Cincinnati enters as a seven-point underdog, despite winning the first meeting three weeks ago in Cincinnati. The Bengals held the Chiefs to three points in the second half of a 34-31 victory at Paul Brown Stadium.
âItâs playoff football,â Bengals tight end C.J. Uzomah said. âItâs gloves off. Itâs a street fight. Youâre saying we have tape on Kansas City. They have tape on us. You can say the exact same. That does not matter. Weâre going to get their best shot. ⌠Itâs going to be different than the time before.â
The only thing that matters is getting the same result.
Under the radar
Much of the talk this week surrounding the Chiefs will center on Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce, a University of Cincinnati product who has more than 1,000 yards receiving.
However, Uzomah quietly is having a solid postseason. The veteran tight end had seven catches for 71 yards Saturday against Tennessee, and that was after another solid outing in the wild card round when he caught six passes for 64 yards and a touchdown.
Uzomah often flies under the radar with wide receivers JaâMarr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd garnering a lot of the attention, but that also helps free him up for more targets.
âI was pretty sure I wasnât going to get 8, 9, 10 targets and then here I get eight targets, so yeah, I mean they have to respect the outside guys,â Uzomah said. âThey have to respect when you have a three-headed monster at receiver. They have to respect that, and they have to respect our run game and Iâm glad Iâm kind of under the radar and Joe just kind of checks it down to me or I get open -- and just randomly sometimes. Iâm all for that. Iâll take what I can get and weâll take what we can get as a team. Iâm happy picking up some first downs for us and keeping those chains moving and doing my part in the passing game.â
Chiefs injury updates
Kansas City coach Andy Reid provided an update to local reporters Monday on star safety Tyrann Mathieu, saying he was showing improvement following the concussion he suffered in the first quarter of the divisional-round game against Buffalo.
Reid said Mathieu remains in the NFLâs concussion protocol but was feeling better Monday.
âHeâs still in the (concussion) protocol, heâs still going through it, but he does feel good,â Reid said. âWeâll just see how that goes going forward.â
Sports radio host Bob Fescoe reported Tuesday that the Chiefs are expecting Mathieu and cornerback Rashad Fenton (back) to be ready to go Sunday. Fenton was questionable for the divisional round and inactive against the Bills.
As for the Bengals, Zac Taylor said Sunday that defensive end Trey Hendrickson âwill be fineâ after he appeared to come off injured late in the game Saturday at Tennessee, but defensive tackle Josh Tupou (knee) and defensive end Cam Sample (hamstring) are two players that will need monitored this week.
The Bengals were off Tuesday. The first injury report of the week will be out Wednesday after practice.
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