, didn’t record a single tackle, and the Bengals still managed to hold Jacksonville running back Maurice Jones-Drew to 38 yards on 13 carries.

“We hadn’t been stopping the run all that well,” Newman said. “That was a big focal point. With the D-line playing the way they are, they got some good stops on them early and some pretty good hits on him.

“Once the score got a little lopsided, it forced them into some more throwing situations, and the guys just kept eating back there with six sacks.”

Linebacker Manny Lawson recorded his first sack of the season, and rookie linebacker Vontaze Burfict added the first of his career to go along with a team-high eight tackles as the Bengals surrendered their lowest yardage total since giving up 199 in the 2010 season finale in Baltimore.

“Defensively, we made positive steps in the right direction,” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said. “We did a nice job yesterday in pass lanes underneath, which is what we need to have. We made (Gabbert) hold the football, then we were able to get to him with the rush.

“But we have to continue to keep him in (the pocket) because we had a couple of times where the quarterback got out on us,” Lewis continued. “That’s got to continue to get better.”