Cincinnati Bengals vs. Houston Texans: 3 Plays That Changed the Outcome of the Game

          After the Cincinnati Bengals got embarrassed by the Houston Texans by a score of 31-10 at Reliant Stadium, many Cincinnati fans are livid.

                “Why didn’t our team show up? We are so much better than this!”

First off, let’s take a step back. The Bengals had a good season by all accounts this season—they drafted a franchise quarterback in Andy Dalton as well as A.J. Green, a Pro Bowl wide receiver who is virtually impossible to cover; The Bengals made the playoffs despite being in a division with two of the best teams in the NFL, the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers, who both finished 12-4. Marvin Lewis has secured at least a few more years in Cincy by having his young team buy into his system. Even Mike Brown showed promise for the future by permitting a buy one, get one free deal for the final regular season game.

However, we need a reality check. The Bengals finished the regular season 9-7, only one win away from being an average team. If Cincinnati was 8-8, the Bengals’ season would have been considered very mediocre. The Bengals only beat one team with a winning record. While Cincinnati was competitive in all but one of its regular season games, a brutal 35-7 loss at Pittsburgh, the Bengals’ only win against a team that finished above .500 came against San Francisco early in the season. Two losses to Baltimore. Two losses to Pittsburgh. Let’s not get carried away with ourselves—Houston beat Cincinnati in Cincinnati without Andre Johnson. So considering that Saturday’s loss was in Houston, it was the franchise’s first playoff berth, and Andre Johnson was in the lineup, it is not surprising that the Texans won by a much larger margin in their second meeting with Cincy. The Bengals had their opportunities to win the game but three plays in the middle of the game decided the outcome.

 Mike Nugent’s 50-yard field goal miss. Great teams take advantage of every opportunity, especially scoring opportunities. Trust me, I know 50 yards is a long way. I would be lucky to make a PAT. Reliant Stadium had a closed roof, so there was no wind. It would have given the Bengals the lead. Missed field goals have a similar effect as turnovers. It keeps point off the board for the offensive team and gives the team on defense a chance to have good field position to start their own scoring drive.

Courtesy of http://bleacherreport.com/articles/997209-cardinals-vs-bengals-things-we-learned-from-cincys-christmas-eve-victory

            J.J.Watt’s pick six. To clarify for everyone, this interception was 99% a great play by Watt and 1% Andy Dalton’s fault. I would say 110% and -10%, but that is absurd, negative numbers wouldn’t make sense in this context. There might be five players of any position that would have caught that pass. Watt is a former tight end so he has better hands that most defensive ends. He has some serious cat-like reflexes. Watching the play on TV, the camera man had started panning the camera twenty yards downfield only to find out that the ball was actually moving in the opposite direction, in Watt’s hands. That was simply a great play by a talented rookie who you could make a case for an All-Pro bid.

Courtesy of http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/kerry_byrne/01/07/bengals.texans.grades/index.html

  Chris Crocker’s dropped interception. The Bengals were down 17-10 at halftime and were forced to punt on their first drive of the second half. Crocker completely fooled rookie quarterback T.J. Yates and jumped the wide receivers route. There was no Texan within ten yards of him. He would have caught the ball around Cincinnati’s 45 yard line with room to run. But in usual Bengals fashion, Crocker decided to wear his sandpaper gloves to the game and ended up deciding that the turf would rather have the ball than him. Pacman Jones was injured a few plays later and the Texans immediately took advantage of the injured corner by going deep to Andre Johnson for an easy touchdown. Even though Johnson was not playing 100% due to a hamstring injury, he made a fantastic double move that left Jones in the dust and the safety covering over top had no chance at breaking up the play.

Courtesy of http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120107/SPT02/301070096/Bengals-best-hope-falls-ground?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CSports%7Cs

 The Bengals were not able to step up to the playoffs. The Texans made exceptional plays and Cincinnati made mistakes. If these three plays had gone the other way, the Bengals would have been up 13-10 instead of being down 24-10. Once Houston had a two touchdown lead at home, the game was over for Cincinnati. They had too many blows to their morale and weren’t making the big plays that the Texans were. Stay positive Bengals Nation. Cincinnati made the playoffs with a rookie quarterback in one of the toughest divisions. The team is young and has two first round draft picks in the upcoming draft. Andy Dalton has postseason experience and look for the Bengals to be a favorite in the AFC for years to come.

NFL Wild Card Weekend Predictions: Houston Texans vs. Cincinnati Bengals

Houston Texans vs. Cincinnati Bengals

Cincinnati's 20-19 loss to the Texans at the hands of rookie quarterback T.J. Yates, who put together an eighty yard drive in the final minutes of the game to get the win on the road.  Even though that matchup was only four weeks ago, much has changed since then:

• Andre Johnson is healthy enough to play after missing the last meeting against the Bengals with a hamstring injury and will give Yates a threat downfield that the Texans lacked in Cincinnati.
• Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton missed practice on Thursday and spent the day in the hospital recovering from the flu. He is expected to start on Saturday but who knows how he actually feels.
• Yates is listed as probable after suffering from a separated shoulder
• Houston will have home-field advantage and has a season's worth of experience practicing on a turf field, while the Bengals have practiced outdoors all week
• The Bengals have more playoff experience than the Texans; this is Cincinnati's third playoff berth in the past seven years while Houston is in the postseason for the first time in franchise history

The Benglas dominated the Week 14 meeting for the first fifty-five minutes, going into halftime with a 16-3 and were up 19-10 to start the fourth quarter. Cincinnati forced four turnovers and held Arian Foster, the league's fifth leading rusher, to 41 yards on 15 carries. However, the Texans outgained the Bengals by 130 yards, lead by T.J. Yates' 300 yard performance. Houston, with the second best rushing attack in the NFL, combined for nearly 150 yards on the ground between Foster, Yates, and Ben Tate. Owen Daniels broke the 100 yard mark in the game, showing the Bengals' liability in stopping tight ends.

Keys for the Houston Texans

• Run the ball early and often--The Texans have one of the best backfields with Arian Foster and Ben Tate. Being a run-first offense will increase their time of possession and keep Andy Dalton sidelined. With the return over Andre Johnson, an All-Pro wide receiver when healthy, will give the Texans big play potential once the Bengals start expecting the run on over play.
• Hold onto the ball--Houston fumbled four times and threw one interception in the last matchup against the Bengals so quite honestly, they were lucky to win. Good teams don't commit turnovers in the playoffs. The teams that lose are the ones who make the small  and preventable mistakes.
• Put pressure on Andy Dalton--The casual NFL fan wouldn't be able to tell that Dalton was a rookie. He is the first rookie to start every game and lead his team to the playoffs. The Red Rifle has also been able to achieve individual glory with his 3,400 passing yards and 20 passing touchdowns. Sports Science found that Dalton was the most accurate quarterback in last year's draft class and can make opposing teams pay if he has enough time in the pocket. Fellow rookie teammate A.J. Green made the Pro Bowl after setting the Bengals' record for receiving yards in a season by a rookie (surpassed Chris Collinsworth). Jerome Simpson, most well known for his endzone acrobatics a few weeks ago, is also closing in on 1,000 yards and Jermaine Gresham is a great threat in the red zone.

Courtesy of http://www.statesman.com/sports/rookie-yates-leading-texans-into-playoffs-2078039.html

Keys for the Cincinnati Bengals

• Take an early lead--Houston will be completely behind their team in the Texans' first playoff berth in their short history. The only way to defeat home-field advantage is to put points on the board. An early lead will quiet a noisy stadium and shift the momentum in favor of the Bengals.
• Stop the run--Cincinnati shut down Arian Foster in the previous game against Houston, but Tate and Yates still managed to run for a combined 100 yards. If the Bengals can limit the Texans' ground game, that will put pressure on T.J. Yates, a rookie quarterback with only six games under his belt, to run the offense.

Courtesy of http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1011302-bengals-vs-texans-andy-dalton-hospitalized-with-flu-like-symptoms

This Wild Card matchup is a toss-up. Both teams are entering the playoffs on losing streaks and the game will be decided by which rookie quarterback plays better under pressure and which team protects the football. Cincinnati has been competitive in fifteen of sixteen games this season and Andy Dalton is a much better quaterback than T.J. Yates. The Bengals were dominant for three and a half quarters in Week 14 but gave it away at the end. Cincinnati still has some magic left in its tank, Andy Dalton is 3-0 in his career at Reliant Stadium, and the Bengals get their first playoff win since 1991, ironically against Houston (except they were the Oilers, not the Texans). Cincinnati wins 24-21 in a very close game in Houston.