Week 14: Bengals @ Colts.

huevonkiller · Dec 5, 2008

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Some notes before the game:

Colts Team Report

Yahoo! Sports Dec 5, 2:11 am EST

Inside Slant

Never mind that the Indianapolis Colts will be facing three teams over the next three weeks with losing records.

And never mind that the Colts will have home games the next two weeks against teams with a combined 1-22-1. For Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning and his teammates, posting wins in matchups with the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday and the Detroit Lions a week later are not a given.

After all, while the Colts have won five straight and are standing at 8-4 and are currently holding down the fifth spot in the upcoming AFC playoffs, nothing has been determined as of yet. Things have a way of changing quickly in the NFL.

“Like I said, it’s one game at a time. That’s been our approach. Especially with all of our injuries and a lot of our new guys playing, all we can do is take it one step at a time and try to help some of these young guys come along and everybody raise their level of play,” Manning said recently.

“Just because a particular team may not have a good record, you still look at them as a collection of unbelievable athletes. Like I said, defensively, (the Bengals) create a lot of problems. I know they’ve had some injuries on defense and certainly injuries on offense. Anytime you lose your quarterback (Carson Palmer) it’s always going to be a change. I think it helps having some older guys around here. We know that it’s your job as a professional football player to get prepared to play every week and that all football players play hard and they have a lot of pride. I really throw (won-loss) records out the window.”

That includes Indianapolis’ record as well. Improvement is the key this week, especially on offense.

“You never take winning for granted,” the Colts quarterback said. “But certainly we want to score more than three (offensive) points. I’m sure (coach) Tony (Dungy) can address it more in detail as far as all positions. But I think offensively it’s just a matter of finding a way to get it into the end zone. Everybody has to do their job at the right time, all eleven guys have to be on the same page. And hopefully, we can do that this week.

“We’re always trying to improve. That’s what we talk about is getting better every single week. That will be the goal again this week starting to new quarter (of the season). As Coach Dungy always says, it’s the first game of the fourth quarter and you hope to be playing some of your best football around this time. Hopefully we can start the fourth quarter off on the right foot.”

The Colts have played, and won, five straight close games. Manning figures Sunday’s matchup with the Bengals will be more of the same.

“I think it has some merit for this game, knowing that the past five game we’ve had have all been close games and we’ve won. That’s what you expect again this week, to be a close game and hope you have a chance in the fourth quarter to make a play and help win the game,” he said.

“That’s what we’ve been used to these past few weeks. And that’s what we expect this week and the rest of this month. Hopefully we can have a chance to win in the end.”

Series History: 23rd regular-season meeting. The Colts lead the series, 14-8. Indianapolis is 1-0 in post-season play against Cincinnati. The Colts have won the last five meetings and 11 of the last 15. Indianapolis has a 7-6 record against the Bengals in home games. Cincinnati’s last win in Indianapolis came on November 9, 1997, with the Bengals registering a 28-13 victory. The two franchises last met in a regular season game on Dec. 18, 2006 with the Colts posting 34-16 win at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. QB Peyton Manning completed 29 of 36 passes for 282 yards and four touchdowns in that meeting. WR Marvin Harrison had eight catches for 86 yards and three touchdown receptions while WR Reggie Wayne added seven catches for 84 yards and a TD. DE Dwight Freeney had three sacks in the game. The last meeting in Cincinnati occurred on November 20, 2005 at Paul Brown Stadium with Indianapolis coming away with a 45-37 decision. The Colts won the only postseason matchup, with the then-Baltimore Colts annexing a 17-0 decision in 1970.

Notes, Quotes

• Colts coach Tony Dungy has a 5-0 career coaching record against the Bengals.

• “It’s a little different, a little unusual for us to play the games like that. A couple of times we’ve had the lead and lost it like we did in San Diego, but other times we’ve had to just claw our way back and continue to play through the fourth quarter even when it didn’t look like things were going so well. I think what it says is we have some veteran guys on offense that can move the ball when we need to and we’re able to keep our poise in those situations. And, I think we have a team that is going to fight until the end no matter what.”—Dungy, on the Colts having five fourth-quarter comebacks on the road this season.

• “An interesting team, in that they obviously don’t have a great record. They’ve struggled. But, I just finished watching them against Jacksonville and Jacksonville really couldn’t get anything going offensively against them. They’ve played some games that way, and then they’ve played some other games, like (Sunday vs. Baltimore) that didn’t look good. Just like Cleveland, we have to plan for the best Cincinnati team, the explosive guys playing, (WR T.J.) Houshmandzadeh and (WR) Chad Johnson and be ready for them. Defensively, they have a big blitz package. They bring a lot of people from different angles. If you can pick it up, you can have some success, but they came after Jacksonville and Jacksonville didn’t handle it. We’ll have to be ready for them. Not playing with anything at stake, they can throw a lot at us, and we’ll have to be ready for that.”—Dungy on the Bengals.

• Indianapolis is shooting for its sixth straight win of the season.

• The Colts are only the third NFL team to post five consecutive victories by six or fewer points, joining the 1986 New York Giants and the 1992 Indianapolis Colts.

• In the Colts’ five-game winning streak, QB Peyton Manning has completed 119 of 180 passes for 1,194 yards with nine touchdowns, three interceptions and a 94.5 passer rating. Manning has completed 66.1 percent of his passes during the win streak.

• Manning has a 5-0 career won-loss record against the Bengals with 14 touchdown passes, three interceptions and a 109.2 passer rating.

• “We have enough guys who’ve been around long enough to know that every team in the NFL has great players, especially as far as what we’re looking at, Cincinnati’s defense. The defense is a salty bunch. They took the Giants into overtime, probably could have won that game, and tied Philadelphia and beat Jacksonville. Especially at this point in the season, you take records out of the equation. You’re playing to try and improve every single week, and hopefully by improving, that results in you hopefully winning the game. That’s the idea, and we have to try to get better this week playing a tough team.”—Manning, on perception that the Colts are entering an “easy” portion of its schedule.

• In his previous two meetings with Cincinnati, WR Reggie Wayne has totaled 12 catches for 201 yards and two touchdown receptions. He has averaged 16.8 yards per catch against the Bengals.

• WR Marvin Harrison is averaging 99.5 receiving yards per game against Cincinnati (597 total yards). He had three touchdown receptions in his last meeting with the Bengals.

• DE Dwight Freeney has recorded five sacks in his last four games. He tied a career high with three sacks in his last meeting with the Bengals.

• DE Robert Mathis has four sacks, a forced fumble, a recovered fumble and a touchdown in his last two games. He was named as the AFC’s Defensive Player of the Week on Dec. 3.

• “It’s a leverage game. You see guys like Robert and Dwight and (Jacksonville RB) Maurice Jones-Drew, (Pittsburgh SS) Troy Polamalu, Bob Sanders, guys that hit with effectiveness. You don’t have to be big. They have power and they have center of gravity and everything going for them. It’s not always size.”—Dungy, on the success of Freeney and Mathis at rushing the passer despite their size.

By The Numbers: 31/84—RB Dominic Rhodes needs 31 yards to surpass 3,000 career rushing yards and 84 yards to reach 1,000 career receiving yards.

Quote To Note: “There was a time (2002, 2003 seasons) we weren’t comfortable playing those kinds of games. We had the tendency to make the mistake that would lose those kinds of games. We’ve been in a lot of them this year. We have been in spots where we were down in the second half. We’ve just had to hold our poise, continue to play and trust that someone would make the play to pull it out. We’re getting better at that.”—Colts coach Tony Dungy, on the team winning so many close games this season.

Strategy And Personnel

With LB Gary Brackett expected to be sidelined for at least a couple of weeks with a broken/cracked fibula on his right leg, Indianapolis has signed former Minnesota Vikings LB Rufus Alexander and will move former Detroit Lions draft pick Buster Davis into the starting lineup at middle linebacker.

At least that’s the plan for now. LB Freddy Keiaho had moved over from his weak side linebacking spot to replace Brackett last week against Cleveland. And when Keiaho was out for a couple of plays with a sprained ankle, LB Tyjuan Hagler moved to the middle.

But it’s going to be Davis, a third-round draft pick by Arizona in 2007, getting the nod to fill Brackett’s role in the Colts’ offense heading into the Cincinnati game. The former Florida State linebacker was claimed off waivers from the Lions on Aug. 31 and has been active for four games this season, playing in two of them. He had originally been signed as a free agent by Detroit on Sept. 4, 2007.

Alexander, meanwhile, had been on the Vikings’ practice squad this season. He had been a sixth-round draft pick by Minnesota in 2007 after being a four-year letterman at Oklahoma. He missed all of his rookie year with a knee injury and has played in one game this season.

PLAYER NOTES

• S Antoine Bethea did not practice Wednesday or Thursday as he rests a previous ankle injury. He is expected to start Sunday against Cincinnati.

• LB Tyjuan Hagler (knee) did not practice Wednesday or Thursday. His availability for the Bengals game won’t be known until Friday or Saturday.

• CB Kelvin Hayden (illness) did not practice Thursday. Hayden is expected to start Sunday against the Bengals.

• DE Dwight Freeney returned to practice Thursday after sitting out Wednesday. He will start against Cincinnati this week.

• CB Tim Jennings practiced Thursday and will start against the Bengals on Sunday. He did not take part in Wednesday’s workout in order to rest old injuries.

• DE Robert Mathis returned for Thursday’s workout after sitting out Wednesday. Mathis will start against Cincinnati on Sunday.

• WR Reggie Wayne returned for practice on Thursday. He did not take part in Wednesday’s workout. Wayne will start against the Bengals this week.

• DT Darrell Reid might get the call to start in place of Keyunta Dawson this week. Reid has been a key part of the Colts’ defensive line rotation all season but has only started two games in his four-year career with the team.

• Rookie CB Brandon Foster was waived from the active roster and signed to the Colts’ practice squad.

• WR Taj Smith was waived from the practice squad.

Game Plan: Keep your focus. Despite facing a team with a 1-10-1 record, the goal this week is to improve performance both offensively and defensively.

The Colts must do a better job of finishing offensive drives than they did a week ago against Cleveland. Indianapolis couldn’t score in four downs from the Browns’ one-yard line while also coming up short on a key third-down situation that could have helped the Colts salt the game away earlier. So finishing drives and scoring in the red zone will be key.

Defensively, Indianapolis must continue to improve in stopping, or rather in slowing down, the running game. They can’t allow Cincinnati’s quarterback to get outside the pocket and make plays with his legs. Keeping up bottled up in the pocket and pressuring him to create turnovers is important. The Bengals’ receivers are good enough to create big plays down the field, so not giving them anything deep will be crucial.

Matchups To Watch: Colts DEs Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis and Raheem Brock vs. Bengals OTs Levi Jones and Stacy Andrews. Freeney, Mathis and Brock rotate at the defensive end position for Indianapolis. Mathis has a team-leading nine sacks this year while Freeney has eight and Brock one. Mathis and Freeney have both been on a tear of late, especially late in games.

Bengals WRs Chad Ocho Cinco and T.J. Houshmandzadeh vs. Colts CBs Kelvin Hayden and Tim Jennings. Houshmandzadeh has a team-high 81 receptions for 810 yards and four touchdowns. Ocho Cinco (formerly known as Chad Johnson), meanwhile, has contributed 45 catches for 426 yards and four TDs. Hayden has started the last two games after being sidelined for six weeks with knee and hamstring injuries. Jennings has taken over for starter Marlin Jackson, who is sidelined for the rest of the year with a knee injury.

• Colts WRs Marvin Harrison/Reggie Wayne vs. Bengals CBs David Jones/Leon Hall. Wayne has hauled in a team-high 62 passes this season for 870 yards and five touchdowns. Harrison is tied for second on the team with 48 receptions for 505 yards and four TDs. The combination of Jones and Hall have yet to intercept a pass this season.

Injury Impact: DT Keyunta Dawson (hamstring) will miss the Cincinnati game on Sunday and is expected to be sidelined for at least two weeks. He was hurt in the second quarter of last week’s game at Cleveland. He did not practice Wednesday.

• LB Gary Brackett (fibula) will not play against Cincinnati or Detroit as he recovers from the lower right leg injury that he incurred in the second quarter of last week’s game at Cleveland. Brackett may be sidelined for a longer period of time, but a final determination on his availability isn’t immediately known. He did not practice Wednesday.

• S Bob Sanders (knee) remains a possibility to return to the starting lineup Sunday against Cincinnati. His availability for the Bengals’ game won’t be determined until the end of the week. Sanders did not practice Wednesday.

• C Jeff Saturday (calf) has made good progress as he continues to rehab his left leg. While he would like to get back in time for this week’s game with Cincinnati, there’s a pretty good chance that the Colts will decide to sit him down for at least one more week. Saturday did not practice Wednesday.
Click to expand...

Source: Yahoo! Sports

Analysis:

I hope Carson Palmer is alright, good luck to that guy. Anyway I don't need to kick someone when they're already down, no need to bring up exactly how much the Bengals have been struggling. Let's put this one away early and prepare for later on in the season.

44Thrilla · Dec 5, 2008

Re: Week 14: Bengals @ Colts

Go BENGALS!!

#1_War_Poet_ForLife · Dec 5, 2008

Re: Week 14: Bengals @ Colts

My Bengals win one this week. Housh is always right.

44Thrilla · Dec 7, 2008

Manning needs to chill out with the fantasy points. Seriously.

44Thrilla · Dec 7, 2008

Are you serious? He threw another TD? wtf

44Thrilla · Dec 7, 2008

The game is over now. Stop throwing the ball plz. k thx.

huevonkiller · Dec 7, 2008

Mathis with more sacks, beast.

44Thrilla · Dec 7, 2008

Please tell me Sorgi is in.

44Thrilla · Dec 7, 2008

Manning is still in and passing. When did the Colts hire Bill Belichick?

huevonkiller · Dec 7, 2008

35-3 final.

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