Favre4Ever+ 4,476 Posted December 20, 2014 (edited) With a win on the final Monday Night Football game of 2014, the path to the playoffs for the Cincinnati Bengals will be simple. Win their Week 17 game against division rivals Pittsburgh and they’re in. The only problem with that is that they’ll have to beat one of the best teams in the NFL on Monday night in the Denver Broncos. Denver started off the season winning on the arm of quarterback Peyton Manning, but over the last half of the season, they’ve been winning a different way. They’ve asked running back C.J. Anderson to carry the load, and he’s responded in a huge way. Since Week 10, no running back has gained more yards than Anderson’s 597, or had a higher overall grade over that timespan than his +16.6. If the Broncos are going to keep their chances of homefield advantage throughout the playoffs alive, it all starts with the legs of Anderson. The Bengals this season have generally had a tough time stopping the run. Their starting front seven grades out at cumulative run defense mark of -16.9. As a team the Bengals are allowed 124.8 rushing yards per game, the ninth most in the league. Defensive tackle Domata Peko has had a particularly tough time, with a run stop grade of -11.5 on the year. Considering 30% of Anderson’s carries and 31% of his yards come when running at Peko’s position, the Bengals will need Peko to step up his game in order to help slow down the Broncos’ dangerous rushing attack Here are three other players that could help decide the outcome of this game for their teams: Denver Broncos Demaryius Thomas – Currently second in the NFL among receivers with a +18.0 overall grade. His passing grade of +16.4 is third. Von Miller – Owns an overall grade of +48.0 which is the second highest among 4-3 outside linebackers, and his pass rush grade of +33.6 is the tops at his position, 26.6 points higher than the second best. Chris Harris Jr. – His pass coverage grade of +23.4 is the highest among all cornerbacks in the NFL this season. Cincinnati Bengals Andrew Whitworth – Whitworth has allowed an unbelievable eight total QB pressures in 463 snaps, good for a league best 98.7 Pass Blocking Efficiency among tackles. A.J. Green – His 3.17 Yards Per Route Run is the highest among receivers in the NFL by nearly 0.4 yards. Geno Atkins – Atkins has 37 total QB pressures this season, which is the sixth most among defensive tackles in the NFL. PFF Edited December 20, 2014 by Favre4Ever Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Favre4Ever+ 4,476 Posted December 20, 2014 Von Miller doing Von Miller like things... Also, why can't the Packers find a T like Mr. Whitworth? Gotta go with the Broncos in this one but the Bengals have a lot to play for, gonna be fun to watch this one unfold. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theMileHighGuy 656 Posted December 22, 2014 As I type this I realize that this is probably going to be a massive jinx on the game, but I'm predicting a statement game by the Broncos at Paul Brown stadium. The last three weeks we've played like garbage and have had to lean on the defense to eek out wins. Julius Thomas should be back to 100%, and the offense should be getting back into stride. It needs to, because I think Manning needs to prove to a lot of people that these shitty games aren't going to become a habit. The defense though will be the reason we win this game. In those same last three games, we have five picks, and now we're going into a primetime game against Andy Dalton. The strength of the Bengals offense is their run game, and few have been better than us the last two years at stopping the run. This season to this point we're 3rd in overall D, 2nd against the run, and tied for first in yards against per play. Everyone scoffed last year by saying it was Manning scoring a ton of points and forcing teams to throw that skewed those stats, but now that he's been shitting the bed, Von, TKnight and Co. are finally getting their due. Look for CJ Manderson and JuwanMode Thompson take advantage of that leaky Bengals run D. 48 23 #drunkposting Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vin+ 3,121 Posted December 23, 2014 Peyton Manning (thigh) and Emmanuel Sanders (illness) are both active for Monday night's Week 16 game against the Bengals. As expected. Despite being listed as questionable, both players were never in any real doubt for the Monday night finale. Inactive for the Broncos are RB Ronnie Hillman, LB Brandon Marshall, OT Paul Cornick, CB Tony Carter, OT Michael Schofield, TE Dominique Jones, and DE Quanterus Smith. Bengals declared WR Greg Little, WR James Wright, QB A.J. McCarron, OL Tanner Hawkinson, OLB Emmanuel Lamur, and CB Chris Lewis-Harris inactive for Week 16 against the Broncos. None are real surprises. Little is a healthy scratch. McCarron is sick. Lamur has a hamstring injury, and Wright is battling a knee problem. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FartWaffles 1,857 Posted December 23, 2014 A.J. Green took a rough hit to his forearm on that INT play... Hope it's not serious. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theMileHighGuy 656 Posted December 23, 2014 Way to make a statement out there, fellas! :ya Would really like to turn in my fancard till Manning retires. 3rd and 1 with 4 minutes left and Manning's ego is making him pass the ball. Don't even care about the terrible officiating or all the picks, we lost the game right there. Pats are gonna lose next week just to troll us Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BwareDWare94 723 Posted December 23, 2014 (edited) Is there any point to Andy Dalton? Edited December 23, 2014 by BwareDWare94 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Piggly Wiggly 960 Posted December 23, 2014 (edited) Is there any point to Andy Dalton? I mean, the guy is so bad that, if he didn't have a son, I'd bet on him firing blanks. Good fucking lord. Hey dumbass, everyone already knows Dalton is dog shit. Why not pick on the future HOF'er that threw 4 picks and took the L? And took a big fat shit on his team's chances of getting homefield throughout the playoffs. lol. Edited December 23, 2014 by Piggly Wiggly Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RazorStar 4,025 Posted December 23, 2014 LMAO Peyton Manning. Someone should tell him the postseason hasn't actually started yet. I hope this is just a case of the guy throwing a bad game to get the yaw-yaws out. However he has been struggling for a while. Let's put this on the back of CJ Anderson and carry him. Elway has the personality to realize that Terrell Davis was the lynchpin of our offense in our SB years, and he rode him while making smart throws. CJ Anderson isn't quite Terrell Davis, but we can rely on him all the same. There were a few games this year where he was basically willing us to victory. I just don't see how we get past the Pats this year, especially without homefield. We're losing our first road game, and a good Bengals, Colts or Steelers team could definitely take us out at home. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
