betprepare.com

The Bengals don't fare well against Manning

Denver team won 13 out of the last 15 matches against the Bengals, and Manning has 8-0 ratio against them in his career

Getty Images

The Cincinnati Bengals have the bad luck to play in one of the toughest divisions in the league, but they still came to the week before the last of the season at the top of the AFC North. They'll stay there if they win the two games left, otherwise, they'll have a complex fight for the wild-card.

- We know that the two remaining games are extremely important. Everyone plays well in our division. We're aware of what's ahead. Both games will be really tough - Andy Dalton said. His 82.9 rating is only the 16th out of 20 quarterbacks with at least 400 assists attempts.

Luckily for him, the running backs have been brilliant lately. Especially Jeremy Hill who won 148 ground yards in the 30-0 away win in Cleveland last week, and he scored two touchdowns. The defense did a great job stopping the Browns offense.

Getty Images

- We have to do our job in this game to play in January. For the last seven weeks, we've been acting as if the playoffs started already. We have good practices and we're confident, which allows us to play fast. It's the most important thing for us, we have to play fast, be tough and clever - coach Marvin Lewis pointed out.

Hill and Giovanni Bernard lead the ground game which scored 145.3 yards since the 12th week. Combined, they scored six touchdowns in that period, but tonight, they'll face a defense that limits the opponent running backs to only 71.6 yards. At the same time, the Bengals' defense is slowly starting to play as expected, but to play against Johnny Manziel and Peyton Manning is probably like a race between a Yugo and a Ferrari.

- We can say with certainty that this will be a big change. It's a big challenge. He's got everyone's full attention. It'll be a big challenge for us. That's how it should be in December when the important games are played - the Bengals' coach said.

Unlike the home team, Denver Broncos secured their place in the playoffs by winning the AFC West division, but they're still fighting for the home field advantage, and a free first round of the playoffs. They can secure the latter by winning today, and for the first seed status, they'll have to wait for the Patriots to make a mistake in the last round, while they themselves have to win the last two games, obviously. 

- It's our goal every season. Our hopes and dreams before the season began were tied to the trophy. We were close last year. Winning the division is a great accomplishment, obviously, but we still have lots of football to play - the coach John Fox commented.

Even though they have one of the best quarterbacks of all times, the Broncos lined up four wins thanks to the ground game. Since the defeat in St.Louis, their running backs have 164.8 yards per game.

Of course, if the rushing yards don't work, there's Manning who has 8-0 ratio against the Bengals in his career. In those games, he also added 20 touchdowns with only five cuts. In the last 15 games against the Bengals, Denver guys got 13 wins, and this season, they feel pretty confident because they won all four games of the prime time. At the same time, the Bengals lost both games in the prime time, with the convincing 67-20.