Bengals Host Broncos Monday Night On ESPN In Pivotal Playoff Game

Courtesy: ESPN

Next Monday night, Andy Dalton and the Cincinnati Bengals will play what is one of the most important games of the season for the team when it plays host to Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.

Cincinnati and Denver will face off at Paul brown Stadium Monday night on ESPN’s Monday Night Football. The Broncos (11 – 3) have already clinched the AFC West title. So for Denver, Monday night’s game will be a tune-up for the playoffs. For Cincinnati though, Monday night’s game means much more. Cincinnati currently sits at 9 – 4 – 1 on the season coming into Monday night’s game. And even if the Bengals win, it doesn’t guarantee a playoff spot for the team or even the division title. A handful of scenarios have to play out for Cincinnati to get the AFC North division title. And almost all of them require Cincinnati to win out at least Monday night.

The first way that Cincinnati can snag the AFC North title is to win out both Monday night and against the Steelers in Week 17. The second way that the Bengals can clinch the division title is to win at least one game between this week and next week and losses by both the Steelers and Ravens. In order to clinch a playoff spot, one of two scenarios has to happen. The first scenario is a win at least this week or next week against Pittsburgh. The other scenario would allow Cincinnati to lose both this week and next ONLY IF Kansas City, San Diego and Buffalo all lose at least once between this week and next. Making Monday night’s game all the more important for Cincinnati is the teams prime time record. Cincy is 18 – 41 all time in prime-time and 10 – 20 on Monday Night.  Taking an even deeper look at the teams’ numbers, Denver is only 4 – 3 on the road versus going undefeated at home. The team has gone 4 – 1 – 0 in its last five game. Cincy has only one more win on the road than at home, going 5 – 2 – 0 on the road and 4 – 2 – 1 at home. It is also 4 – 1 – 0 in its last five games. So it goes without saying that Monday night’s game will be one of the most important of the season for Cincinnati.

Adding to the interest of Monday’s games is talk of long term impacts of hits on Peyton this season and what it might mean in regards to his off season surgery. Manning will sit down with ESPN Monday Night Football play-by-play man Mike Tirico to discuss that and more as part of the night’s pre-game broadcast.  Sideline reporter Lisa Salters will have a discussion with Bengals QB Andy Dalton on the other side of the ball. She and Dalton will discuss what a win tonight would mean both for him and his teammates and getting over the playoff hurdles of the past three seasons among other topics. Both interviews are part of Monday’s pre-game show Monday Night Countdown. Suzy Kolber will anchor Monday night’s broadcast. She will be joined by NFL analysts Trent Dilfer, Ray Lewis, and Steve Young live on-site. Chris Berman will anchor live from ESPN’s studios in Bristol, Connecticut. He will be joined by NFL analysts Cris Carter, Mike Ditka, Tom Jackson, and Keyshawn Johnson and ESPN NFL Insiders Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter. Monday Night Countdown kicks off at 6pm ET.

Kickoff for Monday night’s game is scheduled for 8:15pm ET. Mike Tirico will have the call from the booth. He will be joined by Jon Gruden, who just last week agreed to a contract extension with ESPN. The extension will keep Gruden in the booth alongside Mike Tirico through 2021, when ESPN’s next contract with the NFL comes up. Lisa Salters will be on the sidelines for Monday night’s game with all of the latest in-game news and reports. Monday Night Football is available for ESPN’s Spanish-speaking fans on ESPN Deportes and online via WatchESPN for those with video subscriptions from affiliated providers. More information on Mondays’ game and on all things NFL is available online at:

Website: http://espn.go.com/nfl/mnf
http://espn.go.com/nfl

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MNF
http://www.facebook.com/NFLonESPN

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The Band Perry Receives Two ACM Award Nominations

Photo Credit: Mickey Brown

Good news for The Band Perry.  The superstar country music trio has been nominated for two ACM Awards.

The announcement was made this week that the band has been nominated for “Vocal Group of the Year” and “Music Video of the Year.”  The second of the nominations from the Academy of Country Music is for the video for the band’s #1 single, ‘Better Dig Two.’  That song was also the lead single from the band’s latest album, Pioneer.  This year marks the third consecutive year that The Band Perry has been nominated for “Vocal Group of the Year.”  It is the fourth consecutive year that the trio has received nominations from the Academy of Country Music.  The band’s biggest year to date was 2011.  It was that year that the band received five total ACM nominations.  It won the award that year for “New Artist of the Year.”

Reid Perry spoke on behalf of the band after the announcement.  He expressed the band’s excitement of being nominated again, and getting to come to Las Vegas again.  Las Vegas is the home of the ACM Awards, which will be broadcast on CBS April 6^th on CBS.  “It’s such an honor to find out about our two ACM Award nominations,” he said.  “We love the theatrics that happen in Vegas, and remember, what happens in Vegas … gets broadcast on live TV.”

The announcement of the band’s latest nominations comes at a high time for the band as it is scheduled to perform live on Fox as part of the network’s Super Bowl pre-game party.  The band will perform alongside American Idol Season 11 winner Phillip Phillips.  Reid’s brother and fellow band mate Neil jokingly discussed the band’s anticipation of playing the pre-game show and being back in temperatures above zero.  “We’re all huge football fans, and there’s nothing more exciting than to be a part of football’s biggest day,” he said. “We’ve been up in Canada on our We Are Pioneers World Tour for the past month, so we’re just glad it will be above zero degrees in New York!”

The band won’t be slowing down any time soon after its performance this weekend on Fox.  That performance is just part of its ongoing North American tour in support of Pioneer.  It will be in Independence, MO next Thursday, February 6^th.  The band also has a planned performance later this Spring in North Carolina.  It is scheduled to perform live in Cherokee, North Carolina on Friday, April 25^th at the Harrah’s Cherokee.  The band’s latest schedule of performances is listed below.

THE BAND PERRY FULL LIST OF TOUR DATES JANUARY 31st Bangor, ME Cross Insurance Center FEBRUARY 6th Independence, MO Independence Events Center 7th Brookings, SD Swifter Center 8th Bemidji, MN The Sanford Center 9th Grand Forks, ND Ralph Englestad Arena 13th Dubuque, IA Five Flags Center 14th Kearney, NE Viareo Event Center 15th Rapid City, SD Rushmore Plaza Civic Center 16th Billings, MT Rimrock Auto Arena @MetraPark 20th Rockford, IL BMO Harris Bank Center 21st Cape Girardeau, MO Show Me Center 22nd Corbin, KY The Corbin Arena 23rd Saginaw, MI Dow Events Center 27th Green Bay, WI Resch Center 28th Mankato, MN Verizon Wireless Center MARCH 1st Duluth, MN Duluth Entertainment Convention Center Arena 2nd Cedar Rapids, IA U.S. Cellular Center 7th Savannah, GA Savannah Civic Center 8th West Palm Beach, FL Cruzan Amphitheater – WIRK Rib Roundup 9th Plant City, FL Florida Strawberry Festival 15th Dublin, IE Country to Country 2014: O2 Dublin 16th London, UK Country to Country 2014: O2 21st Melbourne, FL Runaway Country: Wickham Park 22nd Houston, TX Rodeo Houston APRIL 11th Florence, AZ Country Thunder USA 25th Cherokee, NC Harrah’s Cherokee 26th Dothan, AL Toad Lick Festival MAY 16th Gardendale, TX Texas Thunder 30th Virginia Beach, VA Patriotic Festival JUNE 21st Dallas, TX Gexa Energy Pavilion * 27th Dauphin, MB Dauphin’s CountryFest JULY 20th Cincinnati, OH Buckle-Up Music Festival AUGUST 8th Detroit Lake, MN WE Fest SEPTEMBER 5th Phoenix, AZ Ak-Chin Pavilion * 6th San Diego, CA Sleep Train Amphitheater * 12th Sacramento, CA Sleep Train Amphitheater * 13th Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheater * * Blake Shelton Tour

More information on The Band Perry’s tour, album and latest news is available online at http://www.facebook.com/thebandperry and http://www.thebandperry.com.  To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.