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Sunday, January 24, 2010Stalled offense, unlucky bounces finish Ravens
The last AFC North team was eliminated from the playoffs when the Indianapolis Colts defeated the Baltimore Ravens 21-3 in the Divisional Playoff round at Lucas Oil Stadium.
I just finished writing a decent-length post about the game, and my computer ate it, so I don't feel like typing the whole thing over again. Here's the gist of it.
Friday, January 15, 2010Ravens run all over New England"I wanted to be the guy today to start fast... I wanted to be the guy to say this will be a fast-tempo game. We want the other team to play catch-up to us." The Ravens entered their Wild Card game in Foxborough, Massachusetts, with some bad history to get rid of. The Ravens had never beaten New England in five meetings, and although they had come close in the previous two contests (including a nationally televised 2007 game in which they nearly derailed New England's 16-0 regular season), the Patriots always seemed to get the benefit of penalties just when they needed them. On the first play from scrimmage, the Ravens started to unload that irritation on the vaunted three-time Super Bowl Champions. Ray Rice took the handoff from QB Joe Flacco, found blocking on the left side, accelerated, and was gone for 83 yards. In just 17 seconds, the Ravens had taken the lead. Then the defense went to work on QB Tom Brady. Brady's first pass was stopped for a gain of two yards. His second was stopped for a loss of three. LB Terrell Suggs made sure he didn't get to throw a third. Suggs took the ball out of Brady's hand and set the Ravens up in the red zone. Five running plays later, FB Le'Ron McClain rumbled into the end zone, and Baltimore was up 14-0 less than five minutes into the game. New England started its next drive in a hole thanks to a Ray Lewis sack of Brady on first down, and the Patriots went three-and-out. On the following drive, CB Chris Carr picked off Brady's pass, setting the Ravens up with a short field again. A few plays later, Rice scored his second touchdown of the day. and the Ravens led 21-0. But they still weren't done. On just the second play of the following drive, Brady tried a long pass to WR Sam Aiken. CB Domonique Foxworth tipped the ball away from Aiken, Ed Reed snatched the ball away and returned it 25 yards, then pitched the ball to SS Dawan Landry, who took it 25 more yards to set up a Ravens field goal. When the first quarter came to a close, the Ravens led 24-0 in front of a frustrated Gillette Stadium crowd. "I'd have been booing us too, the way we played," said Tom Brady after the game. Continue reading "Ravens run all over New England" Sunday, January 10, 2010Bengals leave on a Jet plane
The AFC North champion Bengals made a sad exit from the playoffs in a 24-14 loss to the New York Jets at chilly Paul Brown Stadium on Saturday.
Cincinnati scored first on an 11-yard pass from QB Carson Palmer to WR Laveranues Coles, but the Jets answered with a 39-yard touchdown run by rookie RB Shonn Greene and took the lead in the second quarter when rookie QB Mark Sanchez's pass from midfield was pulled in by TE Dustin Keller on the sideline. Keller walked the sideline like a tightrope and held the ball over the pylon to give New York their second touchdown, and the Bengals were never able to catch up. According to NFL.com, this was the first time since the 1934 NFL championship that rookies from the same team scored a rushing touchdown and a passing touchdown in a postseason game. (In 1934, both rookies were the same person, Giants QB Ed Danowski.) The Jets' Mark Sanchez looked like anything but a rookie, finishing the day at 12 of 15 for 182 passing yards. The Bengals offense found itself thoroughly flustered by Rex Ryan's defense, starting with Carson Palmer, who completed only half of his pass attempts. Bengals WR Chad Ochocinco was effectively removed from the game by CB Darrelle Revis's blanketing pass coverage. Revis made an interception in the second quarter to set up the Jets' second scoring drive. Ochocinco didn't have his first reception of the game until the fourth quarter, when New York began to back off into a prevent defense format. The lone bright spot for the Bengals was RB Cedric Benson, who racked up 169 rushing yards and scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to pull Cincinnati to within 7 points of the Jets. The Bengals tried to claw their way back into the game, but they couldn't get back into the end zone, and when PK Shayne Graham missed field goals of 35 and 28 yards, they were sunk. The Jets will go on to face the San Diego Chargers in the Divisional Playoff round, while the Bengals are now going on 20 years without a playoff victory. Still, they have plenty of accomplishments to be proud of this year, including their second AFC North championship and an undefeated year in division play for the first time in their history. Friday, January 8, 2010Bengals history: 1982 First-round AFC Playoff vs. Jets
Tomorrow, the New York Jets and Cincinnati Bengals will face off at Paul Brown Stadium in the first game of the 2009 postseason. It's a playoff matchup that has happened once before, in memorable fashion, though Bengals fans are hoping for a different result this time. The 1982 season was unusual, because almost half of the games were canceled by a player strike. There weren't enough games played for division records to be meaningful, so the NFL used a 16-team tournament format for the playoffs, with eight teams from each conference. The 7-2 Bengals earned the AFC's #3 seed and hosted the sixth-seeded, 6-3 Jets in the opening round. Coach Forrest Gregg's Bengals entered the game favored to win as the defending conference champions. The big question before the game was the status of Jets starting RB Freeman McNeil. McNeil led the league in rushing yards during the abbreviated 1982 season, but it was feared that a lingering hamstring injury would keep him from contributing much in the playoffs. McNeil was confident in the week leading up to the game, though: "I'm not going to Cincinnati to lose. If I have to be Superman Sunday, that's what I'm going to be. We've come too far this season to lose. This team has a lot of pride and it's going to show Sunday." The first quarter was full of long passing plays. The Bengals scored first in front of a supportive Riverfront Stadium crowd. They moved the ball from the Cincinnati 19 to the Jets' 32, and then QB Ken Anderson capitalized with a strike to WR Isaac Curtis for the opening touchdown. The Jets responded with a 49-yard pass from QB Richard Todd to WR Wesley Walker that set up a New York field goal. Faced with a 3rd and 30 on the following drive, WR Cris Collinsworth burned the Jets with a 53-yard reception that set the Bengals up for another touchdown, and the home team led 14-3 at the end of the first quarter. But "Superman" was about to make an appearance. Continue reading "Bengals history: 1982 First-round AFC Playoff vs. Jets" Sunday, January 3, 2010Bengals to face Jets or Texans
The Cincinnati Bengals are in the unusual position of being able to choose their first playoff opponent. Their playoff position is secure heading into tonight's game at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. But its outcome will determine which team will claim the AFC's last open playoff spot. Either way, the game will be played next week at Paul Brown Stadium.
Do the Bengals match up better against one opponent than the other? Is the difference enough to merit playing starters like Carson Palmer and Chad Ochocinco? We have seen vastly different approaches to meaningless or near-meaningless games in the last few weeks. The Colts showed no interest in winning even with the possibility of going undefeated, while the Patriots played some of their starters into the 4th quarter even after WR Wes Welker left the game with an injury. It will be interesting to see how head coach Marvin Lewis approaches the game. (Of course, for Texans and Jets fans, the choice may be crucial!) This game will be the Bengals' last chance to get a win at Giants Stadium before the facility is torn down. They have never won there-- not against the Jets, and not against the Giants-- in ten tries. Sunday, January 3, 2010Ravens will fly north for the playoffs
With a 21-13 win in Oakland, the Baltimore Ravens have made it back to the playoffs. They will travel to Foxborough, Massachusetts to take on the New England Patriots in the first-ever playoff meeting between the two teams.
Even though neither team's seed is set, the matchup will take place regardless of the outcome of tonight's Bengals-Jets game:
Also, the NFL will have a new champion this year. Because of Baltimore's better record against divisional opponents, the Ravens win also eliminates the Steelers from playoff contention. Pittsburgh finished the season with a winning record, but in the end, they have some sloppy losses to some of the AFC's worst teams to look back on as the reason they will not be able to defend their title in the postseason. Sunday, January 3, 2010Update: Steelers alive, but just barely
The early games are over, and here's how things stand in the division:
The Patriots gave up 21 points in the 4th quarter to lose 34-27 to the Houston Texans. This means that the Cincinnati Bengals can take the #3 seed with a win against the New York Jets on Sunday Night Football. At the same time, the Patriots have clinched the strength of victory tiebreaker with the Bengals, meaning that a Bengals loss guarantees Cincinnati the #4 seed. The Baltimore Ravens have an equally simple scenario. With a win in Oakland, they are in the playoffs as a Wild Card and might face the division rival Bengals next week. With a loss, they are eliminated from playoff contention. (A tie would be more complicated. I'm not going to worry about that unless the game goes deep into overtime.) The Pittsburgh Steelers held on to beat the Miami Dolphins 30-24, but the Houston Texans' win kills most of their playoff scenarios. (The Texans have a better record than the Steelers against common opponents.) The only way the Steelers can squeeze into the playoffs now is with three unlikely results:
Finally, the Cleveland Browns defeated the Jaguars 23-17, meaning that they end the 2009 season on a 4-game winning streak! Something for new team president Mike Holmgren to build on, perhaps? More updates later! Sunday, January 3, 2010How the Bengals can get the #3 seed
The Cincinnati Bengals have been rewarded for their good season with a nationally televised regular-season finale at Giants Stadium against the Jets. They already have a playoff spot secured; the only thing left to determine is whether Cincinnati or New England will be the #3 seed.
It remains to be seen if the Bengals consider the #3 seed more important than the opportunity to rest their starters, though. There are only a couple of benefits that the #3 seed has over the #4 seed:
The simplest way the Bengals can claim the #3 seed is by finishing with a better record than the Patriots. If the Patriots lose to the Texans today and the Bengals beat the Jets this evening, Cincinnati will finish 11-5 to New England's 10-6. But if both teams win or both lose, the tiebreaker will come down to strength of victory, the total W-L record of the teams the Bengals/Patriots have beaten:
The Patriots have a better strength of victory right now, so the Bengals need a specific combination of games to fall a certain way in order to strengthen their SOV and weaken the Patriots' SOV enough to give them a better strength of victory. (In case you were wondering, if the Bengals and Patriots finish with the same strength of victory, the next tiebreaker is strength of schedule, the total W-L record of all opponents, and New England has already clinched that tiebreaker.) Here's the scenario if both teams win. The following results MUST happen:
FIVE of the following must happen:
So there's the list for Bengals fans hoping for a better seed! |
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