With two weeks to play in the NFL regular season, both Indianapolis and Cincinnati are hanging on to playoff spots. Each won a key game during Week 16.
The Bengals have moved up to a three seed as the AFC North division leader. The Colts remain unchanged as the top wild card team in the fifth slot. Both clubs are 9-6 and neither team committed a turnover during their respective weekend matchups.
Indy got a big win on Christmas Day at Arizona beating the Cardinals 22-16.
The Colts did it with a depleted offensive line and some fourth quarter target practice from quarterback Carson Wentz.
Leading 15-13 in the final quarter, Wentz delivered three great passes on what proved to be the game winning drive. The first was a 20-yard toss to Michael Pittman. The second was a 39-yard strike to T.Y. Hilton. Then two plays later, Wentz scrambled to his left and found Dezmon Patmon along the back edge of the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown. It was only Patmons’s second catch of the season.
The Cardinals later kicked a 28-yard field goal to get within six, but failed to get the ball back.
Wentz was 18 of 25 passing for 225 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Jonathan Taylor was kept out of the end zone, but he rushed 27 times for 108 yards. The Colts are 9-0 this season when Taylor rushes for a hundy or more.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati took on Baltimore Sunday at PBS and routed the Ravens 41-21.
Bengal quarterback Joe Burrow threw for a franchise record 525 yards. He was 37 of 46 passing with four touchdowns. The old record was Boomer Esiason’s 490 yards against the Rams in 1990.
Burrow actually passed Esiason twice in the record books Sunday. Burrow’s 525 passing is fourth most all-time. Esiason’s 522-yard game as a Cardinal in 1996 is now fifth most.
Cincinnati had three different players amass over 100 yards. Wideout Tee Higgins caught 12 balls for 194 yards and two scores. Rookie wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase hauled in seven passes for 125. And running back Joe Mixon did double damage. He rushed for 65 and also had 70 receiving yards for 135 total. Mixon mustered both a TD on the ground and through the air.
The Cincy offense scored on its first seven possessions.
And Bengal defensive end Trey Hendrickson recorded a record-breaking sack. It was his 14th of the season which topped Carlos Dunlap’s former team record. It also marked the 11th straight game Hendrickson has had at least a half-a-sack. That’s the longest active streak in the NFL.
Both the Colts and Bengals have 1 pm home games in Week 17. Indy welcomes the Raiders who are very much in playoff contention. The Bengals entertain the conference’s current top-seeded Chiefs who are the only team in the AFC to have clinched a playoff berth.