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.

Andy Dalton's Illness Raises Questions

            As the Cincinnati Bengals prepared for the Houston Texans today for Saturday's matchup in the Wild Card round, their first playoff matchup since 2009, they were without rookie quarterback Andy Dalton. Dalton is likely on his way to winning the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award, to go along with being selected as a Pro Bowl alternate and becomine the first rookie quarterback to start every game and take his team to the playoffs. Andy Dalton was out with the flu today and is expected to be back on the practice field tomorrow. And note that I said the practice field, not their indoor facility because, in fact, the Cincinnati Bengals don't have one. Cincinnati practiced outside for the second straight day in temperatures that hovered in the mid-20's. Temperature is one of the rare scenarios where someone can complain about something or someone being in their twenties. The wind chill was brutal but the Bengals decided there was no reason to practice indoors.

Courtesy of http://www.cincyjungle.com/2011/9/11/2418635/dalton-leaves-game-to-get-x-ray-on-wrist-of-throwing-arm

         
             However, two things are incredibly wrong with that statement: (1) Mike Brown needs to provide greater personal and financial support of the team and build an indoor practice facility. The Bengals finally found a franchise quarterback in Dalton who, in his rookie season, would have made everyone in Cincinnati forget who Carson Palmer was if it weren't for all the Oakland highlights each week that featured about three Palmer interceptions. You want to know the biggest difference between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals. The owners. Dan Rooney has already been elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and has made numerous significant contributions to the game such as the "Rooney Rule," which requires NFL teams to interview at least one minority coach for every vacant position. Oh, did I mention in his free time he is the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland? He and the rest of the Rooney family provide the Steelers with all of the support they need, which is a major reason why Pittsburgh has made it to the Super Bowl three times in the last six years. I don't see Mike Brown making a name for himself in the football or international world, other than being stingy with his money. The Bengals have to overcome Brown to win the games that they do and make it to the playoffs. Seriously, Mike Brown, your gesture to have a buy one, get one free deal was uncharacteristically generous to the city of Cincinnati and is hopefully a sign for what is to come in the future. Let's double the number of good things you have done for the Bengals recently by paying for an indoor practice facility out of your own pocket this offseason. (2) Who knows what caused Red's illness, but playing in freezing temperatures definitely didn't help, if it wasn't the main cause. I'm not sure what the line is on the Bengals-Texans matchup but it has to be seven points or less. The Bengals only lost by one point, 20-19, at Paul Brown Stadium in Week 14. Cincinnati has a legitimate shot to pull off the upset this week, that's assuming that Andy Dalton is healthy and plays four quarters against Houston. How perfect would that be for the reputation of Mike Brown--the Cincinnati Bengals make it to the playoffs, led by a rookie quarterback, but their lack of outdoor stadium causes him to catch the flu and the Bengals lose a winnable game as a result. You need to take every precaution to keep your star players healthy. Check that. You need to take every precaution to keep all of your players healthy.

Courtesy of http://www.cleveland.com/ohio-sports-blog/index.ssf/2009/08/cincinnati_bengals_owner_mike.html

            Even though the Bengals do not have an indoor practice facility, the University of Cincinnati has a bubble field only a few miles away. Oh wait, that would Mike Brown and the Cincinnati Bengals would have to pay $5,000 per day to use it. Nevermind, a playoff win isn't worth $15,000. Remember, we're just happy to be in the playoffs no matter what.

An Ugly First Half Set Back the Bengals

            Heading into the game against Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, the Cincinnati Bengals were 7-4 and only one game back of the AFC North division lead. The Bengals had played the Steelers tough at home three weeks ago and now it was Cincinnati's turn to travel to Heinz Field to face one of the best teams in the NFL. This was a crucial game for the Bengals, but a bad first half never let them be competitive against one of the division leaders.
            On the Bengals' opening drive, a touchdown pass from Andy Dalton to tight end Jermaine Gresham was erased by a false start penalty and the following field goal attempt was nullified by a delay of game penalty. On the second try, kicker Mike Nugent's kick was blocked by Cam Heyward.

Courtesy of http://www.greenwichtime.com/sports/article/Steelers-stay-hot-crush-Bengals-35-7-2343362.php#photo-1859520

          In the second quarter, a forty-five yard completion from Ben Roethlisberger to Antonio Brown set up a Rashard Mendenhall touchdown run. The Bengals then went three and out after three unsuccessful pass plays and punted back to Pittsburgh. On the first play of the drive, Ben Roethlisberger threw a deep pass down the field intended for wide receiver Mike Wallace and defensive pass interference was called on Bengals safety Chris Crocker. The Steelers got the ball at the spot of the penalty, which was Cincinnati's own 20 yard line, and after two Mendenhall rushes, Pittsburgh scored its second touchdown of the game. To make things even worse for the Bengals, on the kickoff after the touchdown, Cincinnati return man Brandon Tate fumbled and the Steelers recovered the ball on Cincinnati's 23 yard line. A few plays later and Pittsburgh scored its third touchdown of the day on a Mike Wallace reception.

Courtesy of http://pittsburgh.sbnation.com/

             The Steelers went on to win the game 35-7 after a very dominant performance over Cincinnati. While the Bengals have four fourth quarter comebacks this season, the team has to actually be competitive in the game to give Andy Dalton and Cincinnati's offense a chance to win. The Bengals can't have stupid mistakes like they did on offense in the first quarter and on defense and special teams in the second quarter. In order to win against good teams such as the Pittsburgh Steelers, turnovers and penalties will kill any team, especially hated division rivals.

2011 Christmas List

            Since today is December 1st, it is officially time to start thinking about Christmas and making a Christmas list. Here is my sports-related Christmas list:

• AFC Wild Card spot for the Cincinnati Bengals
• Jay Cutler's finger to heal towards the three week side of the three-to-ten week recovery period
• A Chicago Bears win on Christmas Day
• Chris Paul traded to the New York Knicks
• Chicago Cubs sign Albert Pujols
• Andy Dalton wins Offensive Rookie of the Year
• Xavier Musketeers finish the season in the top 10 of the polls in basketball
• Jacksonville Jaguars move to Los Angeles

Bengals Fall to Ravens because of A Ridiculous Rule

            You would think that the NFL would learn from the drama of last year's Chicago Bears-Detroit Lions game where Calvin Johnson caught the game-winning touchdown in the final minute, but dropped the ball before the play was officially over. It was ruled incomplete and the Bears won. A similar situation occurred in Baltimore as each tick of the clock brought the game closer to ending in a Ravens win. Quarterback Andy Dalton threw a pass to tight end Jermaine Gresham, who bobbled the ball three or four times before controlling it, taking one step, and then a second, which put him in the endzone. However, when he fell to the ground, the ball slipped out of his grasp and hit the ground before he grabbed it again.

Courtesy of http://www.cincyjungle.com/2010/11/16/1818418/jermaine-gresham-nominated-for-rookie-of-the-week

            To most football fans, especially Bengals fans, the play appeared to be a completion and touchdown. Gresham caught the ball, made two steps in bounds, and the ball crossed the plane while under his control. He held on the entire way down until he hit the ground. Sadly there is nothing the league can do for the Bengals, but they definitely need to re-evaluate this rule in the offseason and find a way to modify it. The rule seems to imply that the wide receiver has to hold on to the football until he runs back to the bench. The rule is overkill, and led to the Bengals losing 31-24, after not scoring on their final drive. Andy Dalton got cheated out of a fourth quarter comeback and the Bengals got cheated out of a win.