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JANUARY 5, 2013
TIME: 4:30 p.m. Saturday
PLACE: Reliant Stadium (Grass under retractable roof expected to be closed)
LOCAL RADIO: Play-by-play Dan Hoard and analyst Dave Lapham led by "Triple Cast" 700-AM WLW, 1530-AM ESPN and 102.7-FM WEBN on the 25-station Bengals radio network.
NATIONAL RADIO: DIAL GLOBAL RADIO SPORTS: Tom McCarthy play-by-play, Tony Boselli analyst, Steve Tasker sideline reporter
TV: NBC team of Dan Hicks play-by-play, Mike Mayock analyst, Alex Flanagan sideline reporter. Channel 5 in Cincinnati, Channel 2 in Dayton, Ohio and Channel 18 in Lexington, Ky.
INJURIES
CIN: Starting RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis (hamstring), who felt something on his first carry of last Sunday's pregame warmups, worked on the side Tuesday and was limited Wednesday and Thursday. Starting S Chris Crocker (quad), who left in the first quarter of Sunday's game, and S Taylor Mays (leg), who got hurt late, didn't work Tuesday. Crocker went limited Wednesday, and didn't go Thursday. Mays went limited Wednesday and Thursday. Starting CB Terence Newman (groin), who missed last Sunday's game, practiced Tuesday, went limited Wednesday and was full go Thursday. Backup RE Wallace Gilberry (illness) missed Wednesday and went limited Thursday. Starting CB Leon Hall was limited Thursday with a non-injury issue.
HOU: Starting ILB Tim Dobbins didn't work Wednesday and Thursday and there's concern the Texans will have to start their fifth different inside backer with Darryl Sharpton on IR. Barrett Ruud would get his second start of the season. Backup G Antoine Caldwell (back), moved out of the starting lineup earlier in the season, didn't work Wednesday and Thursday. Starting OLB Brooks Reed (groin), who has missed four of the last five games, was listed limited Wednesday and Thursday. He says he feels good and is doing everything, but he said the same thing last week and didn't go.
» Complete Injury Report
THE SERIES
Regular season series tied, 3-3. Texans lead postseason series, 1-0. Texans lead, 2-1 in Reliant, including postseason game.
NOTEWORTHY
» The 10-6 Bengals are the fourth AFC team to make the playoffs in three of the last four years, joining the Ravens, Patriots and Colts.
» The game comes 363 days after the Bengals lost in Reliant in last season's Wild Card playoff.
» The game comes one day shy of 22 years since the last Bengals playoff win on Jan. 6, 1991 when the Bengals beat the previous team from Houston, the Oilers, 41-14, at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium. The first George Bush was president. Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis was an assistant at the University of Pittsburgh. Texans head coach Gary Kubiak was John Elway's backup in Denver. Boomer Esiason was the Bengals quarterback, Bengals running back Ickey Woods did "The Ickey Shuffle" after a one-yard TD run, and Charlie Luken was mayor of Cincinnati with David Mann about to come on board.
» Running back Stanford Jennings, who scored a postseason touchdown off an eight-yard throw from Esiason against the Raiders on Jan. 13, 1991, is from the same hometown—Summerville, S.C.—as Bengals Pro Bowl wide receiver A.J. Green.
» The Bengals start five of their first-round draft picks. They also play against two of their first-rounders in Texans defensive line coach Bill Kollar, Cincinnati's first-round pick in 1974 out of Montana State, and cornerback Johnathan Joseph, the first-rounder out of South Carolina in 2006.
» Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton grew up in suburban Houston. Bengals RG Kevin Zeitler lived a mile across the bridge from Texans defensive endJ.J. Watt in Greater Milwaukee. Joseph called Paul Brown Stadium home for the first five years of his career.
» Texans K Shayne Graham is the most accurate kicker in Bengals history with an 86.8 percentage from 2003-09. But in his last game as a Bengal, the 2009 AFC Wild Card, he missed from 28 and 35 yards in a 24-14 loss at PBS to the Jets.
NFL RANKINGS
CIN: 12th in scoring, 22nd in offense (18th rushing, 17th passing); T-9th in scoring defense, 6th in defense (12th rushing, 7th passing), 11th in turnover margin at plus-4.
HOU: 8th in scoring, 7th in offense (8th rushing, 11th passing); 12th in scoring defense, 7th in defense (7th rushing, 16th passing), 7th in turnover margin at plus-12.
COACHES
CIN: Marvin Lewis 79-80-1 regular season, 0-3 postseason in his 10th season; 2-4 vs. Texans includes 0—1 postseason
HOU: Gary Kubiak 59-53 regular season, 1-1 in postseason in his seventh season; 4-2 vs. Lewis and Bengals includes 1-0 in postseason
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
» 51 - Bengals-record sacks in 2012
» 62 - Combined sacks by Bengals 2005 and 2009 AFC North champs
» 153 - Rushing yards for Texans RB Arian Foster vs. Bengals in last season's Wild Card game
» 129 - Combined rushing yards Bengals allowed Chargers RB Ryan Matthews, Cowboys RB DeMarco Murray, Steelers RB Rashard Mendenhall this season
» 63 - Catches by Texans WRs other than Andre Johnson
» 123 - Catches by Bengals WRs other than A.J. Green
» 13.9 - Green's yards per catch
» 14.3 - Johnson's yards per catch
» 11 - TD receptions for Green
» 4 - TD receptions for Johnson
» 1 - Playoff starts for Bengals QB Andy Dalton
» 0 - Playoff starts for Texans QB Matt Schaub
» 16 - Passes defensed by Texans DE J.J. Watt
» 13 - Combined passes defensed for Bengals seven-man DL rotation
» 34 - Percentage of third downs Texans offense converted in month of December
» 33 - Percentage of third downs foes converted vs. Bengals defense in month of December
» 35 - Percentage of third downs Bengals offense converted in December
» 43 - Percentage of third downs foes converted vs. Texans defense
» 10 - Seasons Marvin Lewis has coached with Bengals, second-longest tenure in the NFL next to New England's Bill Belichick (13 seasons)
