Manning Face Sad

Apparently the Bengals got a little tired of even their own fans saying that they were going to lose last night. They tried in the third quarter, but a strong effort by the defense and a lack of ineptitude on the offense allowed the Bengals to rally to a 37-28 victory.

This does not change the standings in the AFC playoff race that I posted yesterday, but it does have some ripples in terms of overall effect.

First, Cincinnati has now secured a playoff spot. The division crown will be settled in the head to head match-up with Pittsburgh next Sunday night, but both teams are now assured a playoff spot. In fact, the loser of the game will be assured the #5 seed in the playoffs as they will have either a better overall record or a better conference record than whichever team secures the #6 seed.

Second, the Bengals and Steelers will not play each other in the first round of the playoffs. If the Bengals win and Denver wins, the Bengals will get the #3 seed, regardless of what the Colts do. Should the Bengals win and the Broncos lose to Oakland, the Bengals will actually vault over Denver for the #2 seed as they would be a half-game ahead of the Broncos. If Pittsburgh wins, they will get the #3 seed as Denver has the tie-breaker of better division record and the Steelers have the tie-breaker over Indianapolis.

Third, Indianapolis is assured the #4 seed. The Colts lost to Pittsburgh and Denver during the regular season so a tie in the standings goes against them and the Bengals would be a half-game ahead of them in the standings if they win. There is nothing the Colts can do to move up. So expect them to rest just about everybody in the closing match against the Titans.

Fourth, New England has locked home-field advantage. New England has the tie-breaker against Denver so they have secured the #1 seed regardless of how the game against Buffalo goes.

Fifth, the #6 seed comes down to San Diego, Baltimore, Houston, or Kansas City. San Diego plays KC in the final game while Baltimore plays Cleveland, and Houston plays Jacksonville. The equation is pretty simple. If San Diego wins, they get the spot. If Kansas City wins and Baltimore wins, Baltimore gets the spot. If Kansas City wins, Baltimore loses, and Houston wins, Houston gets the spot. If Kansas City wins and Baltimore and Houston lose, Kansas City gets the spot. I personally don't think that Baltimore will lose to Cleveland so I'd say KC and Houston have no real shot, but I also thought it would be simple last year and that didn't work out that way. All three games are at 1 pm so there will be some game time scoreboard watching I would imagine.

On the scheduling note, the four deciding games in the NFC and the Oakland-Dever game have all been moved to 4:30 so the early talk will only be about the AFC #6 seed and then there will be a ton of game updates going on in the late afternoon.