“Our conversation at half-time was to pick up the tempo, show them a look they had not seen on tape”.
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One other notable player practicing on Wednesday was AJ McCarron, who suffered a sprained wrist on his non-throwing hand during Monday’s loss in Denver.
That’s good news for Cincinnati, which already is without Dalton’s services for an undetermined amount of time.
Notes: The Bengals signed QB Mike Kafka to their practice squad on Tuesday.
The Cincinnati Bengals lost their third consecutive primetime game Monday and with it a chance to clinch a first-round bye as Denver rallied from a 14-point deficit to win 20-17 in overtime.
It was just the big play Ware’s been looking for ever since missing a month with a bad back. In reference to the play that caused Cincinnati to slip from the AFC’s No. 2 seed to the No. 3 seed, McCarron pinned the blame on himself.
Denver took its first lead on a 39-yard touchdown run by C.J. Anderson early in the fourth quarter, when he stepped through a couple of tackles and sprinted to the end zone.
“The jump cut has always been part of my arsenal”, Anderson said.
It was Denver’s first second-half score in four games but it would not stop there. And yet it was one of those contests that felt a bit like a vintage dead-ball era National Football League game, where defenses were the dominant paradigm on both sides of the ball.
“Well, we had no possessions in the first half, so we had to do something”, he told. “We shouldn’t let them get in that position anyway”. We’ll see in the coming days. “When you get down to the playoffs you’re going to need all those type of wins”.
LB Vontaze Burfict’s reputation is well-earned, but now Burfict believes it’s being used against him.
The Broncos won the coin toss for overtime, elected to receive, then moved smartly downfield, setting up a 37-yard field goal by McManus for the 20-17 lead.
Soon after, Cincinnati linebacker Vontaze Burfict drew an unnecessary roughness penalty when he shoved Virgil Green near the sideline.
Daniels stood out in the final drive of the second half when he had back-to-back catches for 42 yards, helping set up a possible game-winning field goal that sailed left. “It’s hard to do”, Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said. “He’s pushing, (Burfict) is pushing back”. “It seems like any time I throw the football to Owen, he is making a play and he’s catching that ball”. McCarron took over for starter Andy Dalton three weeks ago after Dalton injured his thumb.
In 2014, Burfict was fined $25,000 for twisting the ankles of Carolina Panthers’ quarterback Cam Newton. The refs, obviously they have it out for me.
The Good: Carlos Dunlap had a career-high three sacks to give him 13.5 for the year, breaking the Bengals single-season record of 13 by Eddie Edwards (1983). Tight end Tyler Eifert missed the past two games with a concussion.
McCarron completed 22 of his 35 passes for 200 yards, one TD and no interceptions. But 119 of those passing yards came in the first half. I don’t think the city of Cincinnati can handle another first-round exit. They did well in the first half with 85 yards on the ground. He led the Bengals on two perfectly executed touchdown drives, but the magic must have dissipated at halftime, as the Bengals were unable to muster up hardly any offensive firepower in the second half.
The Bad: The Bengals finished with 17 carries for 27 yards after that and finished with an average of 3.3 yards per carry.
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Someone named Keith Wenning might be forced to start a playoff game for the Bengals.
