My non-NFL, non-Bengals post because of an ironic sports related incident that made me smile a little: So what's more dangerous: driving 200 MPH at Talledega with 42 other cars within a half-second of each other or falling out of a golf cart? Apparently the golf cart.
First, AFC Wild Card implications.
As of now, the Bengals are the fifth seed after barely beating Oakland 27-10. The Ravens beat the god-awful Chiefs 20-10. This puts the Chiefs at 7-6 and barring a collapse by the leading AFC wild card contenders, they're out. The win by the Ravens, more than likely, shut the Bengals out of the AFC North title. Jacksonville smoked the Colts, 44-17, rushing for 375 yards. Now the Bengals, in order to keep up with the Jags, need to beat the Colts to remain ahead of the Jags. But it's starting to look like a three-team race for the AFC Wild Card -- Bengals, Jags and Jets. Reason why I left out the Broncos below.
The games still going that we should watch:
The Broncos can't keep up with the Chargers, 21-3. Phillip Rivers is 9/10 for 165 yards and a touchdown. Four of Rivers nine completions have gone to Antonio Gates (62 yards and a touchdown). Eric Parker and Vincent Jackson each have long receptions. Jay Cutler, on the other hand, is 4/11 for 36 yards.
The Jets defense has already allowed a 57-yard touchdown run to Willis McGahee. Then J.P. Losman completes a 77-yard touchdown pass to Lee Evans putting the Bills up, 14-10. Then, Chad Pennington was intercepted by Nate Clements who took it back 58 yards for a touchdown. Now the Bills are up 21-10.
Games that you may or may not care about:
The Miami Dolphins added a twist shutting out the Patriots, 21-0. Even though it's still a long shot, if the Jets go on a roll and the Patriots collapse, there's a chance the Jets could win the AFC East and force New England into the playoffs as a Wild Card team. That hurts the Bengals because the first tie-breaker, head-to-head match-up, the Bengals would be out completely. Then again, that assumes that the Wild Card teams don't win 10 games -- which is also a long-shot.
The Eagles since Jeff Garcia started against the Colts are 2-1. This week, Jeff Garcia went 15/23 for 164 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-19 win over the Redskins. Since starting three weeks ago, Garcia is 55/85 for 616 yards and seven touchdowns -- no interceptions.
Vince Young. I'm not sure if I'll label Vince Young rookie of the year just yet. But in the past three weeks, he's lead the Titans offense to game winning scores (FG or TD) against the Giants, Colts and now the Titans. This week, he scored on a 36-yard sprint up the middle in overtime giving the Titans a 26-20 win over Houston.