Cincinnati Bengals vs Indianapolis Colts – NFL Playoff predictions 2015
By Dan Salem
NFL Playoff predictions 2015 eyes the Wildcard playoff round and the Cincinnati Bengals vs Indianapolis Colts. A war of attrition erupts as Andrew Luck bears down on Andy Dalton. But can the Colts hold on to beat the Bengals? Dan Salem and Todd Salem debate in today’s NFL TD Sports Debate. Two brothers from New York yell, scream and debate the NFL and sports.
TODD:
This is the crappiest bunch of wildcard round playoff games in recent memory, and it’s not just the 7-8-1 Carolina Panthers who are responsible.
Arizona, along with Baltimore, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Detroit are such a highly questionable group of double-digit winners that it seems hard to imagine the top seeds not advancing through the later rounds of the playoffs. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
This weekend, it will be a battle of weaknesses to determine who moves on.
We already agreed that Dallas will most likely advance over Detroit, although you think the Lions will keep it closer than I do.
On the AFC side of things, the more intriguing battle to me is Cincinnati at Indianapolis simply because I don’t know who to distrust more.
The Colts have a superior passing attack but probably the most horrid group of running backs left in the playoffs. And even Andrew Luck hasn’t cruised through games in a while now. What is Indy’s best win this season other than their previous match with the Bengals? It’s probably a road win over Houston. Oof.
But those Bengals are just as hard to gauge. They crushed New Orleans in the Superdome; they beat up the Ravens twice; they also stuck it to Peyton Manning and Denver in prime time just two games ago. But then there’s the crushing defeat to the Colts or the crushing defeat to the Browns. The Bengals got handled by Pittsburgh both times the two teams played as well.
I don’t know what to think here. I can’t imagine this game is anything close to week seven’s 27-0 Colts shutout. However, I do still like Indianapolis to win. It just isn’t in my DNA to pick Andy Dalton, on the road, in the playoffs, over Andrew Luck.
Indianapolis 36 – Cincinnati 30
DAN:
Talk about an impending war of attrition; the Bengals versus Colts game pits two floundering teams against one another. Its Andrew Luck and the Colts top ranked passing offense versus a passable Cincinnati defense. It’s the surprisingly dynamic Bengals versus the confusingly mediocre at times Colts. This game will come down to who wants it more and turnovers. Never forget turnovers.
My final regular season memory of the Bengals came on Monday night when they forced Peyton Manning to commit four turnovers and outscored one of the league’s most prolific offenses. That Cincinnati team is more true to form than any other performance this season.
The Indianapolis Colts, on the other hand, provide memories of weak starts, playing from behind, and one too many turnovers to win a football game. Obviously this wasn’t a trend in 2014, or they wouldn’t be in the playoffs. But it happened too often for my liking.
I’m going to do some simple math for the final wildcard round NFL Playoff Predictions 2015. Andrew Luck is greater than Andy Dalton. The Cincinnati Bengals are greater than the Indianapolis Colts. Bengals with 1 turnover is greater than the Colts with 2 turnovers.
Cincinnati 24 – Indianapolis 20