Monday, May 21st, 2012
The Cincinnati Bengals will take to the road to face the Houston Texans in an NFL pro football AFC wildcard playoff on Saturday January 7th.
Kick off time is scheduled for 4:30PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by NBC.
The betting odds opened up with the home standing Houston Texans favored by -2 ½ points with an over under of 39 points.
Money has shown early on the side of the home team as the Houston Texans is now favored by -3 points.
The total has moved down to 38 ½ points.
Houston Texans money line bettors will lay -150 odds with the road underdog Cincinnati Bengals bringing back +130 odds to earn the upset win with no need for taking the points.
The Houston Texans and Cincinnati Bengals met once during the regular season and it was the Texans pulling out the late 20-19 road win at Cincinnati back on December 11th as a +2 ½ point underdog.
The total came in at over the closing line of 37 ½ points.
Cincinnati failed to hold a 19-13 fourth quarter lead late as third string quarterback Taylor Yates drove the Texans 80 yards for the game winning touchdown with two seconds left on the clock.
The Bengals gave away with the game with prevent defense during the drive making it easy for Yates to dink and dunk the team into the Cincinnati side of the field.
They put no pressure on the third stringer.
The rookie Yates had 300 yards passing with two touchdowns and a pick.
The Cincinnati rookie quarterback Andy Dalton threw for 189 yards with a touchdown.
On the ground running back Cedric Benson had a solid game with 91 yards rushing on 21 attempts.
It was a sloppy game as the Texans turned it over four times to the Bengals three miscues.
Cincinnati travels to Houston with a record of 9-7 on the year. The team is 5-3 on the highway.
The Bengals average 21 points with 319 yards per game with 111 coming from their ground game for 3.9 yards a carry.
On defense Cincinnati allows 20 points and 316 yards a game. Teams rush for 104 yards against them for 3.9 yards per rush against average.
The team backed into the playoffs as they won the tiebreaker over Tennessee with a head to head win against the Titans who had won earlier in the day.
With their playoff fate in their hands the Bengals dropped a 24-16 home decision last week to the Baltimore Ravens as a +2 ½ point underdog.
The over under landed over the closing total of 37 ½ points.
The team fell behind 17-3 at the half and drew within one score late.
Cincinnati amassed just 336 offensive yards with 105 from their ground game.
They allowed one sack and failed to score a touchdown in their two red zone drives.
The team had one turnover and took none from Baltimore.
Quarterback Andy Dalton hit on 22 of 44 passes for 232 yards.
Running back Cedric Benson ran for 51 yards on 13 carries.
Bernard Scott had six runs for 34 yards and a rushing touchdown.
Jermaine Gresham led the Bengals with five receptions for 72 yards.
Jerome Simpson caught five passes for 54 yards.
Rookie A.J. Green grabbed two balls for 26 yards.
Cincinnati allowed their AFC north opponent 387 yards of offense with 221 yards rushing on 32 carries.
The Bengals registered one sack and allowed a Raven touchdown in their only appearance inside the red zone.
Cincinnati went 0-7 on the year against teams in the 2011 NFL playoffs.
The Cincinnati Bengals are the lowest seed in the AFC playoffs. With a win on Saturday they travel to top seeded New England in the divisional round.
The game would be scheduled for 8PM Eastern Time with national television by NBC.
The Houston Texans will make their first playoff appearance in the history of the franchise on Saturday.
The Texans finished regular season play with a 10-6 record on the season. The team is 5-3 at home.
Houston averages 23 points and 372 yards a game with 153 yards rushing for 4.5 yards a carry.
On defense the team allows just 17 points and 285 yards per game. Opponents rush for 96 yards against them for 4.1 yards per rush against average.
With a playoff berth already in hand the team has dropped their past three games.
They survived injuries to both their starting and backup quarterback and enter the playoffs with a rookie third stringer under center.
Impact wide receiver Andre Johnson returned to the field last week after missing games due to a hamstring injury.
He will see extended play in the playoffs.
The third string rookie quarterback Taylor Yates completed 61.2% of his passes this year for three touchdowns and three interceptions. In six games he threw for only 949 yards.
The Texans were carried offensively all season by the strength of their run game.
Arian Foster ran for 1224 yards and 4.4 yards a carry average.
After following a rookie year on the injured reserve list it was Ben Tate with a monster season running for 942 yards and 5.4 yards per rush.
The Texans finally got it together on the defensive side of the ball with the hiring of coordinator Wade Phillips.
If you back up last week’s meaningless game Houston has given up 19 or less points in eight of their past nine games.
They faced five games against 2011 playoff participants and went 3-2 on the year.
Houston is the highest wildcard seed in the AFC.
With a win on Saturday they will travel to Baltimore next week for a divisional playoff in a game scheduled for Sunday January 15th at 1PM Eastern Time on CBS television.
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NFL Trend: Houston Texans are 4-0 ATS in their past four meetings with the Cincinnati Bengals
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