Broncos win in OT to clinch playoff berth

Bengals quarterback AJ McCarron sprained his left wrist on the final play of Cincinnati’s Monday night overtime loss to the Broncos.

Broncos fans would have feared the worst after kicker Brandon McManus shanked a 45-yard field goal attempt at the end of regulation time, sending the game to overtime.

The Broncos (11-4) will win the AFC West, and claim a first round bye, with a home victory over the San Diego Chargers next Sunday, while the Bengals can not now claim the No 1 seed in the AFC and need a Broncos defeat to secure an extra week off.

TE C.J. Uzomah earned his first extended playing time on Monday night when TE Ryan Hewitt exited with a knee injury.

Cincinnati, which at 11-4 has clinched the AFC North, is still holding out hope that Dalton could return for the team’s playoff run.

With the Broncos holding onto a three-point lead in the overtime period, McCarron and the Bengals had one last opportunity to push themselves to a point they hadn’t been in 25 years.

Offensive coordinator Hue Jackson said McCarron’s inexperience has shown in the second half of games when defenses switch things around.

“It’s big for us to get a win this week and start that momentum into the first round of the playoffs”, the former St. Paul’s star said. We knew we had to put some drives together and get some points.

The only two times in Bengals history they have had a first-round bye were in the Super Bowl seasons of 1981 and 1988.

Coming into their Monday Night Football game against the Bengals, the Broncos were facing a reality where they could fall all the way to the sixth seed, or miss the postseason entirely, with a series of calamitous outcomes.

The Broncos won the coin toss for overtime, elected to receive, then moved smartly downfield, setting up a 37-yard field goal by McManus for the 20-17 lead.

ESPN.com’s Ed Werder provided details about the team’s plan: “Bengals coach Marvin Lewis and his coaching staff are preparing with the expectation that McCarron plays Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens, a team source told Werder”.

AJ McCarron might be able to play this upcoming Sunday for the Cincinnati Bengals but then again, there is also a distinct chance that he will not be able to do so.

DeMarcus Ware put the clamps on the loose football and punched Denver’s ticket to the playoffs.

“Sometimes that’s just how the game goes”, Osweiler said of the missed field goal.

After that, he found it tough to sustain drives against Denver’s defense, which is ranked No. 1 against both the run and the pass and held McCarron to 200 yards passing and the Bengals to 3.3 yards a carry. The 20-17 overtime clash can basically be summed up as a tale of two halves, with the Bengals dominating the first and the Broncos dominating the second.

McCarron completed five passes for 47 yards on the Bengals’ opening possession, including a five-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver A.J. Green, who outjumped cornerback Aqib Talib to make the catch in the corner of the end zone.

Tight end Tyler Eifert was cleared from the concussion protocol after missing the past two games and participated in practice on Wednesday. “All we can do is control what we can, go out, play our game, win the game and whatever happens in the rest of the games happens”. “We shouldn’t let them get in that position anyway”. McCarron was flawless in the first half, making seemingly impossible throws all over the field.