NFL Playoffs Picks: 10 Questions About Cincinnati Bengals vs. Houston Texans

The Cincinnati Bengals and the Houston Texans clash in the Wild Card Round of the 2012 playoff series, with both everything to play for, and everything to lose.

Both sides will be starting rookie quarterbacks who will face their first dose of the big boys' league: The Texans and the Bengals will both feel the other side is vulnerable and that the game is theirs for the taking.

With all the hype, drama and tension that surrounds playoff games, here's 10 burning questions that need answering leading in to the big game; ten questions that will provide us with insight as to who will walk away the winner, and whose season will end this weekend.

1. How do rookies go with their nerves?

With both Andy Dalton and T.J. Yates featuring in their first season of the National Football League, the nerves will be nice and high for their first ever playoff game. And if the either side is to prevail, they'll need their young gun to be firing on all cylinders.

For the Bengals, they'll need Dalton to play well in the pocket and find his receivers down the field. The Texans will need Yates to balance the offense and move the chain—giving room to the likes of Arian Foster and helping Andre Johnson along.

Both rookies will need to calm their nerves and give their side every shot of winning this one.

Advantage: Cincinnati Bengals

2. Who will win the turnover battle?

In a game that is shaping up to be a tough, street-fight match, turnovers can be costly and could be the difference between winning and losing.

Throughout the year, the give/take ratio of the Texans is seven—particularly helped by only nine interceptions for the year (via ESPN). Cincinnati is even on their ratio—hurt by the defense only taking 10 interceptions for the year.

If either side is to win it, they'll need to take control of the turnover battle by playing tight on defense, and running and throwing securely when on offense. Whoever wins this facet of the game, in my book, will go on to win the match.

Advantage: Houston Texans

3. Will the offensive lines step up?

The Bengals this year only allowed 25 sacks and have contributed greatly to Dalton's ability to throw well all season. For the Texans, the 33 sacks they've allowed is solid, but they need to continue to step up and give Yates enough time to complete quality throws down the field.

While both sides rank in the bottom five for sacks gained this year, the offensive lines of each side have a huge opportunity to step up and give their quarterback and running game every possibility of winning this game.

Advantage: Cincinnati Bengals

4. Will Arian Foster continue to dominate?

Throughout the year, Foster has been in scintillating form, and he will need to continue that form against a Top 10-ranked run defense in the Bengals.

After posting a regular season that included 12 touchdowns and nearly 2,000 total yards, Foster will be needed to move the chain for the Texans. He looks set to have another strong performance in this one.

Advantage: Houston Texans

5. Will the Cincinnati running game finally get going?

After having an average year running the football, Cedric Benson needs to step up and have a big game to help out Dalton and the offense. A Benson-led running attack ranks 19th in run offense, and Benson himself has only managed six touchdowns for the year.

Whilst still putting up over 1,000 yards for the season, Benson has led the running attack to over 100 yards per game. But he needs to step up and have another strong game—especially against the fourth ranked run defense in the league.

The strong Texan defense may just prove too much for Benson to overcome by himself in this one: Houston shut down the Cincinnati running game.

Advantage: Houston Texans

6. What impact will Wade Phillips have on the game?

Speaking of the Houston defense, most of that can be attributed to Wade Phillips, who has created one of the strongest (and also underrated), defensive packages in the league.

Since Week 7, the Texans have only allowed more than 20 points on two occasions, and both of those occurred when Phillips was not on the sidelines. Averaging 17.4 points per game, the Houston defense will be a tough unit for the Bengals offense to break.

Advantage: Houston Texans

7. Is Andy Dalton healthy?

While Dalton went to hospital mid-week with illness and missed Wednesday's practice, the Cincinnati star quarterback will start against the Texans. After resting most of the week, it is clear that Dalton will not be completely healthy come game time, but be assured he won't let that deter him from taking home a victory to the faithful Bengals fans.

Advantage: Cincinnati Bengals

8. How is T.J. Yates' shoulder?

For me, the health of Yates is more of a concern than Dalton. T.J. has a separated left shoulder—which fortunately for the Texans is not his throwing arm—though it is still serious enough to warrant the concern of many.

Despite picking up the injury, Yates still went four-for-four on that drive, which resulted in a touchdown. If he does end up succumbing to it, the job will fall to fourth-string quarterback Jake Delhomme, who threw for 211 yards and a touchdown last week.

The Yates injury does put the Texans in a vulnerable position—even with Foster to carry the offense and Delhomme on standby.

Advantage: Cincinnati Bengals

9. Can the Dalton-Green combination continue?

Despite a niggling injury, A.J. Green will line up for the Bengals this week and fans will be hoping that the rookie-quarterback-to-rookie-wide-receiver combination will continue to flourish this week.

In their rookie season, Andy Dalton to A.J. Green has worked for 65 catches, over 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns. Houston needs to defend Green with skill and speed if they are to stop the combination that has terrorized defenses all year.

Advantage: Cincinnati Bengals

10. Is it just too much to do without Schaub or Leinart?

While losing Matt Leinart is not the biggest drama in the world, the Texans will gravely miss Matt Schaub, and mentally know that Yates is their third-string quarterback. If he goes down, they'll be down to their fourth-string, and that may be one too many mental barriers to overcome.

And it's not just mental: Schaub is of a higher class than all the Texans other quarterbacks, and how Houston would have fared in the playoffs under Schaub, I guess we'll never know.

It is a huge loss, but is it too much? I guess we'll have to wait and find out.

Advantage: Cincinnati Bengals

Final prediction

Looking at it all, I think the Bengals might just have one or two weapons the Texans don't have. Houston is tough and will fight to the end, but they may have run out of steam and fire at the wrong time of year.

Final score: Houston 16, Cincinnati 24