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PREVIEW
JANUARY 9, 2010
TIME: 4:30 p.m.
PLACE: Paul Brown Stadium (FieldTurf)
TV: NBC team of Tom Hammond (play-by-play), Joe Gibbs (analyst), Joe Theismann (analyst), Tiki Barber (sideline reporter). Live on Channel 5 in Cincinnati, Channel 2 in Dayton, OH, and Channel 18 in Lexington, KY.
RADIO: Play-by-play man Brad Johansen and analyst Dave Lapham on 700-AM (The Big One), 1530-AM (Homer) and 102.7-FM WEBN on "Triple Cast" Cincinnati flagships of the 25-station Bengals radio network.
NATIONAL RADIO: Westwood One with play-by-play man Larry Kahn, analyst Dan Fouts, sideline reporter Laura Okmin.
INJURIES
CIN: Starting S Chris Crocker (ankle) returned to practice this week and looks ready to go after missing the last three games. Starting DT Domata Peko (knee) has also been full go and returns after missing five straight with an injury that resulted in a Dec. 7 scope. LE Robert Geathers (knee), rested last week, missed his first game of the season, and went full go Thursday. DT Shaun Smith (ankle) was full go Thursday after being limited Wednesday. S Tom Nelson (knee), RB Larry Johnson (knee) and DT Tank Johnson (foot) went limited Thursday. Nelson tweaked it last Sunday night, Larry Johnson has tendinitis, and Tank Johnson has been playing with plantar fasciits pretty much all year. TE J.P. Foschi (neck) was limited last week and inactive Sunday night, but has been full go this week. WR Chad Ochocinco fell and bruised his knee in warmups Sunday night and left before halftime but he's been full go all week.
NYJ: The only starter who didn't go full go Thursday was MLB David Harris (ankle) and he was limited. Nickel CB Donald Strickland (quad), inactive on Sunday night, was also limited.
» Complete Injury Report
THE SERIESJets lead, 15-7; Bengals lead at home, 5-4, 0-1 at PBS.
NOTEWORTHY» The Bengals host their eighth playoff game in history and have a record of 5-2. They play in their 14th postseason game of all time and are 5-8.
» The first Bengals home playoff loss came to the Jets on Jan. 9, 1982, 28 years to the day of this one and was in the first round of the only year it was called The Super Bowl Tournament because it came at the end of a strike-shortened season of nine games.
» The Bengals leading receiver in that game was NBC's Cris Collinsworth with 120 yards on seven catches, the franchise's most yards in a postseason game.
» Nine players who are on the roster were on the roster for the last Bengals playoff game on Jan. 8, 2006 against the Steelers: Jon Fanene, Robert Geathers, Shayne Graham, Jeremi Johnson, Chad Ochocinco, Carson Palmer, Keiwan Ratliff, Shaun Smith, Bobbie Williams. All but Fanene played in the game.
» The Bengals have 13 players that have appeared in a playoff a game, five who did it elsewhere: RB Cedric Benson with the 2006 Bears; WR Laveranues Coles with 2001, 2002, 2006 Jets; RB Larry Johnson with 2006 Chiefs; DT Tank Johnson with 2005 and 2006 Bears and 2007 Cowboys; MLB Dhani Jones with 2002 Giants and 2004 and 2006 Eagles; Jones has played in the most postseason games with six that includes three starts with 20 tackles and two passes defensed. Tank Johnson has five games with three starts and 2.5 sacks.
» The Jets have double the players who have appeared in the postseason with 26, with the leader LG Alan Faneca with 11 games, all with the Steelers.
» When the Jets blanked the Bengals 37-0 Sunday night, it was the first time Cincinnati had been shut out since Dec. 23, 2001 in Baltimore. Saturday's head coaches both worked for the Ravens defense that day, the Bengals' Marvin Lewis as coordinator and the Jets' Rex Ryan as the defensive line coach.
» Bengals QB Carson Palmer has thrown just one postseason pass, a 66-yard completion to the late Chris Henry that is the Bengals' longest in playoff history. Since then, Palmer has thrown completions of at least 66 yards four times. Three of them went to Henry, one this year that was 73 yards. The other went to Chad Ochocinco, a 70-yard touchdown in the 2007 regular-season finale.
» The Jets pit their No. 1 rush offense vs. the Bengals No. 7 rush defense. The Bengals were No. 2 heading into Sunday night before New York gashed them for 257 yards. In their last four AFC North games, the Bengals allowed 275 total rush yards.
» Jets WR Brad Smith had 90 of his 92 yards on two carries. In 11 games, the Bengals held foes to 92 or fewer yards rushing.
» The game falls one day shy of the 28th anniversary of the second coldest game in NFL history, the minus-9 degrees (minus-59 with wind chill) that blanketed Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium for the AFC championship game. The coldest was the minus-13 degrees (minus-48 wind chill) in Green Bay on the last day of 1967 in the NFL title game. It's going to be cold Saturday, but balmy compared to that with a seven-degree wind chill.
NFL RANKINGS
CIN: 22nd in scoring, 24th in offense (9th rushing, 26th passing); 4th in defense (seventh rushing, sixth passing), tied for 18th in turnover margin at even.
NYJ: 17th in scoring, 20th in offense (1st rushing, 31st passing), 1st in defense (8th in rushing, 1st passing), tied for 16th in turnover margin at plus-one.
COACHESCIN: Marvin Lewis 56-55-1 regular season, 0-1 postseason in his seventh season, 1-3 vs. Jets.
NYJ: Rex Ryan 9-7 in his first season, 1-0 vs. Bengals and Lewis.
THE WEATHERNot quite the Freezer Bowl. But still a tad chilly. According to the National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio, the game kicks off under partly cloudy skies with a chance of flurries and a temperature of 18 degrees combined with winds out of the north and west at about 10 miles per hour that is going to make it feel like seven degrees.
GAMEDAY ENTERTAINMENT
Giveaway: Fifth Third/Who Dey Rally Towels to the first 30,000 fans
Honor Guard: U.S. Marines Honor Guard
Anthem: Cincinnati Firefighter John Winfrey
Flyover: F-16's – 178th Fighter Wing - Ohio Air National Guard
Game Ball: Fifth Third Bank
Pregame: Special Fireworks with Bengals Intro
Pregame: Honorary Captain Anthony Munoz
Halftime: University of Cincinnati Marching Band
