You have to be able to play with anybody before you can beat anybody.

New England has Brady/Belichick & they will always give that team a chance. Those players/coaches are rare.
Pittsburgh can suck it.
I don't see Denver having any better shot to win it all than the Bengals.

I agree.

We also could play with anyone 2 years ago.

Arguably, the playoff teams are stronger this year than 2 years ago. There's a wider gap between good and bad now, so this playoffs is truly going to be a survival of the fittest. Even the divisional games could be matching 11+ win teams...

Right now, you have 9 teams who are going to win 11+ games most likely...

Winning the game will depend on how we matchup with the Jets most likely. And in this game I like our chances. Cromartie is terrible so we should be able to pick on him. We will get loads of man and Eifert should also do well. This is a game AJM can win. Then we go back to Denver this time with Eifert and Andy.

Exactly.... That's why I'm not ready to jump off the bridge this morning. We can still do this.

(12-29-2015, 12:28 PM)ItsOdellThurman Wrote: They have shown they "can play with anybody" for years.
They have yet to show they can beat anybody.
Teams expect tough games from Cincinnati, but does anyone fear Cincinnati in a big game?

New England can have no healthy weapons, but people fear having to go through them in January.
Pittsburgh can look vulnerable all year, but if they get in, people will be scared of what they could do.
Denver will absolutely have a home field advantage and defense to back it up, regardless of their offense.

Cincinnati?  Great, they are in, but nobody believes they are a real contender.  Kind of reminds me of San Diego of the 2000's, tons of talent, but never broke through and was a threat.

We have beat some good teams this year. Seattle. Kansas City. They are both in the playoffs.

I can speak for Arizona. They were very concerned about us and felt they needed to "play up" to our level when we met this year.

Denver has an altitude advantage in their stadium. Their team and gameplan are built to take advantage of that. On level ground, they are vulnerable. They were desperate to get that win yesterday. And they almost didn't.

PIT is all mouth from their large fanbase, who revel in their history but don't live in the here and now.

NE is the best coached team in the league. Even then, they have lost their share in the playoffs. People may not want to see them in January, they play them hard just the same.

I'm not saying we are a great team. But we are good enough to win in January.

(12-29-2015, 12:49 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: We have beat some good teams this year. Seattle. Kansas City. They are both in the playoffs.

I can speak for Arizona. They were very concerned about us and felt they needed to "play up" to our level when we met this year.

Denver has an altitude advantage in their stadium. Their team and gameplan are built to take advantage of that. On level ground, they are vulnerable. They were desperate to get that win yesterday. And they almost didn't.

PIT is all mouth from their large fanbase, who revel in their history but don't live in the here and now.

NE is the best coached team in the league. Even then, they have lost their share in the playoffs. People may not want to see them in January, they play them hard just the same.

I'm not saying we are a great team. But we are good enough to win in January.

There is not one team that scares me in the playoffs . On either side. Eifert will AJM we will still win vs the jets.

Andy back vs Denver we win there as well. Heck if we had Eifert with AJM we win last night

(12-29-2015, 03:45 AM)Bengalzona Wrote: When we win the first playoff game, we will have forgotten all about this game.

That is the monkey we need to knock off of our back. And we need to do it this season.

I like it. Too many posters on here being all negative. We are in the Playoffs and we will be a tough out
as long as we are not on our 3rd QB. Our Defense will fight and if Geno is not playing in Denver he can
wreck an Offense all by himself. That isn't even mentioning Dunlap, Burfict, Reggie and Adam.

McCarron can throw the deep ball and with Eifert back should just have another security blanket.

If Dalton is healthy and plays like he has all year we can definately make a run at the whole thing.

Plus, both the Bengals and the Broncos are playing against rivals next week so both games could be
close and you never know, we might still get that bye with a Bengals win and a Broncos loss.

(12-29-2015, 01:16 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: There is not one team that scares me in the playoffs .  On either side.   Eifert will AJM we will still win vs the jets.    

Andy back vs Denver we win there as well.  Heck if we had Eifert with AJM we win last night

I agree brother.

(12-29-2015, 11:41 AM)Bengalzona Wrote: Only four losses this year.

And three of the four losses (HOU, ARI and DEN) were decided by less than four points.

We were in those games and the results were in question until the very end.

This is not a bad team.

Correct. They're not a bad team. They're a team with no killer instinct and they can't finish.

(12-29-2015, 03:04 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: Correct. They're not a bad team. They're a team with no killer instinct and they can't finish.

They finished 11 other games.

(12-29-2015, 03:06 PM)Beaker Wrote: They finished 11 other games.

Noted. You're happy with regular season 1:00 games and don't seem to care about beating playoff quality teams in prime time and the playoffs.

(12-29-2015, 03:09 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: Noted. You're happy with regular season 1:00 games and don't seem to care about beating playoff quality teams in prime time and the playoffs.

Yes....happy with regular season wins, and disappointed with regular season losses. The time of day has nothing to do with my happiness or disappointment. I pointed out in another thread that we have won a prime time game in each of the last 3 seasons. So I think the whole primetime thing is over blown.

Looks like we're most likely going to pull the Jets, with a slight possibility of playing the Steelers. If we can play like we have during the regular season, I think we have a good shot. If we won, we'd face Denver and I like our chances there.

It just depends on whether or not this team can finally carry over it's regular season play to the playoffs.

(12-29-2015, 03:13 PM)Beaker Wrote: Yes....happy with regular season wins, and disappointed with regular season losses. The time of day has nothing to do with my happiness or disappointment. I pointed out in another thread that we have won a prime time game in each of the last 3 seasons. So I think the whole primetime thing is over blown.

Yes. They win about 1 out of every 4 prime time games.

So, go ahead and be happy with a 25% winning percentage in prime time and i'll think it sucks.

(12-29-2015, 03:13 PM)Beaker Wrote: Yes....happy with regular season wins, and disappointed with regular season losses. The time of day has nothing to do with my happiness or disappointment. I pointed out in another thread that we have won a prime time game in each of the last 3 seasons. So I think the whole primetime thing is over blown.

As much as I would like to declare our prime-time woes dismissed after a trouncing of Austin Davis and the 3-12 Browns, I can't help but want more evidence.

(12-29-2015, 03:21 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: So, go ahead and be happy with a 25% winning percentage in prime time and i'll think it sucks.

Like I said, I'll be disappointed with losses any time of day. I don't give night losses any greater priority than day losses.

(12-29-2015, 03:23 PM)Beaker Wrote: Like I said, I'll be disappointed with losses any time of day. I don't give night losses any greater priority than day losses.

That's fine, but you have to realize some of us are curious as to why we play like a 14-2 team at 1pm and a 5-11 team at night.

(12-29-2015, 03:26 PM)Nately120 Wrote: That's fine, but you have to realize some of us are curious as to why we play like a 14-2 team at 1pm and a 5-11 team at night.

We beat pittsburgh and denver in primetime the last two season....and lost to cleveland. This year we beat cleveland, and lost to ARZ and denver....both by 3 points. I don't think we play like a 5-11 team. Am I happy with that? By no means, but I am also not of the belief that we cannot win in prime time as seems to be the pervasive attitude around here.

(12-29-2015, 03:31 PM)Beaker Wrote: We beat pittsburgh and denver in primetime the last two season....and lost to cleveland. This year we beat cleveland, and lost to ARZ and denver....both by 3 points. I don't think we play like a 5-11 team. Am I happy with that? By no means, but I am also not of the belief that we cannot win in prime time as seems to be the pervasive attitude around here.

I might have to double-beck this, but aren't we 2-6 in prime-time the past 2 seasons?  So let's see, that makes us

21-9-1 overall (.700)
19-3-1 in regular games (.864)
2-6 in prime-time (.250)

So if we were to extrapolate that to a full 16-game season that makes us a:

14-2 team in regular games
and
4-12 in prime-time

Seems I was being seriousness when I said 5-11! But hey, we can fill our trophy case with "Just lost by 3 to a tough team" awards, right?

(12-29-2015, 03:20 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Looks like we're most likely going to pull the Jets, with a slight possibility of playing the Steelers. If we can play like we have during the regular season, I think we have a good shot. If we won, we'd face Denver and I like our chances there.

It just depends on whether or not this team can finally carry over it's regular season play to the playoffs.

Hopefully Dalton will be healthy if/when we return to Denver in 3 weeks.