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- Thread starter tibor75
- Start date
GoBucks89
Straight Shooting
Hey Steelers fans, I know you're all pumped up about your victories over those world-beating Vikings, Browns, and Lions, but I think it's time you remembered that we're going into the playoffs next week. What is Bill Cowher's playoff record again? Oh yeah, that's right. It's that time of year again. Time for the traditional Cowher choke.
Go Bengals!
Go Bengals!
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
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1/3/06
1/3/06
Bengals aren’t running scared into playoffs
No need to fear Steelers, Anderson says
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Bill Rabinowitz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
<!--PHOTOS--><TABLE class=phototableright align=right border=0><!-- begin large ad code --><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE align=center><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle></IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=credit width=200>AL BEHRMAN | ASSOCIATED PRESS </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>Quarterback Carson Palmer says the Bengals remain confident despite two straight losses. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Even before the playoff matchups were determined, Willie Anderson heard Bengals fans were worried about Cincinnati facing a particular first-round opponent.
The right tackle was listening to a sports-talk show on satellite radio last week when a Bengals fan from Florida said he was "scared" of playing the Pittsburgh Steelers.
That struck Anderson as preposterous. First of all, the Bengals beat the Steelers on Dec. 4 in Pittsburgh. Second, Cincinnati would be playing at home. Third, and most important, Bengals fans have waited since 1990 for a playoff game.
Why be scared?
When Anderson heard similar consternation about a Steelers matchup while at a restaurant, his blood boiled.
"It has taken us 15 years to get to this point," Anderson said last week. "Everybody should be happy."
The Bengals will, in fact, play the Steelers on Sunday. If fans were worried about Cincinnati’s chances against Pittsburgh before the regular-season finale Sunday in Kansas City, the Bengals’ performance in a 37-3 loss didn’t alleviate any anxiety. True, Cincinnati used vanilla schemes and rested many of its starters. But a 34-point loss on the heels of losing to 4-10 Buffalo at home the week before doesn’t inspire confidence.
Inside the Bengals locker room, however, spirits remain high.
Asked Sunday after the game whether he would describe the Bengals as limping, crawling or running into the playoffs, quarterback Carson Palmer replied, "We’re sprinting. I know you guys aren’t going to be pumping us up too much and not having a whole lot of confidence in us, but that locker room has all the confidence in the world in each other."
The feeling in the Pittsburgh locker room undoubtedly is the same. The playoffs essentially began for the Steelers the day after their 38-31 loss to Cincinnati. If they had lost one of their last four games, they wouldn’t have qualified for the playoffs.
But they ran the table, and now the Steelers are considered as dangerous a sixth seed as any in recent memory. It doesn’t take a conspiracy theorist to speculate that at least one factor in New England coach Bill Belichick’s decision to go deep into his bench in a loss Sunday to Miami was to get a matchup with Jacksonville instead of Pittsburgh.
Coach Marvin Lewis chuckled when told of Anderson’s frustration over the pessimism of Bengals fans.
"For some reason, people in Cincinnati have an inferiority complex," Lewis said. "They shouldn’t have it. We’ll be all right. They’re a good team. We’re a good team. When you start from scratch and those teams are left standing there — the six in the AFC and the six in the NFC — that’s what it’s all about. And then you go from there. Pretty soon this city will get accustomed to that, and that’s my job."
The Bengals’ confidence is bolstered by an encouraging injury report. Lewis said cornerback Keiwan Ratliff and linebacker Landon Johnson sustained concussions but indicated neither was a serious injury.
Lewis said left tackle Levi Jones (shoulder) and cornerback Deltha O’Neal (knee), who sat out Sunday, would be listed as probable.
Defensive tackle Bryan Robinson, who hasn’t played since the Indianapolis game on Nov. 20, also is expected back. The Bengals have described Robinson’s foot injury as a sprain, but it was a fracture.
"We look to be in as good a shape as we’ve been," Lewis said.
Now all that’s left is the preparation and the hoopla. For Bengals players, the excitement began the moment they walked off the field in Kansas City and learned they would face the Steelers.
"Our fans are so excited just for a playoff game," Palmer said. "Then on top of it we get to play Pittsburgh. I’m feeling the goose bumps right now."
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studepaber
Duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck
Bengals 31 Steelers 24. The last two games (especially the last one) are no indication of how the Bengals will play in the playoffs and I guarantee that Marvin has been in playoff mode since a spot was clinched.
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7 45 33 48
All-American
Uh, Cowher has never won a road playoff game.
But you predicted the Steelers to win.
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