This afternoon the Bengals of Cincinnati meet up with the Jets of New York in a Wild Card weekend rematch of their epically one-sided week 17 matchup. This is also a rematch of the 1983 first round of the AFC playoffs where the Jets destroyed the Bengals 44-17. Those were different times though, as that was the strike shortened season where Ken Anderson set the previous season completion percentage record throwing to Chris Collinsworth.
In recent years, the Bengals were better known for
- Umm, yeah.
- They also had this, so there's that.
The Bengals came out of nowhere this year to own the AFC North. They swept their divisional games, mostly by out Steelering the Steelers. What do I mean by that? Well this year they road Cedric Benson’s power running game and a young oportunistic smash mouth defense to a solid 10-6 record. They’re not explosive by any means, but if they get a lead they’re tough to come back against.
The Jets on the other hand come into this game with a 9-7 record in a softer division. Softer in both the type of football played, and the overall caliber of play. Having said that, they play a similar style of football as the Bengals, ball control. They had the number one rushing offense this season, and combined it with the number one overall defense.
QB’s: The Jets have rookie gun slinger Mark “The Sanchize” Sanchez, while the Bengals have Carson Palmer. Both are ex USC stars, but Palmer won the Heisman, while Sanchez left school early disregarding Pete Carroll’s advice to stay one more year and develop his skills more. It wasn’t a remarkable year for Palmer, but he has been a been a Pro Bowler in his career so he does have the chops when it comes down to it. Sanchez had a good first three games, a mediocre second 3 games, and has been largely ineffective as the weather has gotten worse. This is not good news as the temperature is going to dip down to about 12 degrees with wind chill. Advantage Bengals
RB’s:The Bengals have Cedric Benson back at or near full strength for this game. He’s a bruising power back, and will be the key to this game. If he can get going against that stingy Jets it’s going to be the tough for the Jets to keep up in the game. The Jets have Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene, which gives them a bit of crash and bang, with Greene being crash and Jones being Bang. The Jets, as I said before, led the league in rushing this year so they know what they’re doing. Advantage Jets.
WR’s:The Bengals have Mr. Ochocinco, Laveraneus Coles and an assorted poo poo platter. 5 Years ago, that would have been a great combo. This year it’s merely adequate. The Jets counter with Mr. No Hands, Braylon Edwards, and other than the explosive Brad Smith they are berefit of quality receivers. Advantage Bengals.
Defense: The Bengals had a young oportunistic defense that finished 4th overall and 7th against the run. They have a few injuries to overcome though, notably Rey Maualuga. The Jets had the top defense overall and finished 8th against the run.
Special Teams: The Bengals have a better punting game, while the Jets have a better kicking game. The Bengals finished ahead of the Jets on punt distance and punt returns, with a second overall ranking on punt returns. The Jets finished ahead of the Bengals on Kickoff distance and return average but weren’t in the top five in any of those metrics. The Jets made 83% of their FG’s with a long of 55 yards, while the Bengals made 82% of theirs with a long of 53 so that’s basically a wash. Advantage Tie
Coaching: The Jets are lead by the boisterous and feisty Rex Ryan, while the Bengals are lead by the barely alive, and lucky to still be coaching, Marvin Lewis. Not that Lewis isn’t a good coach, but his teams haven’t performed in recent years, and less frugal teams would have fired him. Both coaches are defensive specialists, though this is the first year in some time that the Bengals have performed at a level expected of Lewis’ prowess. Ryan is a rookie as a Head Coach, but he ran the murderous Ravens defense for the last couple years and comes from a good coaching stock. Advantage Bengals.
All things being considered this is the Bengals game to lose. They lost in embarassing fashion last week, but they really weren’t trying or showing anything to the Jets. The Jets have shown that they can be run on, and Benson is back and healthy. Sanchez isn’t good in cold weather and its going to be a chilly one this week.
The line on this game, according to Cent Sports, is the Bengals by three. Take that bet as the Bengals are goin to win 24-17.
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