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CINCINNATI (AP) — Four pairs of cleats are neatly arranged on a lower ledge. The tiger-striped helmet hangs from a black hook on the left side of the wooden cubicle. T-shirts are bunched on hangers in the back. Shoulder pads rest upside-down. The Bengals haven't cleaned out Chris Henry's locker yet. They haven't really replaced him, either. Henry's death last month staggered his former teammates, who attended his funeral in New Orleans, then played poorly in their last two games. They'll have decals with his No. 15 on the backs of their helmets when they host the New York Jets in a wild-card playoff on Saturday. His absence continues to touch them in many ways. ''Chris was a big part of our offense, and a part of our offense that we weren't able to replace,'' said quarterback Carson Palmer, who delivered a eulogy at his funeral. ''Chris was a friend that is missed more than anything.'' Palmer had a special connection with the 26-year-old receiver. On Cincinnati's sec- ond play in a 2005 playoff against Pitts- burgh, Palmer completed a 66-yard pass to Henry that was the longest in Bengals play- off history. Both suffered knee injuries on the play. Palmer's left knee was shredded by a hit from Kimo von Oelhoffen after he threw the pass. Henry hurt his right knee when he was tackled, and left the game a few plays later. With the two stars gone, the Bengals lost 31-17. Both recovered, though Henry's off-field problems — five arrests — led the team to release and then re-sign him. At age 26, he seemed to have started turning his life around this year. His death last month in what police described as a domestic dispute with his fiancee brought his former team- mates to tears. They have kept his memory alive in the locker room. His cubicle is unchanged from the last time he used it. ''He started to change the way he did things and care about people,'' OT Andrew Whitworth said. ''He mentored some of the younger players. He really started to take care of all the things that make a pro- fessional athlete. This team needs to act like that — like pros — in the playoffs.'' On the day Henry died in North Caroli- na, the players dedicated the rest of the sea- son to the receiver and to Vikki Zimmer, the wife of defensive coordinator Mike Zim- mer. She died at the couple's home earlier in the season. Now that the Bengals are in the playoffs, the tone has changed slightly. ''It's not one of those cliches — a 'win this for Chris' type of deal — because that is not what it's about,'' Palmer said. ''Each guys holds Chris in a different light and remembers him in a different way. We are here to get a playoff win and find a way to beat these guys and move on to the next round. But in no way are we going to have any cliche like that.'' PHILADELPHIA (AP) — If the Eagles have one advantage over the Cow- boys in their playoff rematch, it's the man in charge. Andy Reid is undefeated in playoff openers, going 7-0 during his first 10 sea- sons as Philadelphia's coach. On the other side, Wade Phillips has never won a play- off game. He's 0-4 with Dallas, Buffalo and Denver. So one coach wants to continue a streak and the other wants to end his when the two teams, both 11- 5, meet in Dallas in an NFC wild- card playoff game Saturday night. Phillips and his staff clearly outcoached Reid and his crew in a 24-0 victory last Sunday that gave Dallas the NFC East title and cost the Eagles a first-round bye. Reid, as usual, took the blame for Philadelphia's poor performance, even though he wasn't the one dropping passes, giving up big plays or missing open receivers. ''I want to make this very clear. It starts with the head coach,'' Reid said Thursday. ''I had plenty of problems, the coaches had problems and so did the players. It's not one more than the other. We're all in this thing together. There are no excuses for what took place and we've tried to go back and make sure we worked on the things we didn't do very well. ''They outsmarted us the last time. They did a better job than we did. That's our challenge, from a coaching stand- point, to do a better job and we're working on that.'' Reid has a tough task this week, con- vincing his team that it can go back to Dallas and win just six days after being thoroughly dominated. The Cowboys also won in Philadelphia, 20-16, on Nov. 8. ''Very seldom do you have an opportu- nity to play a team that just got after you a little bit a second time,'' Reid said. ''We have that opportunity to correct ourselves. That's an approach I expect the guys to take and I think with the leader- ship on this team, that will take place.'' Of their seven playoff openers under Reid, this is only the second time the Eagles start on the road. They did so last year, beating Minnesota 26-14. Philadelphia then knocked off the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants, before losing as a favorite at Arizona in the NFC cham- pionship game. Overall, Reid is 10-7 in the playoffs. He's guided the Eagles to five conference title games and one Super Bowl, a 24-21 loss to New England five years ago. ''In big games, coaches have to coach well and players have to play well,'' Reid said. ''That's everybody. That's how that works, whether it's to win the NFC East or whether it's now in the playoffs. That's what we've done over the years. When we were in big games, we played and coached well. We have to go back to that. That's the challenge for this week.'' Sports 1B Friday January 8, 2010 Gilbert, Texas bounced by 'bama PASADENA (AP) — The sure thing was looking shaky for Alabama. Hanging onto a precarious three-point lead and with momentum on the other side, linebacker Eryk Anders made sure the championship wouldn't slip away. Anders forced a fumble on his blindside sack of Texas backup quarterback Garrett Gilbert with 3:02 left Thursday night to help the top-ranked Crimson Tide hold on for a 37- 21 victory in the BCS title game — a win that figured to be much easier when Alabama knocked out Colt McCoy early in the first quarter. Gilbert's father, Gale Gilbert, played for Red Bluff Union High School before going on to the NFL. Gilbert's grandfather remains in Red Bluff. With McCoy on the sideline nursing a shoulder injury, the Tide rolled to a 24-6 lead at halftime, the final touchdown coming when lineman Marcell Dareus picked off a shovel pass and returned it 28 yards for the score late in the second quarter. The second half figured to be a laugher with Gilbert in the game — a freshman who was Texas' ''quarterback of the future'' but had thrown only 26 college passes. The kid almost did it, though. He threw two touchdown passes to All-American Jordan Shipley to trim the deficit to 24- 21 with 6:15 left, and after an Alabama punt, he had the ball at the 7-yard line, 93 yards away from one of the most improba- ble comeback stories in the his- tory of the game. But after an Alabama hold- ing penalty moved the ball to the 17, Gilbert dropped back to pass and got rocked by Anders, a senior who plays in the shad- ow of All-Americans Terrence Cody and Rolando McClain. The ball went flying and Court- ney Upshaw recovered. Three plays later, Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram surged into the end zone from the 1 for the 10-point lead. A few minutes later, after Gilbert's third interception of the night, Trent Richardson scored his second touchdown to make it 37-21. Then the party began. Glory came back to one of the coun- try's most storied programs, the football factory that Bear Bryant built, courtesy of Nick Saban, who resurrected this team in the short span of three seasons. MCT photo Alabama defenders wrap up Texas quarterback Garrett Gilbert (3), the replacement for injured starter Colt McCoy, in the second quarter in the second quarter of the BCS National Championship game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena Thursday. Bengals missing WR Henry IRVING, Texas (AP) — Tony Romo's postseason memories with the Dallas Cow- boys are filled with tears. There was that tearful apology to team- mates after he botched the hold of a chip- shot field goal late in his first playoff game. And Terrell Owens tearfully defending the quarterback after Romo finished his other playoff loss with an interception in the end zone. ''Those past games have absolutely no bearing on anything going for- ward,'' Romo said this week while preparing for his next playoff chance, Saturday night at home in a quick rematch against Philadel- phia. ''Experiences, things you go through, you learn. You try and improve.'' No longer with the distractions of Owens or a celebrity girlfriend — the Cow- boys cut the often disruptive receiver last spring, and Romo ended his relationship with pop singer Jessica Simpson before training camp — Romo has broken single- season Cowboys passing records, including some of his own, while throwing a career- low nine interceptions. With Romo leading the way, Dallas (11- 5) clinched the NFC East title with a three- game winning streak capped by a 24-0 vic- tory over the Eagles last weekend. ''I don't think I've ever seen him more confident than he is now,'' said tight end Jason Witten, one of Romo's favorite tar- gets and best friend since they came in as rookies together in 2003. ''I've never seen us more confident in him.'' Romo became the Dallas starter seven games into 2006, a season that ended with a 21-20 playoff loss in Seattle when Romo flubbed the hold and was then tackled short of the end zone. A year later, the Cowboys were home as the No. 1 seed in the playoffs after a bye week and Romo's much-publicized week- end getaway to Mexico with Simpson and some teammates. They lost 21-17 to the New York Giants after Romo's fourth- down pass with 9 seconds left was intercepted. ''Those are lifetimes ago,'' offensive coordinator Jason Garrett said. ''In a great deal of areas, he's just not the same guy,'' Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said this week. ''He's had a small lifetime of experiences both on and off the field, media exposure, critique and I can tell you firsthand that ultimately that will toughen you up or it will knock a little of naivete out of you. ... I'm glad to be going with a guy who has been through that — that's a plus.'' Consider what Jones went through after Hall of Fame quarterback and three-time Super Bowl winner Troy Aikman retired following the 2000 season until Romo, who initially arrived as an undrafted rookie out of Eastern Illinois for a $10,000 signing bonus, took over as the starter. Among the Dallas starting quarterbacks in that span were Quincy Carter, Ryan Leaf, Chad Hutchinson and Clint Stoerner. Teary playoff memories for Romo Reid's record on the line FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — The New York Jets have the NFL's top-ranked defense, yet they keep hearing about what they haven't done this season. They can't close out opponents in close games. They can't put points on the board off turnovers. They can't get to the quar- terback consistently enough. ''We understand people still doubt our capabilities, but, hey, they also said we weren't going to make the playoffs,'' cornerback Lito Sheppard said Thursday. ''Look where we're at now. We love it. It definitely keeps us motivated, not that we need it, but it definitely adds to it.'' If the Jets (9-7) can shut down Carson Palmer, Chad Ochocinco and the Bengals (10-6) for the second straight week — this time in a first-round playoff game Saturday at Cincinnati — Rex Ryan's defense might start getting the respect it says it deserves. ''We've obviously played well and, sta- tistically, we're at the top, and you can't take that away from us,'' safety Jim Leon- hard said. ''Now we're in the playoffs and this is when that defense should shine.'' From a numbers standpoint, the Jets would appear to have a monstrous, domi- nant defense that should strike fear into any opponent, and that's even without having injured big nose tackle Kris Jenk- ins. They finished the regular season allowing the fewest yards, by far, with 252.3 per game — more than 30 less than Green Bay (284.4). New York gave up a league-low 187 offensive points, finished first in pass defense, held opposing quarterbacks to an NFL-low 58.8 passer rating, and created the highest percentage of three-and-outs. The gaudy stats go on and on, and it's clear the Jets have an excellent defense. But, is it great? ''We're the No. 1 defense and I think we've been playing good all year,'' Pro Bowl cornerback Darrelle Revis said. ''When people see us on the film, they know that we bring it. I think we've just got to keep on being consistent, keep on making plays and be confident. That's the only thing that we can do.'' Still, when people talk about great defenses, the 2009 New York Jets won't appear on that list — not now, anyway. ''It's important because we're sending a statement,'' linebacker Bart Scott said. ''Before I got here, when you said the New York Jets, you really didn't have an identity. They were kind of like nomads.'' When Ryan came to New York from Baltimore, he brought an aggressive approach with him, along with Scott, Leonhard and defensive lineman Marques Douglas. He leaned on them a lot as he installed his system, hoping the trio would help the others adjust. So far, so good. ''We're trying to start a tradition, something that people can expect,'' Scott said. Top defense feels disrespected Corning Shootout Thursday Corning 63, Durham 50 Other results Orland beat Yreka Trinity beat Gridley