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NASHVILLE — Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away. After all, I cover sports, and while sports journalists are famous and detached from the emotions of the events they cover, I think a lot of it is exaggerated.

For example, I’ll be covering the Cincinnati Bengals-Tennessee Titans game on Sunday, and while it wasn’t the highest-scoring game you’ll ever see, it was nail-biting. Two AFC heavyweights came down to Joe Burroughs and Ty Higgins making big fourth quarter plays and the Bengals defense did enough to contain Derrick Henry. Their playoff game in January was a great rematch and it’s the kind of game that makes you hope they play each other in the postseason again this year.

“That’s the kind of game,” said Burroughs, the Bengals’ plucky young quarterback, “that great teams win.”

The Bengals believe they can be good. They’ve won seven of their nine seasons, and thanks to Sunday’s upset of the Baltimore Ravens by the Jacksonville Jaguars, they moved into first place in their division last year.

The Titans… well, they know they’ll be fine. They still have a good lead in their category, and it’s not like they’re puffed up or embarrassed. They have their issues. They should get more points. But Mike Vrabel’s collection will find a way, and it’s reasonable to expect Tennessee to be in the playoff picture in the AFC all year. This win meant more to the Bengals than the loss to the Titans.

But watching two playoff-caliber teams three days before the start of December was exciting, and it reminded me of what’s to come. The games here make a little more sense, have more intensity, and come with enough emotion to make the weekly overreaction column a little more fun.

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