Another Thursday in the NFL season and another lackluster match up to kick off week 15. Tonight the 7-6 Cincinnati Bengals who are the epitome of mediocrity march into Philadelphia to take on the 4-9 Eagles who are the epitome of, how do I say it nicely? Bad. All season long the NFL Network has had to try to find ways to hype up all of these Thursday night games between below average football teams to get people to tune in.
My logic tells me that the Bengals will handle the Eagles with relative ease. The Eagles defense is one of the worst in the league and Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green is quickly becoming one of the best in the league and already has a very impressive highlight reel through nearly two full seasons. The Bengals defense is above average and the Eagles are going with rookie quarterback Nick Foles while Michael Vick continues to recover from a concussion. Eagles running back LeSean McCoy and tight end Brent Celek will also be inactive due to concussions.
While my football logic gives me every reason to believe that the Bengals are going to win this game, I pray that I am wrong. After the New England Patriots slaughtered the New York Jets in the spirit of Thanksgiving, the Jets’ season was put on life support. Many fans, (including superfan Fireman Ed) were quick to bury the Jets and pronounce their season over. However with two straight not so impressive wins and an easy schedule the rest of the way the Jets are currently sitting at 6-7 only one game behind the aforementioned Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers for the final wild card spot in the AFC playoffs. Theoretically, if the Jets win their match up on Monday night against the Tennessee Titans, The Steelers lose to the Dallas Cowboys (very possible), and the Bengals lose to the Eagles tonight (highly unlikely) the three teams would have identical 7-7 records. The Jets still would not control their own destiny because Pittsburgh holds the head to head tiebreaker after the 27-10 thrashing back in week 2. However the way things stand right now, the Jets hold a tiebreaker over the Bengals due to a better divisional record.
Let’s look ahead to week 16 for a brief moment. Say all of the scenarios I just listed above come true and the Jets, Bengals and Steelers are all 7-7. The Jets face the San Diego Chargers in week 16 whom they have had a lot of success against in the Rex Ryan Era. The Steelers and Bengals face each other in a crucial match up. If the Jets can beat the Chargers and the Bengals can find a way to escape Pittsburgh with a win, then a Jets win in Buffalo in week 17 and a Bengals loss to the Baltimore Ravens would give the Jets a 9-7 record and the final wild card spot in the AFC playoffs. A lot of things need to go right for the Jets but I’ve seen crazier things happen. Remember in 2009 after losing to the Falcons in week 15 Rex Ryan pronounced the 2009 season over, only to find out that every other game that had playoff implications for the Jets that day went exactly the way they needed it too? A big part of them getting into the playoffs that year was a late season match up between the Cleveland Browns (with nothing to play for but pride) and Pittsburgh Steelers where the Browns shocked the world and beat the defending super bowl champions at the time, so I wouldn’t write the Eagles off in tonight’s game too quickly.
Obviously none of this matters if the Jets decide to be the Jets and just lose the rest of their games, which is always possible when you’re talking about the New York Jets. However the thought of the Jets making the playoffs now is not quite as farfetched as it was on Thanksgiving night when the infamous “ass fumble” occurred. Many teams in the situation the Jets are in right now use the cliché, “one game at a time”. I believe that as fans we should think the same way. With that being said, Go Eagles!
http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/machine
play around with that link, you’d be surprised to see what teams can still get in!
The Heck Factor 