NFL This Week
Bengals pose major hurdle to Colts’ unbeaten streak This is the time of year the 1972 Miami Dolphins start paying closer attention to the Indianapolis Colts, the NFL’s last remaining unbeaten team.
Those Dolphins, of course, are the last team to go through a season without a loss, going 17-0 en route to a Super Bowl victory. The Colts are 9-0 as they go into Cincinnati on day.
But their finishing schedule is daunting, starting with the Bengals (7-2). There are home games against the Steelers and Chargers and games at Jacksonville and Seattle, four teams with a current combined record of 25-11.
No big deal for Indy, which is led by two of the calmer people in the NFL, coach Tony Dungy and quarterback Peyton Manning.
“I think it’s good for the NFL to have story lines, and I’d certainly rather have them talking about something like that than Terrell Owens,” Dungy says. “This is the first time I’ve ever been through this situation, so I’m going to enjoy it.”
That demeanor may help the Colts in Cincinnati. Indianapolis is used to big games. The Bengals are not.
But Cincinnati did beat Kansas City two seasons ago when the Chiefs came to town 9-0. And this team is better – that was Marvin Lewis’ first season as head coach and the first of two 8-8 seasons that propelled the Bengals from the NFL’s basement to the middle of the pack.
Now they are legitimate contenders, tied for first in the AFC North with Pittsburgh and looking to this game as an opportunity to be recognized as an elite team.
Most of the Bengals spent the bye week rooting for the Colts to beat Houston so they would have the first shot at knocking off the league’s last unbeaten team. But not all of them, because Cincinnati’s players believe they belong right there at the top with the Colts.
“I actually was hoping they would lose this past week or the week before,” quarterback Carson Palmer said. “We’re still shooting to win the rest of our games and hopefully get home-field advantage and a bye week in the playoffs. We hope to beat them, and we hope they drop another game to give us that advantage.”
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In other games today:
Philadelphia (4-5) at New York Giants (6-3)
The Eagles, who have lost three straight, are last in the highly competitive NFC East and their quest for a fifth straight division title could end here. Donovan McNabb got battered again late in the disheartening loss to the Cowboys and Mike McMahon will start against a team that hasn’t allowed an offensive TD in 13 quarters.
The Giants had an equally disheartening experience, somehow losing to the Vikings despite outgaining them 405-137. That’s because Minnesota became the first team ever to return an interception, a punt and a kickoff for touchdowns in the same game.
Buffalo (4-5) at San Diego (5-4)
It’s time for the talented Chargers to make a run. They currently are on a two-game winning streak – their longest of the season – and should at least be in the wild-card picture if they can’t catch Denver in the AFC West.
San Diego should be in the AFC East, where Buffalo is only a game behind New England despite a losing record.
Tampa Bay (6-3) at Atlanta (6-3)
Put Atlanta in the same category with the Giants – its loss to Green Bay was as inexcusable as New York’s to Minnesota. That dropped the Falcons into a second-place tie with the Bucs in the NFC’s other prime division, a game behind Carolina.
Give Jon Gruden and Chris Simms credit for Tampa Bay’s dramatic win over Washington, Simms for bringing the Bucs back late and Gruden for the 2-point conversion that won in regulation. Simms had been taking heat for three losses in four games from talking heads who haven’t yet figured out that developing young QBs takes time.
Detroit (4-5) at Dallas (6-3)
The Cowboys, tied for first with the Giants, have a knack for losing games they have wrapped up (Washington and Seattle) and winning games they should have lost, like Monday night in Philly.
The short week might make them vulnerable here to the Lions, who seem much better with a healthy Roy Williams, who had three touchdown catches in last week’s win over Arizona. Williams helped QB Joey Harrington have one of his best games of the season.
Carolina (7-2) at Chicago (6-3)
The Panthers have won six straight, the Bears have a five-game winning streak, although Chicago’s is less impressive because of its weak division. So Carolina is favored even though it is playing in Chicago, which last week was a very windy city.
The Carolina defense could be a problem for Kyle Orton, especially if he’s without his two top running backs, Cedric Benson and Thomas Jones. Still, Adrian Peterson ran for 120 yards against San Francisco last week filling in for the injured pair.
New Orleans (2-7) at New England (5-4)
More injuries for the Patriots, who lost center Dan Koppen last week in Miami. But New England did discover journeyman fullback Heath Evans, who rushed for 87 yards from the tailback spot.
The Patriots might like to have Antowain Smith, who they dumped two years ago and is averaging 4.8 yards a carry with the Saints filling in for the injured Deuce McAllister.
Seattle (7-2) at San Francisco (2-7)
Unless the Seahawks stumble horribly, there’s almost no way they won’t win the NFC West. They are three games ahead of St. Louis and own the tiebreaker with two victories over the Rams.
The 49ers stayed with the Bears in windy Chicago last week and generally play decently at home – even in 28-3 and 24-6 losses to the Colts and Giants, they were competitive for most of three quarters. No QB on the 49ers’ current roster has thrown a TD pass this season. Ken Dorsey is the man this week, hoping to end a drought of 39 straight possessions without a touchdown.
Jacksonville (6-3) at Tennessee (2-7)
Jacksonville seems on course for a wild-card playoff spot, although the Jaguars can’t let down. They had trouble at home with Houston two weeks ago and the Titans play hard every week.
The Jaguars, with Greg Jones getting 106 yards rushing for the oft-injured Fred Taylor, got 30 points for the first time in 59 games against Baltimore last week.
Oakland (3-6) at Washington (5-4)
Joe Gibbs still thinks Mike Alstott failed to get in on the 2-point conversion that beat the Redskins in Tampa Bay. But the real reason Washington lost was by allowing 36 points for the second time in three weeks, in part because of injuries to defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin and safety Sean Taylor.
This game brings Raiders coach Norv Turner back to Washington, where he was the head man the last time the Redskins made the playoffs in 1999.
New York Jets (2-7) at Denver (7-2)
The Broncos have won seven of eight since an opening-week loss in Miami. The only defeat was to the other New York team in a game in which they blew a 13-point fourth-quarter lead.
Losing this would be hard. Offensive tackle Jason Fabini became the 10th Jet to go on injured reserve this season. “For some reason, the dark cloud won’t go away,” coach Herman Edwards says. “Kind of just hovering above us. Usually you get a breeze or something, it blows somewhere else. Needs to go away, I know that, got to go away because it’s amazing to me.”
Kansas City (5-4) at Houston (1-8)
The momentum the Chiefs were supposed to get when Dick Vermeil went for a win instead of a tie on the final play of the Oakland game was dissipated in a 14-3 loss in Buffalo last week.
This might be a little more difficult for the Chiefs than it looks. The Texans are playing better these days, although last week’s 31-17 loss in Indianapolis wasn’t as close as the score.
Arizona (2-7) at St. Louis (4-5)
Two teams basically out of things, although the Rams have an outside shot at a wild-card spot if a lot of other teams fade.
The most interesting thing about this game might be the return of Kurt Warner to St. Louis against the team with whom he was a two-time league MVP. Those days are long past.
Warner has played once before against the Rams – on Sept. 18 in Tempe, when he was 29-of-42 for 327 yards in the Cardinals’ 17-12 loss.
Miami (3-6) at Cleveland (3-6)
Nick Saban at Romeo Crennel, two first-year coaches and former defensive coordinators for Bill Belichick. It might be Gus Frerotte at Trent Dilfer, two veteran quarterbacks hopefully holding the fort for future stars, although Frerotte has a sprained finger and Sage Rosenfels might play for Miami.
In the future star department, Cleveland’s Braylon Edwards, the third overall pick in last April’s draft, said this week he’s ready to start at wide receiver rather than share time with Dennis Northcutt.