Bengals/Jets moved to Sunday Night

[guttle11]

The Jets made the playoffs. They should celebrate. Is there another 7 loss team more deserving.

Houston.

[traderumor]

The Jets made the playoffs. They should celebrate. Is there another 7 loss team more deserving.

Steelers fans are wondering how this question could even be asked when the answer is clearly their team.

[Roy Tucker]

The teams that deserve to be in the playoffs are in the playoffs.

You're not happy that you aren't in? Then win more games. I can see beefs being had for college teams, but the NFL is brutally darwinian.

[bucksfan2]

The teams that deserve to be in the playoffs are in the playoffs.

You're not happy that you aren't in? Then win more games. I can see beefs being had for college teams, but the NFL is brutally darwinian.

9-7 teams really have no beef. If Pittsburgh is pissed then you can look back at games against the Chiefs, Browns, and Raiders.

[Playadlc]

Also, I think the Bengals are in better position playing Indy than SD. I would be fine with the Chargers getting an AFC Championship rematch in their place that they always wanted after the Freezer Bowl.

If we beat the Jets, I think I would rather have the Chargers first. Freeney and Mathis against our O-line scares me. Probably going to have to beat them both anyway to get to the Super Bowl, but I'd rather someone else try and knock Indy out before us.

[GAC]

Do this many people seriously think that was an A effort from the Bengals? They were CLEARLY playing base, vanilla stuff, not showing their hand. They did no blitzing, no stunting, stuff like throwing 30 yards downfield twice in a row on 2nd and 1, etc. Preseason stuff.

I don't think people on here are saying it was an A effort. But why even play your starting QB into the 3rd quarter, and even other starters, if you were going to make no effort at all?

Just kinda perplexing.

I've heard some say "The Bengals didn't want to show them anything."

Geez! If you want to get a good feel of any team, then all you have to do is watch the last 15 weeks of game films. You'll get to know all you need.

My concern with the Bengals... and lets even ignore this game.... is that their offense, especially Palmer, has been too erratic all year, and hasn't, IMO, shown itself to be much of a threat to even mediocre teams.

Now how much was facing the #1 overall defense a factor in this game? Don't know. But the Bengals, again IMO, have basically "limped" into the post-season, the Jets, regardless of this game, are still going to be very motivated.

Rootin' for the Bengals..... but prepared for them to get beat next Saturday.

[Redsfaithful]

The Bengals offense isn't great certainly, but it's also different with Benson and the scheme they've been running all year. I don't think they overloaded the line much (at all?) last night, unless I missed it, and that's been pretty important to the rushing game.

The Bengals usually throw the ball deep once or twice a game, that's all they were doing last night.

[dougdirt]

The Bengals usually throw the ball deep once or twice a game, that's all they were doing last night.

Perhaps trying to set up the run for next week? Get the DB's to play a step or two back and just pound the ball early on.

[Brutus]

Perhaps trying to set up the run for next week? Get the DB's to play a step or two back and just pound the ball early on.

I think Cincinnati was setting the Jets up for quite a bit with that game last night.

Offense. Defense. You name it. They were doing some very vanilla things defensively, and throwing off tendency offensively.

[yab1112]

My concern with the Bengals... and lets even ignore this game.... is that their offense, especially Palmer, has been too erratic all year, and hasn't, IMO, shown itself to be much of a threat to even mediocre teams.

That's why I'm nervous. Regardless of last night's game, our offense going up against the Jets D is worrisome. I know this game meant nothing to the Bengals but it meant a hell of a lot to the Jets. It gave them a shot in the arm and the playoffs is all about momentum.

Then again, I've been nervous before every single game this season and it was unwarranted 10 times. :

BTW, just saw on Bengals.com the team resigned Keiwan Ratliff

[redsfan1966]

thanks, NBC, for providing more great prime time programming...

[WVRed]

I must say, Cincinnati football took a severe beating between the Bengals laying a huge egg last night and UC getting totally and utterly outclassed in the Sugar Bowl.

Its one thing to do it in the privacy of a regionally cogvered game, but both were in prime time and under the spotlight. Plain old ugly.

Comparing the Jets-Bengals game to the Cincinnati-Florida game is a bit of a stretch, IMO.

The Bengals did exactly what they needed to do, IMO. Roll over, play dead, don't show the Jets any real plays, and for the most part not even give them any exposure to some of our top players. Cedric Benson, Domata Peko, and Chris Crocker should all be back for next weeks game. Running out of the shotgun on 2nd and 1 and 3rd and 1 should signal the Bengals weren't out to win. It's preseason stuff.

There are things about the Jets that do worry me. I think our defensive line, even with Peko back, is going to have major problems blocking Faneca, Ferguson, and Mangold. I say the battle in the trenches will be where this game is won and lost.

Make no mistake though, this team will be ready to go Saturday. The Bengals may have played dead, but I believe it 1. Gives the Jets a false sense of confidence, 2. Motivates the Bengals after the Jets made every effort to run up the score. Rex Ryan could be the Jets downfall in this one.

[macro]

It gave them a shot in the arm and the playoffs is all about momentum.

I just posted a couple of articles here that address the topic of momentum. After reading both, I'm not sure what to believe.

[CTA513]

Comparing the Jets-Bengals game to the Cincinnati-Florida game is a bit of a stretch, IMO.

The Bengals did exactly what they needed to do, IMO. Roll over, play dead, don't show the Jets any real plays, and for the most part not even give them any exposure to some of our top players. Cedric Benson, Domata Peko, and Chris Crocker should all be back for next weeks game. Running out of the shotgun on 2nd and 1 and 3rd and 1 should signal the Bengals weren't out to win. It's preseason stuff.

There are things about the Jets that do worry me. I think our defensive line, even with Peko back, is going to have major problems blocking Faneca, Ferguson, and Mangold. I say the battle in the trenches will be where this game is won and lost.

Make no mistake though, this team will be ready to go Saturday. The Bengals may have played dead, but I believe it 1. Gives the Jets a false sense of confidence, 2. Motivates the Bengals after the Jets made every effort to run up the score. Rex Ryan could be the Jets downfall in this one.

Having Geathers and Peko back should help against the run.
Yesterday guys like M. Johnson, Rucker, Harris and Smith had to play most of the game at DE and DT and they aren't used to that.
Crocker being back will also be a huge improvement over Nelson who seems to either be out of position or whiffing on tackles most of the game.

[GAC]

I think Cincinnati was setting the Jets up for quite a bit with that game last night.

Offense. Defense. You name it. They were doing some very vanilla things defensively, and throwing off tendency offensively.

But if we, the fans see and realize this, then why wouldn't the Jet's coaching staff?

What was Lewis setting the Jets up for? By laying down - which I have no problem with since it's a common practice - he's hoping the Jets get over-confident next week because they didn't see the "real" Bengals, and that Lewis has some new wrinkles he's gonna throw at them that they never saw before?

OK. A possibility. The Bengals CAN beat the Jets.

Lewis didn't play Benson. But he puts his other starters out there. His top receiver suffered a bruised knee. MRI is negative, but he woke up Monday morning and said he couldn't extend the stiff knee during warmups. We'll see as the week progresses.

And what if Palmer had gotten hurt? This is what perplexes me concerning Lewis.

You're going to have two top run defenses going after each other. The Jets have the #1 overall defense in the NFL, while the Bengals ain't no slouches at #6. Should anything be made of the fact that Sunday the Jets ran the crap out of the ball (57 attempts) and rushed for 257 yds in that game? Maybe not if the Bengals were supposedly "letting" them do so in order to deceive them into a false sense of hope going into next week.

When you look at these two QBs, the Bengals definitely have the advantage. The Jets are going to do their best to "hide" Sanchez and minimize his mistakes.

But IMO, Palmer has to step it up.

I personally expect a low scoring game. Neither one of these teams excites me.