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Andrew Luck Shows Andy Dalton How It’s Done In Colts vs. Bengals Wild Card Matchup

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By @calling_allfans

Andrew Luck

Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

The Indianapolis Colts (11-5) won the AFC South, and they hosted the Cincinnati Bengals (10-5-1) in a Wild Card matchup on Sunday. With the Baltimore Ravens winning on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers Saturday night, the Colts and Bengals were playing to see who would travel to play the second-seeded Denver Broncos next week in the Divisional Round.

Both Indianapolis and Cincinnati were looking to atone for bad playoff losses last season, and some would say both came into the playoffs as two of the NFL’s “good bad teams.” However, both teams made it to the postseason and as all fans know, once a team gets in, anything can happen.

Both Colts quarterback Andrew Luck (entered Sunday with a 1-2 playoff record) and Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton (entered Sunday with a 0-3 playoff record) have struggled in the playoffs, and were looking to prove they could get it done on the biggest stage during this year’s postseason.

Dalton, who was missing wide receiver A.J. Green (concussion) and tight end Jermaine Gresham (back), went 18-for-35 for 155 yards and was largely mistake-free, but Cincinnati’s run game (110 yards on 21 carries) was not nearly as effective as it was down the stretch in the regular season.

The Bengals leaned heavily on their run game in the regular season, and they finished sixth in rushing with 134.2 yards per game. The Colts’ run game was lacking in 2014, but they finished first in passing with 305.9 yards per game.

Going into Sunday’s game, the Bengals wanted to run the ball early and often, but a really strong run game never truly materialized; and while Dalton is not deserving of all of the blame, he did not play nearly well enough, particularly with a run game that did not pull its weight to beat Luck and the Colts.

Luck may have received more assistance from a consistently effective run game (114 yards on 25 carries) than Dalton, and the former Stanford gunslinger may have had his top receiver T.Y. Hilton (103 yards on six receptions) while Dalton was missing his favorite target Green; but any way you slice it, Luck outplayed Dalton by a large margin and showed that all that talent could translate to postseason success.

With his spotty playoff past atoned for, now Luck and the Colts will work on getting ready to take on Peyton Manning and the Broncos.

Justin Patrick is a New England Patriots writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @calling_allfans, like him on Facebook and add him to your network on Google. You can also email him at [email protected]

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