The Saints overcame a long-running (road) playoff jinx yesterday, while the Chiefs were unable to end their long playoff victory drought. Where will the Bengals, with Marvin Lewis' 0-4 lifetime record fall? How much will the weather affect today's games? Did you know Philip Rivers is 9-2 lifetime in cold weather?
Nantz and Simms calling the action for CBS.
FIRST QUARTER
Really? It's a balmy 40 degrees in Cincinnati? Look out what's coming your way, then, whenever it comes. Bengals won the toss and deferred. Ryan Matthews up the middle for 8 behind great push by center Nick Hardwick. Philip Rivers hits Danny Woodhead out on the flank for a first down. Brandon Thompson trips up Matthews for a couple. Draw to Woodhead leaves 3rd-and-5. Corner blitz buries Rivers for a sack before he can even finish his drop. Don't know how Rivers couldn't see Chris Crocker coming before the snap.
Brandon Tate loses 3 trying to sweep right with the punt return, so Andy Dalton will start from his 17. To be known as The Law Firm from this point forward, BenJarvus Green-Ellis busts up the middle for 8 behind Andrew Whitworth. He motions up the middle for another 7 off strong blocks by Whitworth and Kevin Zeitler and center Kyle Cook. Dalton misses A.J. Green once but hits him for 9 on 2nd down. Law Firm up the middle for another 1st. Kendall Reyes deflects a screen intended for Green; I have no idea why Dalton thought he could get that ball over him. Impressive push up front by Corey Liuget helps the Chargers bury Giovani Bernard for a 3-yard loss. Good pressure by Cam Thomas, who split a double-team and was held with no call, still forces Dalton to throw quickly to Marvin Jones short of the 1st.
Fair catch will start San Diego at their 14. Matthews sweeps right and cuts back behind some good receiver blocks for 8. Ronnie Brown jukes Crocker and takes a screen for 9. Rivers gets all day to throw on 2nd down and hits Ladarius Green for 22 across midfield. Matthews runs through Ray Maualuga for 8. Hardwick stays down after the play. He took a blow to the head and that might be it for him today, a significant injury for San Diego. Unless Brown just runs for 11 behind his replacement Rich Ohrnberger anyway. 4 more for Matthews down to the CIN24. Woodhead dances up the middle for 5.998, as measured by OH OF COURSE JEFF TRIPLETTE IS WORKING A PLAYOFF GAME BECAUSE IT'S NOT LIKE HE REFEREES EVERY GAME POORLY OR ANYTHING. Christ, what is the requirement to referee a playoff game this year? You have both eyes? Matthews has to battle to even get a foot, but it's still a 1st down inside the 20. Carlos Dunlap absolutely punks D.J. Fluker with a bull rush but blows the sack, letting Rivers escape to throw a release route to Woodhead up the far sideline and down to the 7. Woodhead sprints up the middle on 2nd-and-goal for a 5-yard TD. 6-minute, 86-yard TD drive as the Curse of Marvin Lewis isn't going down without a fight. Chargers 7, Bengals 0
Tate swings all the way out to the 36 on the kick return with no blocking, and is a free agent after the season, Rams Park. Bernard grinds through Manti Te'o and others with a dumpoff for a first down near midfield as the quarter ends.
SECOND QUARTER
After blowing the snap on 1st down, now it's Andy Dalton running read option in the playoffs, and he gets out for 9. Poor pass for Bernard open in the flat, though, forces a punt. The Chargers blow a timeout fearing a fake.
Chargers called for holding during the punt and will have to start from their 5 this time. You know something you haven't seen a lot of in the playoffs so far? Special teams penalties, RAY RAY. The Rams are not going to any playoffs until they significantly clean up that garbage. San Diego 3-and-outs after Rivers overthrows Keenan Allen badly on a wide open slant on 3rd-and-2.
Bengals start at their 40 after the punt and Bernard goes up the middle for 7. Some Guy named Lawrence holds him to 2 on 2nd down. The Law Firm, though, then serves up a 7-yard run. Nice lead blocking by Cook and Andre Smith. Play-action to Jermaine Gresham in the flat for 8. Middle screen to Bernard breaks wide open all the way down to the 20. I wonder if the Rams could run that play with Tavon Austin in the backfield. It was pretty sweet. Bernard now busts up the middle for 9, and his line pretty much pushes him all the way down to the 4 to set up 1st-and-goal. Melvin Ingram steams around LT unblocked on 2nd-and-goal and hits Dalton, but he somehow gets the throw off to Gresham in the flat for a Bengal TD, beating Jarrett Johnson. 7-7
5:53 till halftime, Chargers at their 25. They start with Matthews getting 4 on a draw and Maualuga staying down after the play. Crocker holds Matthews to 3 on a dumpoff. Rivers has to dodge about 3 sacks on 3rd down, even though Cincinnati only rushed 3, and comes up just short on the scramble. Second straight 3-and-out.
From his 32, Dalton rolls and throws to Marvin Jones at the sideline, who the Chargers' coaching staff and I agree did not catch the ball. The ball squirts loose while he's sliding out of bounds. He didn't control it "throughout the process". Triplette says it's a catch. Really? It's a possession when the ball squirts more than halfway out of the receiver's hands and scrapes along the ground? Really? Chargers got screwed there, imho. And now here's Triplette immediately with the makeup call, holding on Gresham.
Quick correction from yesterday: Bill Vinovich refereed the Rams' loss at Arizona, not Seattle. Triplette worked the Seattle game. So NOW I can complain about a moron ref making holding calls today when Robert Quinn got held a thousand times last week without a flag.
At the 2:00 warning, on 2nd-and-19, Dalton bombs away down the far sideline and hits Jones, who burned Richard Marshall for 49. Not exactly clutch D there by the Chargers. Bengals now at the SD16. The Chargers, though, follow their non-clutch play with a super-clutch play. Bernard burns Donald Butler out of the backfield for a catch down to the 2, but Butler hacks it out from behind and Marshall recovers the loose ball and returns it to the 11. A VERY large bullet dodged there.
The Bengals are trying to argue Bernard didn't have possession, but he got it at the 8, took 2 steps and lost it at the 3 without bobbling it or anything. It's not like he was juggling the ball for 5 yards. Simms calls it a "bang-bang play" - the hit was five yards after the catch! It's more like bang...tick...tick...bang. It's a fumble, Triplette. Hey, he does get this one right after review. Chargers ball.
HEY! A GUY JUST ACCIDENTALLY BUMPED INTO TRIPLETTE'S ELBOW! THROW HIM OUT OF THE GAME!
No, holding on San Diego moves them back to the 8, and they're probably looking just to run out the half. Cincinnati doesn't let them, stuffing three runs and calling their timeouts to force a punt with 1:27 left.
Forget about Tate as a free agent, Rams Park. Idiot runs backwards TEN yards with the punt and loses six. This isn't high school, dummy. Bengals at their 31. Dalton gets killed on a second-straight blitz but hit Green for 12, then Mohammed Sanu for 16. Screen pass goes incomplete at 0:16. They're a completion out of FG range. Gresham makes a nice overhead catch at the sideline for 12, but the clock does not stop even though he went out of bounds. Apparently you can't stop the clock by running out of bounds backwards. The last seconds of the half are as confusing as Triplette can possibly make them. Gresham's catch is reviewed even though the Bengals ran a spike play. His catch looks like the Calvin Johnson Rule but isn't because his forward progress was stopped. After the review, the Bengals have to rush the FG attempt because the spike play never actually happened, but Mike Nugent nails it from 47. Phew. Bengals 10, Chargers 7
Looks like I'm well on my way to going 0-3 on the over/under, btw. Neither team is stopping the run especially well, which means more in the box in the 2nd half, which means the better passing game wins. San Diego's blitz has come within a hair of getting Dalton several times and I'm guessing they'll bring it harder. The Chargers have to do a much better job getting the ball downfield. Antonio Gates and rookie sensation Keenan Allen have done nothing. With Matthews pulling more attention into the box, we may finally hear from the Charger receivers after halftime. Same for A.J. Green, who's almost been a non-factor. The passing game that steps it up in the 2nd half should advance.
THIRD QUARTER
The Law Firm bobs and weaves for 12 to open the half for Cincinnati. The Chargers hold from there. They rush only three on 3rd-and-4 but still flush Dalton and Liuget trips him up for a sack. Bengals wasted some good field position there and punt from midfield.
Chargers at their 20. Rivers looks deep but dumps off to Matthews for 9. Chargers also go no-huddle. Matthews gets one first down, Allen gets another on a crossing pattern at midfield on 3rd-and-1. Vontaze Burfict stays down after the play but comes back 2 plays later. Two Woodhead carries go nowhere but Rivers beats a blitz on 3rd down and hits Ladarius Green for 8. With Rivers getting forever to throw from the CIN 37, oh Lorde, it could be Royal. Dre Kirkpatrick blew his jam badly at the line and Eddie Royal burned them deep down the near sideline for 33. Green brilliantly catches a fade pass over Crocker for the TD. Chargers 14, Bengals 10
Another excellent drive by the Chargers, 80 yards in 5:40. Way to go Ken Whisenhunt for getting the downfield passing game going for San Diego, and way to go RamView for yet again nailing the halftime adjustments. As much as I ever will, anyway.
Tate out to the 30 again with the kick return. He has given the Bengals good field position all day. Sack by Jarrett Johnson on first down after Reyes flushes Dalton. Not the start Cincy needed. San Diego brings a big blitz on 2nd down and forces a throwaway. It's just a 3-man rush on 3rd down, smart on 3rd-and-14, but somebody called Thomas Keiser flushes Dalton anyway, and Dalton not only comes up way short trying to dive for the 1st down, he coughs up the ball and it bounces out to someone named Jahleel Addae at the CIN46. That's the Chargers ball, as Dalton makes a quick run to the Hall of Playoff Chokers.
End around to Royal for 9 with Allen throwing a big block. Woodhead busts up the middle for 9 with Burfict well out of position. The Bengals bring a blitz on 3rd-and-5 at the 25 but Rivers hangs in and hits Allen for 12 with a sweet sideline pass. Woodhead seems good for 5 on every carry; strong blocks by Ohrnberger and Jeromey Clary. Maualuga stops him on 2nd down, though, and Margus Hunt about pushes a double team back into Rivers to force a dangerous throwaway. That was a must-stop for Cincinnati. Nick Novak chips it in from 25. Chargers 17-10
Rain starts falling on the Bengals' next possession, and might be raining on their whole season, now, too. They stuff Bernard on 1st down. Te'o's blitz forces Dalton to throw it away on 2nd down. They blitz even harder on 3rd down and panic Dalton into a DREADFUL sideline underthrow picked off easily by Shareece Wright, who brings it back to the 6. Just a monumentally stupid throw by Dalton, who I doubt was even barely looking where he was throwing.
James Harrison rips Woodhead's helmet off, and Triplette catches him, to set San Diego up at the 3. Then a delay of game moves the ball back to the 8. Shotgun draw to Woodhead gets them down to the 1, where it'll be 3rd-and-goal to start the 4th.
FOURTH QUARTER
Major play by Maualuga to stuff a SLOW-developing run by Ronnie Brown for a big loss. Another chip shot by Novak will leave the Bengals looking for two scores. Chargers 20, Bengals 10
Holding on the kick return starts the Bengals at the 11. Butler stuffs Bernard for a loss as Cincy's run game continues to get nowhere in the 2nd half. Go back and read my halftime adjustments, dummies. A.J. Green gets away with a pushoff for a 12-yard sideline catch, but Jarrett Johnson buries Bernard on 1st down. Swing to Bernard beats a blitz for 12 more after Ingram blows an open-field tackle. Jones makes a sideline catch at midfield for 12, and Dalton shovels to Bernard wide open in the middle for 15 at the SD35. Just as I'm about to scold San Diego for dropping into prevent defense way too early, it's ANOTHER IDIOTIC FREAKING THROW by Dalton, picked off by Ingram and thrown well behind Tyler Eifert, who wasn't open even for a nanosecond. How did Cincinnati make the playoffs if this is all the brain Andy Dalton has? Start the bus, Marvin.
Chargers start working on the clock from midfield. Woodhead and Brown combine for 9 - did Ryan Matthews die and I missed it? - but Wallace Gilberry swallows a handoff to the fullback to force 4th down. As Nantz puts it, the Chargers fail to "seduce them into jumping early" and punt.
Bengals at their 12, 8:06 left. Hearing footsteps now in my opinion, Dalton scrambles for 1 on 1st down, then hits Ram-for-a-day Andrew Hawkins for his first catch for 11. Jones at the sideline for 8. If CBS cared enough to show us who's covering A.J. Green today, I'd be able to consider the guy for POTG. Bernard bounces outside for 12, and then, here's Green, UNBELIEVABLY dropping a bomb right in his hands that would have been a TD. Good luck rebounding from that, Cincinnati. Bubble screen to Hawkins doesn't get much, but now that Dalton's discovered he's on the team, Dalton goes to him again on 3rd down and he draws a holding call. 1st down at midfield, a near-sack by Keiser forces a throwaway. Play-action throw for Green on 3rd-and-3 is way off, as he's blanketed by POTG candidate Wright. CURIOUS decision to go deep for Jones on 4th-and-3 comes up a cropper, not even close, as the Bengals are booed off the field by their own fans with 4:44 left. Marvin, Marvin, Marvin. What are we going to do with you?
Three handoffs and a punt chew up Cincinnati's timeouts with 4:29 left. That's a lot of time to score 10 points; Mike McCoy might have played it too close to the vest there.
Bengals at their 19 with 4:22 to go. Jones open in the prevent zone for 22. Short out to Gresham for 10. Jones gets 11 on a cross and gets out of bounds. The Chargers now blitz 2 DBs and one leaps in front of Dalton, forcing him to pull the ball down while Cam Thomas sacks him. 2nd down pass is nowhere close. Bernard DROPS a dumpoff on 3rd-13. Dalton gets a lot of time to throw on 4th down but can't hit Jones, and the Bengals want but don't get a penalty. I didn't really see anything. Also, did A.J. Green actually play today? Are he and Ryan Matthews off playing Parcheesi somewhere?
That more than likely does it for San Diego, especially when Ronnie Brown sticks a pitchfork in a Cincinnati defense that lost complete interest in tackling anyone for a 58-yard TD run.
POSTGAME SHOWSurprise pick for POTG, because I've never known him to be all that good a player, is Chargers cornerback Shareece Wright. He had the big INT to set up the FG that put the Chargers up 20-10, and any time I looked for A.J. Green, Wright had him covered. That as much as anything just killed Dalton, who's lost without A.J. Andy and A.J. can share the Golden Goat Award at the Bengals' postseason dinner. Honorable POTG mentions to Melvin Ingram and to Rich Ohrnberger, who filled in well at center after Nick Hardwick went out with a neck stinger and kept the Charger offense humming.
I mistakenly thought the Colts were automatically going to Denver yesterday, so I have to quickly preview two playoff games now. The Colts unfortunately are the one team whose chances I don't like very much in Foxborough. Too many injuries in the secondary. The Chargers have already won in Denver this season, and John Fox is extremely difficult to trust as a playoff coach. They did a good job against the Bronco running game in both games, especially in Denver, holding Knowshown Moreno to 18 yards. I think I like them to at least cover what's probably going to be a pretty big pointspread.
RamView's gambling weekend is going about as dreadfully as expected, 1-2 SU, 2-1 ATS, 0-3 O/U, with my "upset" pick still waiting to stab me in the back. If you gamble on sports, kids, at least don't listen to me.
The Bengals aren't as far away as this game made them look. I said after last season's playoff loss that they needed to add more offensive speed. They added Bernard and Eifert, and as they mature, they might be enough to get Green some breathing space when he needs it in the clutch. A lot of Bengal fans are going to say what they really need is a QB, but what they have around Dalton isn't enough. Go get some more speed.
On to the Frozen Tundra.
-$-
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