Cardinals Bengals Line

Written by Steve Janus - Google +

The Cincinnati Bengals will look to keep their playoff hopes alive when they host the Arizona Cardinals in week 15 action. The Bengals held on to beat the Rams 20-13 last week. They are currently tied with the New York Jets at 8-6 for the final Wild Card spot in the AFC, but the Jets own the tiebreaker with a better winning percentage against common opponents. The Cardinals rallied to beat the Browns 20-17 in overtime, improving their record to 7-7. Arizona is still alive in the playoff race, but are a huge long shot at this point.

Taking a look at the week 15 lines, oddsmakers currently have the Bengals favored by 4-points over the Cardinals with the total set at 40.5 points.

Arizona Cardinals:

Few would have believed the Cardinals would even have a chance at finishing with a .500 record or better after their 1-6 start. Arizona’s win over Cleveland was their six in their last seven games. A team that struggled to finish games has now won four straight by 6-points or less. The Cardinals have made a living of playing close games all season. They haven’t won a single game by more than a touchdown and have four losses decided by four-points or less.

The most surprising thing about the Cardinals surge is they are doing it for the most part without starting quarterback Kevin Kolb. The only game in which Kolb started and finished over the last seven games is the Cardinals 19-13 overtime win over Dallas. Kolb would attempt just one pass in the following game against the 49ers before leaving with a concussion. He wasn’t available against the Browns, and is listed as questionable for Saturday.

Backup John Skelton has been hit or miss filling in for Kolb. Last week he went 28 of 46 for 313 yards and a touchdown, but also threw an interception. Skelton has thrown at least one interception in every game he has played in, and has just eight touchdowns to 10 picks in those six games. Skelton will have to take better care of the football if the Cardinals plan on upsetting the Bengals.

Arizona hasn’t exactly had a whole lot of success running the ball of late. The Cardinals have just 129 rushing yards in their last two games combined. Beanie Wells has rushed for just 145 yards over his last three games since piling on a career-high 228 yards against the Rams back in week 12. Hard to imagine Wells taking off against the Bengals this week. Cincinnati is 9th in the league against the run, allowing just 99.6 ypg.

Cincinnati Bengals:

The Bengals will likely have to win their final two games of the season and hope that the Jets lose at least once to have a shot at making the playoffs. Beating the Cardinals won’t be easy, but the game that really scares me for Cincinnati is their week 17 matchup with the Ravens. Either way, Cincinnati needs to take it one game at a time and just make sure they give themselves a chance by beating Arizona.

Cincinnati didn’t exactly play their best game against the lowly St Louis Rams last week, but they did the most important thing, come away with a win. The offense really didn’t play all that great. Andy Dalton went 15 of 26 for 179 yards, but finished with no touchdowns and one interception. A.J. Green provided most of the damage with six catches for 115 yards.

Cedric Benson and Bernard Scott each provided a touchdown run. Benson led the way with 76 yards on 22 attempts, while Scott added 20 yards on just seven carries. While the Cardinals come into the game ranked 18th against the run, allowing 117.4 ypg. They are giving up just 93 rushing yards over their last four games.

Without a running game the Bengals could be in for a very difficult game this Sunday. It’s going to come down to what Dalton and the passing game can bring to the table.