Updated: 5:25 p.m.
It looks like the heads-up on the Bengals inactive list for Sunday would have to include safety Chris Crocker (ankle) and defensive end Robert Geathers (knee). Neither dressed this week. Wide receiver Andre Caldwell was ill for the second straight day, and running back Bernard Scott missed because of a stomach problem but both are expected to be fine for the game and are probable. Defensive tackle Tank Johnson (foot) was on the field after missing Wednesday and Thursday and was listed as questionable, as were Geathers, defensive tackle Domata Peko (knee) and tight end J.P. Foschi (neck).
After Friday's practice head coach Marvin Lewis wouldn't rule anybody out and said that Crocker is the only guy that might not be able to go "and that remains to be seen," but he is listed as doubtful. Peko and Foschi went limited Friday. Peko hasn't played in four weeks, but Lewis said he had "some good snaps being able to push on big people."
» Lewis reiterated the Bengals are playing the Jets "to win," and when asked if the 2005 regular-season finale in Kansas City had anything to do with his approach, he nodded. The Bengals, like now, had already clinched a home playoff game. They rested their starters (quarterback Carson Palmer got pulled early in the second quarter) and the Chiefs blew them out, 37-3, behind current Bengals running back Larry Johnson's 201 yards. The hosts were fueled by the tearful Saturday night resignation of head coach Dick Vermeil.
"Probably it's a similar situation. There was more for (the Chiefs) to play for. They were playing for Coach Vermeil. It was his last game. It was a charged-up place. Probably it is pretty similar," Lewis said.
And yet, his team is different enough that, as of now anyway, Lewis plans to play it out instead of what he did in Kansas City.
"It's a different team. We're in a different state," he said.
» The Jets may need a punter after Steve Weatherford pulled a hamstring in practice Friday. At least one long-time Jets observer thinks New York will sign one Saturday and that it might be Ohio State's A.J. Trapasso, the rookie that hit the new Dallas scoreboard in preseason while he was with the Titans.
» Could there be two guys more different than Bengals cornerback Leon Hall and Jets receiver Braylon Edwards? Edwards, the high-maintenance ex-Brown, told the New York media this week that the Jets weren't going to lose Sunday. Hall, who played with Edwards at Michigan, shrugged on Friday. Hall said Lewis "mentioned it the other day," but "I don't pay much mind to that stuff. I'm going to go out there and play hard either way."
Hall said the two got along but they weren't close because Edwards was two years older. Hall has regard for Edwards' play because he remembers when Edwards scorched him in the second game of his NFL career for two touchdowns. But Hall also had some days against Edwards. Last year Hall stepped in front of him and returned an interception for a 50-yard touchdown to kick off a 14-0 victory in Cleveland and in Edwards' last game for Cleveland on Oct. 4 this past year he didn't have a catch in five quarters.
But Hall is as even keeled as they come. A big reason for his success, his coaches say. After being a co-leader in AFC interceptions among cornerbacks with six, he shrugged off being named a fourth Pro Bowl alternate.
"I didn't have much expectation going in. I just want to play well week to week," he said. "I'd rather be in the playoffs and competing for the Super Bowl."
» It is going to be vintage January Meadowlands weather. According to the National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio, winds are going to blow out of the west at 25 to 28 miles per hour with gusts up to 39. The forecast for Sunday night's kickoff temperature is a high of 25 degrees with a 20 percent chance of snow showers.
