times.The longtime partnership Aikman and Buck share made the extra duties much easier to handle.“Joe is unbelievable, such a ridiculous talent,” Aikman says. “Joe is as gifted at his craft as anyone I played with.

CINCINNATI (AP)Marvin Lewis has been with his team longer than any other NFL head coach besides Bill Belichick at New England. For the first time in years Trayveon Williams Jersey 2019 , his tenure is at risk. Lewis is finishing his contract as he enters his 15th season with the Bengals. Cincinnati has been through two painful seasons, following a home playoff meltdown against Pittsburgh in 2015 and a 6-9-1 finish last season. Lewis failed to get a contract extension in the offseason. He readily acknowledges he would have been replaced already by any owner other than Mike Brown, who values loyalty. Lewis is 0-7 in the playoffs, an NFL record for futility. His team had five straight first-round playoff losses, another record. ”In coaching, I’ve been fortunate in my 37 years,” said Lewis, who also has been an assistant in Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Washington. ”I’ve had very few jobs, where unfortunately a lot of coaches had to move.” If he wants to stay beyond 2017, Lewis will have to do one of his best coaching jobs. The Bengals got a lot younger in the offseason, and they’re dealing with suspensions for cornerback Adam ”Pacman” Jones and linebacker Vontaze Burfict at the outset. After making the playoffs five straight seasons from 2011-15, they fell back last season. Receiver A.J. Green, running back Giovani Bernard and tight end Tyler Eifert missed significant playing time but are fully recovered. This is a pivotal season in Cincinnati, where the Bengals will find out if last season was an anomaly or the start of a downward trend. ”I wouldn’t say the window has closed,” quarterback Andy Dalton said. Some things to watch this season: BURFICT, BURFICT, BURFICT: The Bengals have steadfastly defended their volatile linebacker, whose history of egregious hits – most notably the one on Antonio Brown’s head that led to the playoff meltdown against Pittsburgh – has become a focus for the league. He’s suspended for the first three games after leveling a Chiefs running back during a preseason game. Burfict is their most irreplaceable defensive player Color Rush Trayveon Williams Jersey , and also their most mercurial. He’s drawn fewer fines and penalties than earlier in his career, but his unpredictability remains a concern. He set off a scrum during a practice in training camp when he tackled Bernard during a non-contact drill. ZAMPESE’S SECOND CHANCE: While Lewis gets attention for his contract situation, offensive coordinator Ken Zampese is in the spotlight as well. He was elevated to the position last season when Hue Jackson became the Browns’ head coach, and the offense struggled in its new incarnation. Jackson was known for his flair and creativity; Zampese took a more straightforward approach. The running game never got into a rhythm, and Zampese wasn’t able to come up with viable options after players got hurt. ”The results didn’t unfold as I anticipated, but the process of how the weeks work and the duties and all those things happened exactly how I thought it would,” Zampese said. THOSE YOUNG TACKLES: Cedric Obguehi has one career start at left tackle, where he’ll fill in for Andrew Whitworth. Jake Fisher has three career starts at right tackle. Whether they can hold their own is the main question on offense. Ogbuehi got the job at right tackle last season, but played so poorly that he wound up benched and later moved to the left side, his more accustomed spot. Dalton was sacked 41 times last season, twice as often as in either of the two previous seasons. YOUNG DEFENSIVE LINE, TOO: The Bengals have let go of tackle Domata Peko and ends Wallace Gilberry and Margus Hunt, giving their young linemen openings to move into bigger roles. In the past two years, they’ve drafted tackles Andrew Billings and Ryan Glasgow and end Jordan Willis. ”There’s going to be a step up and an uptick here on Sunday, but I think they’re ready for it,” Lewis said. EXTRA MOTIVATION: Many Bengals went through their first losing season in Cincinnati, learning what it’s like to be playing out a season in December. It wasn’t fun. ”The weeks go a lot faster when you’re winning, the city is better when you’re winning, and there’s not a lot of nitpicking Cheap Trayveon Williams Jersey ,” Jones said. ”Since I’ve been here, I’ve had only two losing seasons. I’m not used to that. Every now and then, you’re going to have a year like that.” — Thursday night football is here to stay, even if it’s gone for the rest of 2018.In past years, some — make that many — would have said “good riddance.” That would be misguided this year.First off, Fox’s presentation generally was strong and on target. Indeed, Troy Aikman, who has been Fox’s lead analyst for 17 years, might have had his best season.Seemingly energized by having a true national game, in prime time with no competition, Aikman not only was spot-on with his analyses, he was more than willing to criticize play calling, performance and officiating.Presenting your convictions and then sticking to them is a must for a top analyst, and Aikman came through for viewers the way he did as a three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback for Dallas.“I think after 17 years of doing it somewhat the same way, this was an opportunity to kind of change up my schedule,” says Aikman, who at first had some reservations about balancing his family and business responsibilities.“I think that is fair to say ‘energized.’ It felt more like an event, being the only game, and in prime time. On Sunday afternoon Trayveon Williams Jersey Womens , especially for the late game, it sure seems like that’s when most people prefer to view football. But the prime time has a little bigger of a feel to it.“We did not feel as restricted to the action on the field; we never feel completely restricted. It certainly freed me up and allowed me to have even more fun within the broadcast.”Fox also wound up with some very solid matchups with intriguing storylines. Yes, NBC had the season opener, a Thursday nighter hosted by the champion Eagles in a rematch of a January playoff game with the Falcons. That wound up 18-12, eerily similar to Philadelphia’s previous win over Atlanta. It also, of course, didn’t have two teams coming off short weeks.Then, Fox prospered with three of the better games of the entire season, games that wouldn’t have had the same cachet later in the schedule.Cincinnati’s 34-23 victory over Baltimore — look at where those two teams reside now! — was entertaining, with Andy Dalton torching the Ravens with four touchdown passes. It also had the added spice of the Bengals having knocked the Ravens out of playoff contention in the 2017 finale.A week later — and this was Aikman at his best, even if Jets fans swear play-by-play voice Joe Buck was outwardly rooting for the hosts — the Browns finally got a win, with Baker Mayfield stamping himself as an emerging force in just the third game of his rookie year.“There were so much expectations with Baker Mayfield in that city. The team had not won a lot of games, and the fans were expecting the team would start to win games, so there was this optimism around the city,” Aikman recalls.“Having been there for the preseason and then we go back in the regular season, you could just feel this energy building and it was a fan base that just wanted to celebrate. And then Baker comes off the bench to lead them to that victory. It was huge and fun to be a part of.”Jets-Cleveland was followed by the Rams‘ 38-31 shootout victory against the Vikings, when Jared Goff and Kirk Cousins combined for eight TD throws and 887 yards through the air.For those enamored of the video-game fireworks, well, that was nirvana.There was plenty of offense all year Trayveon Williams Cincinnati Bengals Jersey , even with only three full days between games. Oddly, the only Thursday nighter with teams coming off a previous Thursday contest, Saints at Cowboys the week after Thanksgiving, had the fewest points, 13-10 for the Cowboys.That also was a mesmerizing drama in which Dallas’ defense stamped itself as capable of carrying a contender, shutting down Drew Brees and the ultra-prolific Saints. It also might have featured Aikman and Buck’s best work.“I have become comfortable with where I am at within my job, so to speak,” Aikman says. “I always have been comfortable with my opinions and how I feel about the play on the field, and how it should be done and how teams should go about playing the game.“There have been a lot of league issues and things happening as it relates to our game. I am not trying to grandstand or get on a soap box; that’s not my nature. I think I have to be honest in how I feel, and I feel strongly enough in my beliefs to feel I am speaking for the majority of the people viewing.”There was a string of nine Thursday nighters, including New Orleans’ 31-17 victory over Atlanta on Thanksgiving night on NBC, in which it took at least 27 points to win. The Steelers went for 52 against Carolina, Denver scored 45 vs. Arizona, and Houston got 42 on Miami.So complaints about not enough rest between games mostly would come from defensive players — the same folks who have protested, often with validity, about how the rules are stacked against them.Two teams never made it to the Thursday night spotlight, Tampa Bay and Buffalo. Nobody missed them.Three others had Thursday outings, but on Thanksgiving afternoon, when Chicago visited Detroit and Washington was at Dallas.The Eagles Trayveon Williams Jersey 2019 , Cowboys, Saints and Falcons all had two Thursday appearances. Aikman and Buck had 14 such games, including Redskins-Cowboys in the late-afternoon Thanksgiving spot. They doubled up Thursday/Sunday assignments seven times.The longtime partnership Aikman and Buck share made the extra duties much easier to handle.“Joe is unbelievable, such a ridiculous talent,” Aikman says. “Joe is as gifted at his craft as anyone I played with. It’s a real marvel how smooth he is and what he sees.“It’s like being married, when you’ve been around someone for so long you know their habits and patterns, and I know where Joe wants to go right from the start, how he wants to set the tone.”Overall, ratings for the 13-game Thursday night package on Fox, with its simulcast on NFL Network, were up 2 percent over the 2017 season split between CBS and NBC. The average was 14,304,000 viewers, with Chargers-Chiefs in the last of the midweek games shattering the competition at 17.4 million on Fox/NFLN. That also was a 29-28 outcome in which LA scored a TD and 2-point conversion to win at the very end.NFL games on Thursday nights are a money maker, so much so that the World Series in October hasn’t had a scheduled game that night since 2013. Of course, Fox now has the rights to both, and has no plans to create such a conflict.Wait, how about the World Series leading into Thursday night football?