We have the wonderful 7 year old fan, Nicholas Johnson, who is encouraging the NFL to do more then just fine Garvin $25,000. He wrote a letter to Huber, his favorite player, with the following print:
Dear Kevin,
I hope you feel better soon. I am mad at the Steelersbecause you are my #1 player. I am 7 years old and love the Bengals and Bearcats. I know you played for the Bearcats and Bengals and I love the teams. I hope that Steeler player loses his house and has to live in his car.
Get well soon,
Nicholas Andrew Johnson.
Wow, what a powerful fan. I can't help but admire this kid with the guts to wrote that... But, let's get down to the point. Do the Bengals have a chance for the playoffs?
At 9-5, this team can still loose the division to the Ravens, who currently sit at 8-6. They face the red hot Minnesota Vikings this week, who just beat the Eagles this past week 48-30. Pittsburgh snapped a 4 game win streak for the Bengals, and gave them a heck of a headache going into the last two weeks of the NFL season.
The Bengals are missing key players in Geno Atkins, Leon Hall, Robert Geathers, Terrence Newman. TE Jermaine Gresham is questionable as of now for Sunday. James Harrison is questionable for Sunday. These are key defensive players that the Bengals need. Harrison, Atkins, and Geathers are all elite pass rushers. Who ever heard of a DT making 12.5 sacks in a single season? In modern day times? In the NFL? Hall and Newman have been pivotal in the secondary. Those are huge blows. Dre Kirkpatrick, the 1st round CB from Alabama, is questionable. Who else can step up?
Now, the blow is in the Punter. Kevin Huber was averaging 45.2 yards per punt. They signed Shawn Powell to do the punting, and he has a career average of 44.7 yards per punt, in 18 games with Buffalo. He can punt, and it shouldn't be too much of a loss overall, apart from Buffalo cut this guy for a reason, why was he cut?
Well, let's look at the stats. The passing offense has put up a total of 3674 yards. Andy Dalton has a passer rating of 87.6, plus his 27-16 TD-INT ratio. Dalton has been sacked an average of 1.93 times a game. The run game has been great, BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Giovane Bernard both with over 650 yards rushing, and 5 TD's. AJ Green leads the team by 800 yards with his 87 catches for 1268 yards receiving. He has been the big target, and the Bengals have 4 other players with over 40 catches. The offense is solid.
The defense is lead by Vontaze Burfict. This man has been a monster on every team he has ever played for, and his entire career he has averaged 10 tackles a game. The NFL hasn't slowed that down. He has 150 tackles through 14 games, plus a sack, an INT, a forced fumble, plus 2 fumble recoveries. He is an incredible defensive athlete.
Adam Jones leads the team in INT's with 3, and Carlos Dunlap and Wallace Gilberry have been the pass rushers, combining for 14.5 sacks. Not a bad pass rush. When Ray Maualuga is healthy, he has been effective with 69 tackles in 11 games at the MLB. The team has 37 sacks, so they are getting the rush through. This team has created 32 turnovers, and that is a lot over 14 games.
So, do they have a hope in the world for the playoffs? Well, with the Ravens playing the Patriots this week, I'd say that they have a lot of hope. Let the Bengal fans hope that they can do their part.
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