CINCINNATI Rookie quarterback Andy Dalton missed practice Wednesday with the flu, leaving backup Bruce Gradkowski to run the Cincinnati Bengals offence at Paul Brown Stadium. Coach Marvin Lewis said Dalton should be back on Thursday. He’s expected to play Saturday at Houston’s Reliant Stadium, where he’s never lost. The second-round pick grew up in the suburbs and played two games there in high school and another for TCU. The Bengals (9-7) will be trying to get their first playoff win since the 1990 season when they play the Houston Texans. Reliant Stadium has a retractable roof, so weather won’t be an issue. The challenge is to stay healthy until then. The temperature was -5 C with a wind chill of -10 C when they hit the field Tuesday. On Tuesday night, rookie receiver A.J. Green from Georgia tweeted: “It was so cold at practice today … I couldn’t feel my toes.” It was somewhat better Wednesday, with a temperature of 2 C and a wind chill of -2 C when practice ended. Players wore hoods under their helmets to try to stay warm. Asked if it was the coldest weather he’d ever had for practice, Green said, “Oh yeah, definitely, by far. By far.” Temperatures around 4 C are forecast for Thursday’s practice. The Bengals are the only northern team without their own covered practice field either in use or under construction. They have the right under their stadium lease to cover one of their adjacent practice fields, but would have to pay for it. The University of Cincinnati approached the NFL team about jointly building a bubble-covered field when Brian Kelly was coach, but the Bengals declined. The university then built a practice field with a removable bubble on campus. The Bengals could rent the bubble for four hours at a standard rate of US$2,500. The concern Wednesday was getting Dalton healthy and ready for one more cold-weather practice followed by a trip home. He grew up in the Houston suburb of Katy and attended games at Reliant as a fan. “You get a chance to play in Reliant Stadium as a high school kid, it’s a really cool thing,” Dalton said Tuesday. “That’s how Texas high school (football) is. You get to play in NFL stadiums.” For the first time since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, a playoff game will feature two rookie quarterbacks. T.J. Yates, a fifth-round pick, took over after Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart got hurt and led the Texans to the playoffs. Yates led a winning 80-yard touchdown drive in the final three minutes for a 20-19 victory at Paul Brown Stadium on Dec. 11. He and Dalton talked on the field afterward. “It was a big, game-winning drive for him,” Dalton said. “It’s good to see rookies — my class — doing well. “It was unfortunate that it was against us.” The overriding question with a rookie quarterback is how he’ll handle playoff pressure. Dalton has the experience advantage over Yates because he won the starting job during training camp and started all 16 games. Yates started the last five games. “I have all the confidence in Andy,” cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones said. “Andy is a well-composed guy, doesn’t get rattled by too much. “He likes to win and likes the pressure on him.” Dalton looked like a rookie during a 31-24 loss at Baltimore on Nov. 20, throwing three interceptions that helped the Ravens get ahead 31-14 in the fourth quarter. He was much more careful over the last six games, throwing five touchdowns and only one interception in 184 attempts. During the loss to Houston, Dalton and the offence had a miserable second half, blowing a 16-3 lead. They managed 81 yards in the second half, including only nine yards on 14 rushes. Dalton fumbled on the second play of the half to start Houston’s comeback and was 7-of-11 passing for 77 yards after halftime. Dalton has been average overall much of the time, but that’s been good enough to get Cincinnati into the playoffs. Four times he’s led the Bengals to victories with fourth-quarter comebacks. “I don’t think pressure’s really been an issue for him,” offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth said. “The greatest competitors are the guys that want to win. “They want the heat. That’s a good thing — it drives them. I think Andy’s one of those guys.” NOTES: Defensive end Frostee Rucker (shoulder) also was among those missing practice. Tailback Cedric Benson (foot), centre Kyle Cook (foot) and safety Chris Crocker (knee) were limited. … Cincinnati has played Houston only one other time in the post-season, beating the Oilers 41-14 after the 1990 season. That was the Bengals’ last playoff win. They’re 0-2 since. The Associated Press

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When the Cincinnati Bengals travel into Reliant Stadium to take on the Houston Texans, they have more than a few reasons to be confident. I might even go as far as picking the Bengals to win this game. Much has been made about the Bengals inability to beat a good team —they’re a whopping 0-7 against those within the playoff field. While those numbers do raise some alarm, they’re not as bad as they look on the surface. With the exception of their Week 13 game in Pittsburgh, they haven’t lost a game by more than eight points. Additionally, they don’t have any “bad” losses —losing to teams they shouldn’t (Denver might be an exception, though it’s hard to make that argument when they’re in the playoffs). I’ll readily admit that you need to be able to take down better teams, but the Bengals clearly show where they fall on the quality spectrum. They’ve probably been one of the best teams to set your watch to. They win when they should and lose when they should. They lost to the Baltimore Ravens by seven and eight points, respectively. They lost to the Denver Broncos by two and the San Francisco 49ers by five. Their other game against Pittsburgh found them losing by only seven. Lastly, they lost to the Houston Texans by one. This is a team that can compete. The Texans, on the other hand, do have a few mind boggling losses. That being said, they also have some impressive wins —Pittsburgh and Atlanta specifically. However, they also carry losses to the Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts. You can throw in the Oakland Raiders if you want as well. I’ll give a couple of those teams the benefit of being pretty decent, but they aren’t teams the Houston Texans should lose to. The Titans game gets a free pass because most of the starting Texans were on the bench. What’s more alarming for the Texans is their current three-game losing streak they’re riding into the playoffs —Carolina, Indy, and Tennessee. Being the Texans first ever trip to the playoffs, I’m sure the Bengals are going to run into a raucous crowd at Reliant Stadium. If Dalton and company can’t control that, it could get ugly. What makes this game difficult is that you have two rookie quarterbacks. T.J Yates hasn’t thrown a touchdown in two-plus games and following Yates’ injury against the Titans, we don’t know if that shoulder will affect his performance. When you look at the numbers of the two teams, they’re relatively even. The slight edge goes to the Texans in most categories, but that also factors in the gaudy offensive numbers they were putting up prior to Matt Schaub’s injury. As it stands now, I think the game is pretty even. Andy Dalton doesn’t give much more confidence. Despite Dalton having a stellar rookie season, you don’t often like the idea of rookie quarterbacks in the playoffs. In fact, the research I’ve found is that no rookie quarterback has ever won a Super Bowl. That’s an alarming trend for both Bengals and Texans fans. We don’t need to talk about the Super Bowl yet. Yates and Dalton both have things to take care of before we start thinking about that. While I think it’s a virtual toss up, I think I like Cincinnati. Bengals 20 Texans 17 Brian is a lifelong NFL fan, specifically of the Chicago Bears, having lived in Illinois his entire life and having followed the NFL throughout. Sources Bengals/Texans Preview Bengals Schedule Texans Schedule T.J Yates Stats Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

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