5 things to watch for in Bengals game vs. Texans

The blood hasn’t been as bad or the stakes as high, but the Houston Texans have owned the Cincinnati Bengals much the same way the Pittsburgh Steelers have of late.

Houston will try to beat the Bengals for the seventh time in the last eight meetings Saturday night in a game that could, depending on what Tennessee does earlier in the day at Jacksonville, clinch an AFC South Division title for the Texans.

Some of the most disappointing losses in the Andy Dalton-A.J. Green era have come against Houston, including the 2011 and 2012 wild-card games, along with last year’s Monday night contest that snapped the Bengals’ 8-0 run to start the season.

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In addition to exacting some revenge, the Bengals could take out some of the frustration from seeing their streak of five consecutive playoff appearances come to an end.

Here are six things to watch Christmas eve as the Bengals try to play Scrooge in Houston:

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Savage start

Houston’s Tom Savage will be the sixth quarterback to make his first NFL start against a Marvin Lewis-coached team.

Lewis is 3-2 in the five previous instances, with the most recent being a 30-0 drubbing of Cleveland’s Johnny Manziel in 2014.

The first two instances came in back-to-back weeks in 2007, when the Bengals beat St. Louis’ Brock Berlin 19-10 (in what was his only career start) then lost 20-13 to San Francisco’s Shaun Hill.

Cincinnati also lost to Baltimore’s Joe Flacco 17-10 in the 2008 season opener, and the Bengals beat Carolina’s Jimmy Clausen 20-7 in 2010.

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Savage took over for Brock Osweiler in the second quarter of last week’s game and rallied the Texans from a 13-0 deficit for a 21-20 win against Jacksonville.

Savage played three games in mop-up duty for the Texans in 2014, going 10 of 19 for 127 yards with an interception, but this will be the first time he’s started a game since leading the University of Pittsburgh to a 30-27 victory against Bowling Green in the 2013 Little Caesars Bowl.

“It’s a heck of an opportunity,” Savage said. “This is a childhood dream. I’m going to prepare as hard as a I can and I’m going to have some fun along the way and go out there and rip it. I’m going to go out there and play fast. That’s the mindset.”

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Line dance

Andrew Whitworth took snaps at guard this week with Clint Boling battling a shoulder injury, and Friday’s announcement that Boling will not play in Houston will give the Bengals a chance to evaluate Cedric Ogbuehi at left tackle.

Ogbuehi, last year’s first-round pick, struggled all season at right tackle before being benched three weeks ago, but left is more natural position and the Bengals drafted him to become their left tackle of the future.

It could make for an interesting evening for quarterback Andy Dalton, who already has been sacked 37 times year, with Jake Fisher making his second official start at right tackle and Ogbuehi his first at left against the No. 1 defense in the NFL.

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Return record

Rookie Alex Erickson’s 72-yard kickoff return last week against Pittsburgh pushed his season average to 28.7, moving him closer to the franchise record of 31.26 set by Adam Jones in 2014.

Erickson, who is the first Bengals player in history to have three kick of returns of at least 65 yards in a career, had 166 kick return yards last week against the Steelers, the highest single-game total in the league this year.

He heads into Houston ranked third in kick returns behind Minnesota’s Cordarrelle Patterson (31.5) and Jacksonville’s Marquise Lee (30.3).

Lee's increased his average with two returns for 133 yards, including a 100-yard touchdown, last week against the Texans, who rank 29th in the league in kick return averaged allowed (24.5).

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Dawson debut

Of the 53 players on the Bengals roster, there are about 25-30 whose futures with the team are not guaranteed, making these the last two games an audition of sorts.

One of them is linebacker P.J. Dawson, the team’s third-round pick in 2015 who was cut in September. When Dawson went unclaimed on waivers — a second wakeup call after being released — the Bengals re-signed him to the practice squad, where he spent all of this season until Friday when the team added him to the 53-man roster.

With linebacker Vontaze Burfict ruled out with a concussion, Dawson should get a chance to prove he can be the type of player the Bengals thought they were getting when they drafted him.

Most of his playing time in 11 games as a rookie came on special teams, but look for Dawson to get some snaps on defense Saturday night.

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Emotional engagement

The Bengals insist they will play the same with nothing on the line as they would if they were battling for a playoff berth, but saying it in the middle of the week can be a lot easier than actually doing it in live action.

Especially if the Texans, who are playing for the playoff lives, are able to jump out to an early lead on a Bengals team playing out the string on Christmas eve 700 miles from home.

Most of the players on the roster have not been in this position before. The last time the Bengals were out of the playoffs was 2010, but that time did went two of its final three after a 2-11 start.

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