Our mission is to bring you humorous and intelligent, well researched insight on our local sports teams, as well as on stories making national headlines.
TNB Recruits
279,709 people think The Nasty Boys are geniuses (since June, 2007).
Editor’s Note:Discuss this article NOW over at ACC vs. SEC! - Urlacher For Ocho?
Sources are reporting that current Chicagoan Brian Urlacher has asked for a trade through his agent and is flirting with retirement if not dealt.
My first thought? Chad Johnson and a draft pick for Brian Urlacher. Apparently the #85 jersey is available on the Bears but it appears as if David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune doesn’t like the idea (link).
I do, and I’ll tell you why. It fills a need for both teams.
Da Bears need a marquee wide receiver after releasing Muhsin Muhammad and seeing Bernard Berrian headed to the Vikings, while the Bengals need to do something with Chad Johnson because this situation is only going to get worse before it gets better.
On the other side, the Bengals need defense and lots of it. Urlacher is the play-making linebacker that Bengals’ fans have been begging for and thought they might have had in Odell Thurman before the “can’t stay out of trouble” bug bit the team. Brian, like Ocho Cinco, is seeking a trade.
Of course there are all kinds of contract issues I am not smart enough to figure out and relay to you fine people but I do know that Johnson’s contract MUST be restructured before any deal could be put in to place due the Salary Cap hit the Bengals would take. However, as Condo said, “if Chad ‘really’ wants to be traded, he’ll restructure.”
Plus, if they’re both making demands why not trade one problem for another?
Could this act be heading to “The Windy City”? I doubt Chicago fans want Chad but we’ll wait for Swerski to return from his most recent binge to weigh in from Bears Camp on the issue.
UPDATE: At 11:30AM this morning Bengals.com reported that the fledgling franchise has cut my man Chris Henry. Al Davis has reportedly called Chris to offer his condolences and to let Henry know that “Oakland is really nice in the summer time.”
After recently being cited for driving on expired tags, embattled Cincinnati criminal wide receiver Chris Henry is now charged with assault after allegedly punching a gentleman at a party. Honestly, I am not even sure what numbered incident this is with the police for Chris…42nd?…43rd? I’ve lost count, and quite frankly it is not even fun anymore. The Bengals are a joke…
If you thought the Bengals couldn’t be any more of a joke at this point, check out the bizarre interview of Chad Johnson on a recent edition of SportsCenter:
Should I be concerned that my teams’ defense is so bad that its players would rather go to Europe and play rugby? I knew the Bengals defense was bad, but I didn’t realize it was that bad.
For reasons unknown to me, Bengals’ defensive lineman/linebacker Dhani Jones will undergo three rugby training sessions at Blackheath’s Rectory Field to learn the sport before joining the Blackheath squad for “five to 10 minutes off of the bench” this Saturday against the Cornish All Blacks (it’s a shame rugby is still segregated…).
Listen, I know about as much about rugby as I know about ballroom dancing but I can guarantee you it doesn’t pay as well as the NFL and it is substantially more dangerous, so why risk it? With all of the injuries and lack of depth on the defensive side of the ball, I have no earthly idea as to why the Bengals’ management would even allow this but it is a perfect example of how ass backwards the Bengals franchise is.
Do you think Coach Belichick would ever let Tedy Bruschi play cricket in Ireland? That’s like asking if can I get more women than Tom Brady.
It may not seem like much but it was actually a great question as not much has been said about the Bengals’ new defensive coordinator on this site or, especially, in the media in general. I decided to do a small write up instead of merely answering the question in the thread and if anybody ever has any similar questions posted in on any of the articles we have here, we will attempt to do the same. We love discussion and that’s why we do this site as it is a way for people to share views if they want to.
That being said, I have a solid outlook for Zimmer. It is like I told my roommate, something obviously needed to be done to appease the fans, especially after Carson’s comments, but I don’t know how much of an immediate difference it is going to make as is the case with any regime change. I think the Bengals will steadily improve on that side of the ball but they aren’t going to turn in to the Steel Curtain.
Zimmer has some solid experience and a decent resume on defense. He did well in Dallas running the 4-3 but it seems like he’ had his most success on defense in the college ranks — not to take anything away from what he did with the Cowboys, mind you. As far as last year goes, you can’t really point to anything he did in Atlanta the one year he was there because that franchise is in absolute shambles with the distractions of Vick, Petrino/D-Hall, and the odd release of defensive lineman Grady Jackson — who went on to finish the season strong in Jacksonville and was an important part of the win over the Steelers in the Wild Card game.
Zimmer is a 4-3 guy through and through and I think that solidifies the fact that we have to pick up some linebackers this offseason. Nobody knows if Odell Thurman will ever play football again and we were so depleted at the linebakers position by the end of the year that Marvin was moving Robert Geathers off of the defensive line.
Do I think Zimmer is better than Bresnahan? Yes and with the atmosphere surrounding the Bengals, even if he was merely Chuck’s equal something had to be done to spark change. Do I think he was the BEST available? Maybe not but that is tough to determine as teams don’t have to allow their coordinators to interview with other teams unless it is for the head coach’s position — that’s an NFL rule. What I do know is that Zimmer has the potential to improve the defense immensely (’potential’ ALWAYS being the key word with the Bengals) but Marvin and, more importantly, Mike Brown has to put the personnel on the field for Mike to work with.
And when it comes scouting for player personnel with the Bengals, well, we all know how I feel about that…
It is no secret to ‘The Queen City’ — and has been the topic of many debates — that the Cincinnati Bungles are home to the NFL’s smallest personnel unit with six scouts and execs; keep in mind that the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots have 14 personnel staff members while the Shitsburgh Steelers have 10.
But no, don’t let that be a point of concern.
“‘I think we’re efficient and I don’t apologize for that. I think that’s what we should try to be,’ Brown said last week in a rare media session with Bengals.com and The Cincinnati Enquirer. ‘Since everyone has more scouts than we do and there are just as many (teams) below us as there are above us, is that the answer?’”
‘Atta boy, Mikey! Way to compete for average.
The Bengals.com expose on Mike Brown by my early pick for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize, Geoff Hobson, went on:
“Brown points to the club’s .525 winning percentage since Lewis became head coach in 2003, which is behind 14 teams and ahead of 17 others.”
“‘Isn’t that what matters?’ Brown asked. ‘This is the product. Not the number of employees, but what the group as a whole produces. I would argue that we do well.’”
Basically Brown points to being average and then uses that as justification for how he’s ran the team…unbelievable…all on top of patting himself on the back for landing Carson Palmer. Yeah, the Heisman Trophy winning stud who was everyone’s top draft pick was a real stretch — he really did his homework…
And if you’re wondering why the Bengals can lead the league in arrests each year but not any positive, on-the-field statistical categories:
“Rang (NFLDraftScout.com senior analyst) says the problem others point to about a small staff is the character issue. And the Bengals have been bit by that, particularly in the ‘05 draft where off-field problems for just Odell Thurman and Chris Henry alone have cost them 42 games in NFL suspensions. ‘When I’ve talked to other teams, they tell me how much interviewing now has to be done at the school visits for character,” Rang said. “Not just coaches, but trainers, equipment guys, tutors. If you’ve got a small staff, that may be too much for one guy, and maybe some of that stuff isn’t discovered.’”
Couldn’t have said it any better myself. It is inexplicable to me as to why the Bengals continue to operate in this fashion with the lack of winning seasons, the off-of-the-field issues, etcetera. It is obvious that Mike Brown is no Paul Brown but with the money he has you would think that he would, at some point, want to field a real winner. A team everybody can be proud of. But the aforementioned comments tell the tale.
So wonder no more as to why the Bengals can never turn the corner — they’re just striving for mediocrity.
The Cincinnati Bengals have finally pulled the trigger on defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan after finishing 28th, 30th, and 27th in total defense in the NFL in the past three seasons since signing on with the team early 2005. The team finished 22nd points/28th yards in 2005, 17th points/30th yards in 2006 and 24th points/25th yards this season to close out what has been a less than mediocre stint in Cincinnati.
After quarterback Carson Palmer recently told the press he didn’t feel this batch of coaches could take the team to the proverbial next level, I could have cared less how positively Marvin Lewis tried to spin the statement and his coaches’ performances this year, change was inevitable. You simply can’t have THE captain of your team and franchise quarterback, who happens to be a very respected and not-so-out spoken player, question your coaching staff without change ensuing.
And here we are. Chuck Bresnahan has been fired — along with linebackers coach Ricky Hunley — and I would like to think that the “FIRE CHUCK” campaign found on the top navigation bar had something to do with it. OK, probably not but one can wish, right?
I usually don’t sound off on the announcers (unless you are Mike Patrick talking about Britney Spears), and I especially don’t criticize the Bengals’ own Boomer Esiason much either, but Esiason teamed up with my most hated Shitsburgh product in Bill Cowher to tee off on Chad Johnson regarding his First Half touchdown celebration — which consisted of getting behind a CBS camera for five seconds and taking a shot of the Bengals’ sideline. In fact, not only could they not let it go long enough during Halftime to analyze the actual game or talk about the other scores, they got back on their respective soap boxes in the post-game discussion in a contest the Bengals won 35-6.
To summarize, their arguments against this celebration were as follows:
The ensuing penalty hurts the team and sends mixed messages to all involved.
It undermines Coach Lewis to his team and embarrasses him in front of the fans.
The Bengals are not good enough to have anything to celebrate about and Chad hadn’t scored since the second game
1. The penalty MAY HAVE cost the Bengals enough field position for a Rob Bironas field goal in a game the Bengals won by 29 points, but we’ll actually never know if the defense would have stopped them without the extra 10 or 15 yards on the kickoff. Additionally, I don’t care if it was a close game at the time and I don’t care to hear arguments such as: “what if it decided the game” — because it didn’t. And quite frankly, it was arguably NOT a penalty as it did not actually use any item on the field of play as a prop and it occurred outside the broad white line that separates players from picture takers. Any other celebrations that are allowed that also occur outside that broad white line come to mind?:
2. As far as Coach Lewis is concerned the man has never publicly and directly denounced Chad’s celebrations and whenever Marvin has tightened the reigns on #85, he has obliged. Also, any one paying any attention to the actual game would have noticed that Coach Lewis himself even had a smirk on his face when he greeted Chad as he returned to the sidelines. There has not been one teammate to publicly speak out against C.J. and his celebrations and never once has any team member undermined Coach Lewis’s authority to the media. Yet, for some reason, guys like Cowher and Esiason want to blow the entire celebration situation out of proportion instead of discussing the actual game, as if these sparse celebrations by Chad are the reasons for the Bengals’ troubles this year. They fail to call the franchise out on poor play calling, a bad defense, and character issues that make San Quentin look like a monastery and not a prison as the reasons for their demise this season.
3. “The Bengals aren’t good enough…” - They’re right, the Bengals aren’t good enough…at least not to make the playoffs. However, this team has had little to celebrate about in the past year thanks to arrests, injuries, and terrible play and sometimes it is just nice TO have something to celebrate about. It is a proven fact that when Chad has his swagger and gets his enthusiasm going early and feels apart of the total package he performs well — as evident by his career-high 12 receptions and his career-high tying 3 touchdowns in today’s game. So whatever gets Chad’s “sexy back,” and the teams’ confidence and swagger back for that matter, is well worth it because after Rudi and Chad each scored touchdowns for the first time in a long time, the Bengals took off like a jet airplane. If the penalty means getting his team back and it is something the fans enjoy — thus getting the crowd back in to the game (if you believe the fans DON’T enjoy it in Cincinnati, please tell me why 1 in every 3 jerseys is a Chad Johnson jersey) — then I don’t think Coach Lewis will mind the 15 yard hit. And if you don’t think Coaches use these tactics in games to win their teams back I could show you a video of 75% of technical fouls called against basketball coaches or I could just present to you Exhibit A:
Yeah…Georgia won that game against a higher-ranked opponent and hasn’t lost since.
Listen, this is the NFL and it is a billion-dollar enterprise. It is a business and that business is to entertain me. If Coach Cowher and Boomer Esiason want “just the game” without frills or celebrations then they should make a career move to the college and high school ranks. College and high school football is a game where, I can agree that, most celebrations are a bit too much as not all of the teams have the same fiscal opportunites among each other as all teams in the NFL do and the players aren’t there for large salaries and a job entertaining the masses, they are there to get help paying for and education, better career opportunities, and to become better, more well-rounded men. But do you know why the two of them won’t make that move down? Because there are far fewer well paying jobs in college football, and especially in high school football, being talking heads than there is in the NFL. The total package of professional football just makes more money because guys like myself, who have paid $70 for a Bengals jersey that cost about $1.79 to make, are entertained and become the reason Cowher and Esiason earned the big bucks while coaching and playing, respectively, and now have jobs where people care about what they talk about. On top of earning our dollars by entertaining us, the thought of what Chad Johnson might do in his celebration if he does score is just about the only reason to watch a Bengals game these days.
I watch University of Kentucky football games because I am a student at the school and feel a part of it all. I watch the games to celebrate with the wins and be deflated with the losses. It isn’t about entertainment for me because there is nothing entertaining about being a nervous wreck for four hours every Saturday and having your heart broken 50% of the time. Now that’s not to say you can’t take pride in your team in the NFL; however, I watch the NFL to be entertained and watch the top athletes in the world compete in the world’s most popular sport this side of futbol…whatever that is.
Penalizing every Tom, Dick, and Harry for smiling after they score takes away from the pure competition that is supposed to be occurring on the field and causes two pundits, such as Cowher and Esiason, to discuss at length an event that did not happen on the field of play instead of talking about the 150 that did.
As many faithful followers of this site have realized by now, the bane of the existence of both myself and Charlie Hustle this NFL season has been the antics of the Cincinnati Bengals’ resident “beat writer” Geoff Hobson. I have gotten to the point where I try not to read what he writes as A) the headlines usually tell the tale anyways and B) if you listen to Geoff you’d think the entire Bengals season is full of wild flowers and sunshine.
And again, after Cincinnati’s 21-7 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, Hobson fails to disappoint as the headline for his post-game blog entry was as follows: “Take A Bow, Defense”.
Laughable. A professional defense puts together one solid performance among eight other abysmal performances and Hobson crowns them showstoppers.
Need I remind the viewing public that this “take a bow”-quality performance came against an anemic offense that ranks just 28th in points scored and 26th in total yards gained (out of 32 teams). Also, need I remind anyone that, even after this picture-perfect day, the Bengals defense still ranks 30th in points yielded and 31st in yards allowed!
The defense is embarrassing, they just happened upon an offense that was equally as terrible and did what any opposite, yet equal, force would do to another: cancel it out.
So go ahead defense, take that “well-deserved” bow but remember that there is a hell of a lot more that you need to prove to Bengals’ fans not wearing the jungle-colored glasses of Hobson before I’ll reserve an aisle seat back on the bandwagon with my buddy Geoff.
We have no idea why Cincinnati Bengals Defensive Coordinator Chuck Bresnahan is smiling in the above picture. Maybe it was taken before the entire western world knew just how bad the Bengals’ defense is or maybe the fat bastard is just eternally optimistic. Who knows.
What I do know is this: Bresnahan’s unit is the WORST Bengals defense that I can recall…ever…and I have effectively watched every game possible as far back as I can remember (I am 23 years old now).
What I also know is, in yesterday’s game, the Cincinnati Bengals gave up 33 points and 479 yards of total offense to a Buffalo Bills offense ranked 26th in the NFL in points scored and 32nd in yardage gained. Before this demoralizing loss to the team from upstate New York, the Bengals’ defense ranked 31st in points allowed and 30th in yardage allowed and it remains to be seen if they’ll far further - as much as they as they’re already hovering at the bottom - with this poor performance against the Bills.
And when I say the WORST Bengals defense that I can remember, I say that with some degree of confidence. The Bengals’ defense is on pace to relinquish 488 total points and 6,354 total yards this season, both of which would be franchise records - or lows, depending on how you see things. But it gets worse: the 488 total points the Bengals are closing in on would be the third most in the history of the NFL!
Yes, one of the worst defenses indeed, a defense that made an inconsistent and, at times, abysmal J.P. Losman look like Johnny Unitas to go along with play that appears as if they haven’t practiced tackling moving targets all season long.
I have been calling for Chuck’s job on a silver platter for the majority of the 2007 campaign and with each additional loss Bengal Nation inches closer to a breaking point where change will inevitably have to occur. That time is nearing and I recommend that Chuckie starts dusting off his resume and begins to keep on eye on the college ranks. I hear Bill Callahan may be on his way out in Nebraska and they just got torched for 76 points by Kansas, surely Bresnahan can build a defense better than that…right?
OK, maybe not but enough is enough and it is time for a change in Cincinnati.
The question is, just how long will the Bengals wait to pull the trigger? It needs to be soon. Today is their wake up call, let’s hope they’re listening.
Thanks to Bengals.com for the statistics used in this column.
– Trade rumors surfaced last weekend involving Chad Johnson. The source remains anonymous. Resident Bengals scumbag Geoff Hobson wrote in his weekly e-mail bag that he believed the rumor could have been started by Johnson’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus.
The real culprit behind the rumors? The fat boy pictured above, Defensive Coordinator Chuck Bresnahan. Now I’m not Gil Grissom from CSI, but who would profit the most from Chad Johnson trade distractions? Why the worse defensive coordinator in the league! One’s imagination wouldn’t have to stray far to imagine Chuck making the phone call to Chris Mortensen with the same poise as the guy in Jurassic Park that got eaten by the T-Rex with his pants down on the toilet.
– Speaking of Geoff Hobson, columnist and probable World of Warcraft expert, his sentiments on the Bengals running game this past weekend were breathtaking… “The return of the running game was as glorious as the sun cutting through the fog of a Smokies morning.”
Was he talking about football or a commercial for Johnsonville sausages? You be the judge. Danny Tanner just called and said that was cheesy.
– Speaking of sausages, Willie Anderson is out this week with a bad foot. Not only is Willie the president of numerous Fat Burger chains, but he’s also a client! Please contain your shock…
Needless to say this means more time for Scott “False Start” Kooistra. If there were a bet on how many times Troy Polamalu will run by Kooistra untouched this Sunday the over/under would be +/- 75. I hope Carson Palmer got in on the same $30 million dollar insurance policy that Tony Romo got for career-ending injuries.
– Lastly, if we lose this week to the Steelers I will no longer be cheering for the Bengals this season, but in fact cheering for them to lose every game from now on so they can draft DT Glenn Dorsey next summer. This isn’t something I want to do. But since management is simply incapable of signing free agents or developing non-drug addicted talent, this is the only hope for the Bengals to ever have a chance at winning anything. Ever.
Marvin Lewis and the Cincinnati Bengals have moved defensive lineman Robert “Jumpy” Geathers to linebacker until further notice (and if you’re wondering what sort of positive spin Bengals.com beat “writer” Geoff Hobson puts on this one, don’t bother as I think he just completely ignored it).
Now Geathers has been a relatively decent player on the line this season so it remains to be seen if this move will help the defense or ultimately hurt it but only time will tell. However, what I have a problem with is the fact that going in to the game against the New England Patriots on October 1st, the Bengals were down to just four linebackers — yes, four. Two more went down in that game alone due to injury leaving Cincinnati with just two linebackers. The following week was their Bye Week and last week, after their Bye, was a game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
What I am getting at is the fact that the Bengals have had nearly three weeks since they were down to two linebackers,and well over that since being down to four, and haven’t done much in the way of roster moves to remedy this situation. If you cannot sign some sort of free agent linebacker in this time, or you just choose not to completely, I don’t know how you’re going to win many football games. I realize there are no Ray Lewis-type players sitting on their asses eating cheesy poofs on their couches but you cannot tell me that their isn’t any free agent linebackers in the entire United States that you could at least bring in for a tryout; the team even had an extra week thanks to the Bye to do so and didn’t.
And don’t give me any rhetoric about how it would be too difficult to bring in an outside player this late in the game and teach them Chuck Bresnahan’s oh-so-complicated defense because if that is all a player has to do in a week’s time, I am confident they can learn enough before Sunday. Furthermore, if it were that complicated of a defense, THEN WHY DOES EVERY OFFENSE FIGURE IT OUT?
Listen, the Carolina Panthers plucked Vinny Testaverde from a nursing home on a Tuesday and had him start — and win — the following Sunday, and Vinny is 57 YEARS OLD! Integrating free agents can be done.
Regardless if moving Geathers creates a Pro Bowl-caliber linebacker down the road, the Bengals should have never been in this situation to begin with. I realize injuries are not the fault of the coaching staff but everybody in football knows that they happen so coaches have to be able to compensate for that beyond just moving players from their natural positions on a whim.
What’s next? Moving Shayne Graham to offensive line to replace the embarrassingly ineffective Levi Jones from last week?
With the Bengals, it may be more plausible than you think.
After being favored by 7.5 against the Bye Week, the Cincinnati Bungles Bengals thankfully emerged this weekend unscathed. Marvin Lewis must have had one helluva ‘Win One For The Gipper’ speach this week as Cincinnait would not be denied.
But now they must take their stellar 1-3 record in to Kansas City next Sunday in what is another legitimate ‘must win’ situation.
All joking aside, if you told me the Bengals would be 1-3 at the Bye Week with their lone win NOT coming against the Cleveland Clowns I would’ve told you that you’re smoking something wacky, and then I would’ve proceeded to ask for some of whatever it is.
But nonethless the Bengals are sitting here with an atrocious record of 1-3, and with losses coming against a Cleveland squad that played musical quarterbacks in the preseason and a Seattle team that couldn’t muster a single point against Shitsburgh’s reserves. If Cincinnati loses this week’s game against Kansas City they might as well call it a year and start polishing up some of the staff members’ resumes. Win this week, and look good doing so, and The Jungle may once again be rocking with visions of Wild Card dancing in the fans’ heads.
In 2003 the Cincinnati Bengals were facing a then 9-0 Kansas City Chiefs squad and a one Chad Johnson guaranteed, and delivered, a win. If there was ever a time for a gut-check performance such as that, this week would be as good of a time as any. It is time for Cincinnati to swallow the excuses and turn the corner; the time for 8-8 seasons being acceptable in “The Queen City” are over and now it’s time to make regular appearances in the Playoffs.
Resident Bengals apologist Geoff Hobson from Bengals.com fame, actual person seen above (don’t believe his photo appearing on the website), has finally pissed me off enough to write a column about his ridiculous proclamations about our beloved Bengals. I will break down previous articles at a later time so I’ll stick with the current one for now. George Strait and Kentucky bourbon prevent lots of research at this point.
Here’s the way Hobson works….
1) He confuses the reader. This is a portion of a reader’s e-mail this week….
“ With the lackluster defensive performance this past week, how long do you think that the leash on defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan is?”
Response? “If Lewis does it now, why didn’t he just do it in the offseason?”
- Answering a question with a question, very tricky Hobson. There’s no answer whatsoever in that question either. But it gets better…
Continuing… “In this game, it’s never one answer. It’s A, B, C, D, All Of The Above. But given the startling gap in its performance, the Defense Question isn’t multiple choice but a brain teaser. “
- Stephen f*cking Hawking couldn’t come up with the algorithim to make any sense of this. This guy actually gets paid for this job?
2) Hobson then will change the focus of the blame…
“Under Bresnahan, these are basically the same coaches and players that shut out Cleveland six games ago.”
- Yeah Geoff, we shut out the 4-12 Cleveland Clowns last year. Devastating.
Then Hobson gets really tricky….
“Under Bresnahan, these are basically the same coaches and players that held New Orleans’ explosive NFC Championship offense on the road to 16 points eight games ago.”
- True, Naw’lins had 16 points in this game. In the epic defensive performance by the Bengals they only gave up 510 PASSING YARDS! Only the four ridiculous turnovers perpetrated by the Saints prevented them from putting up 50 points. Not fooling me Hobson… get off the World of Warcraft ’cause you gotta bring it better than that….
3) Hobson performs an eye-gouge/crotch chop to Bengals fans by comparing mediocre Bengals players to All-Pro players on other teams….
I’ll be adding a static page to this site until it happens. The comments thread will be open on said page for anyone to add their thoughts, petitions, links, etcetera.
FIRE CHUCK BRESNAHAN NOW!
Petition (Link) -Thanks to the fine folks over at BengalsWhoDey.com
How can you give up 51 points to a team that flipped a coin to decide the starting quarterback in Preseason, benched said starter at halftime of Game 1, whose coach reassured the nation said starter would remain at that position, and then whose general manager traded coin-flipped starter two days later.
The Bengals defense is suspect at best. Enough is enough, it’s time for a change!
We now take our previews to the most electrifying facet of the offense, the receivers. “Ocho Cinco” and T.J. Hoosyourmamma headline a cast of thousands that hopes to be part of the most prolific offensive attack in the NFL outside of Indianapolis. We have a lot of players to cover, so let us not waste any time in getting to business (unfortunately the individual write ups will have to be shorter as there are many more players in this preview).
Everybody knows Chad by now and he’s arguably one of the Top 5 wide receivers in the NFL, among others. Chad has led the AFC in receiving yards the past four years (first time since the merger) and this is despite a slow start over the first four games of last season, or so. With T.J. Houshmazilli recording more total receptions last season, look for Johnson to have another big year as T.J. has to be watched nearly as much as “Ocho” these days by the defense as these two are nearly interchangeable at #1/#2 in this offense.
#2 T.J. Houshmanzadeh
One of the best possession wide receivers in the game today, T.J. opened up his game even more last year recording more receptions than “Ocho Cinco” and notching his first 1,000+ yard receiving season of his career. Housh is easily one of the toughest players on the Bengals roster, along with Rudi, and he likes to play “smash mouth football,” which is a welcomed sight in a division that sports perennial tough teams in Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Reports out of training camp are that T.J. has increased his speed in the offseason and should see time split wide with Chad in the slot, much like Pittsburgh uses Hines Ward in the second and third wide receiver positions now that Santonio Holmes is more of a pure receiver and less of a special teams player. This could be the best season together for the Dynamic Duo out of Oregon State yet.
With Carson Palmer and the quarterbacks out of the way, we now turn our focus to the work horses of the offense, the running backs and full backs. We’ll take a look at the current depth chart, which is much different than one would’ve expected at the start of the preseason. We’ll also take a gander at the two players on the injury list that won’t be on the depth chart come opening day. The third stringer is a new face out of Harvard and replaces Quincy Wilson who was cut much to my dismay as I felt his speed had shown some promise in the limited amount of carries he had received as a Bengal.
Cincinnati Bengals 2007 Preview: Running Backs / Full Backs
Running Backs
#1 Rudi Johnson
The consummate professional, Johnson rolls up his sleeves every week, and every season for that matter, and goes to work. His 1039 rushing attempts over the last three seasons are the most in the NFL and he hasn’t missed a game in that time span. He has rushed for over 1300 yards and exactly 12 touchdowns in each of his last three seasons and expect nothing less than that this season. However, his per carry average dipped to 3.8 last year, which is the lowest, when compared to the team’s per carry average, since 1996 and the overall team’s per carry average of last year of 3.74 being the lowest since 1993. Rudi Johnson will look to turn this trend around despite having lost offensive line stalwarts Eric Steinbach (Free Agency) and Rich Braham (retirement) and may have to be relied on to do it even more-so this season considering the shaky running back picture behind him. Reports out of training camp on Rudi this season are that he tremendously improved on his pass-catching abilities and if that is something the Bengals can utilize more often out of the backfield this season, it will be an added weapon in Johnson’s arsenal and may help to cut down on the beating he usually takes between the tackles. Johnson will look to maintain better ball security this season after his fumble total from last season was more than his previous two seasons combined.
Now that the preseason is over and the roster cuts have been made and the roster is set for the upcoming season, I have updated the quarterbacks preview so that we can kick start the offensive previews by position so that we’re ready for the season opener for the Bengals on Monday Night Football!
To no surprise to us, fourth-stringer Jeff Smith was cut early on in the preseason. However, more recently cut was Doug Johnson which was a move that did come as a surprise to me a bit more than the cutting of Smith did. Now I knew D. Johnson was struggling (as I stated below a few weeks ago), and even suggested Jeff Rowe might overtake Johnson as the number two quarterback behind Carson, but the timing of it was what really shocked me. A new quarterback will have little time to learn the system and will get absolutely no preseason snaps after all of the playing time Doug received in the four exhibition outings.
Nonetheless, Ryan Fitzpatrick out of Harvard University is here via the Saint Louis Rams and Doug Johnson is not. I guess there is only room enough for so many Johnsons in one locker room……I’ll be here all day, folks.
I have moved Rowe up to second-stringer since the little experience in the Bengals’ system he does have as a rookie is that much more than Ryan Fitzpatrick. Overall, Fitzpatrick, however, is likely the better quarterback and both will jockey for position behind Palmer. Needless to say, let’s hope Carson takes 100% of the snaps this season and Rowe and Fitzpatrick only jockey over who gets to hold the clipboard.
The previews for the quarterbacks have been changed slightly since their first release a few weeks ago. I have also updated a few items and added new quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Cincinnati Bengals 2007 Preview: Quarterbacks
#1 Carson Palmer
The golden boy from the University of Southern California enters his fifth year as a quarterback in the NFL, his fourth as a starter, and looks to build off his first 4,000+ yard passing season of his career from last year where he threw for a franchise record 4,035 yards. Palmer took all but three snaps for the Bengals last season which began in September, barely 8-months since Palmer had had season-threatening knee surgery at the end of the 2005 campaign. Palmer is now fully recovered and the knee injury should be a fading memory. Carson will miss the Red Zone threat of Chris Henry for the first eight games but not by much as it is reported that T.J. Houshmandzadeh has picked up his speed in the offseason which should improve his performance as the number two receiver. Protection will be a moderate issue with the losses of guard Eric Steinbach (Free Agency) and center Rich Braham (retirement) which means Palmer will have to be a little more mobile in the pocket this season - - as he should be with his knee fully healthy - - to cut down on the 36 sacks and 15 fumbles (seven lost) from a year go. Look for Carson to have his best statistical year with the Bengals this season.
This is post Monday Night Football despite the ‘Week Of’ dating and now we know what has transpired during the day on Tuesday. Here are your injury updates:
Returning To Practice This Week:
RT Willie Anderson (foot as of 08/16/07 - expects to play some on 08/31/07)
DE Robert Geathers (ribcage as of 08/19/07 - should play against the Indianapolis Colts on 08/31/07)
RB Chris Perry (ankle - six weeks of regular season - Physically Unable to Perform List [PUP] - could return this week making him ineligible for PUP List)
According to ESPN.com (link), the Philadelphia Eagles have released linebacker Jeremiah Trotter earlier today. Trotter is a nine year NFL veteran who has played the majority of his career with the Eagles. Here, however, is where it gets interesting: early in the 2002 year, the Eagles ‘Franchise Tagged’ Trotter and then subsequently relinquished the tag making Jeremiah a free agent. Trotter was then signed by the 2002 Washington Redskins, whose defensive coordinator was none other then our very own Marvin Lewis.
This means that at minimum, Trotter has at least some idea of a Marvin Lewis ran defense and, as an Eagle last year, he recorded 113 total tackles, which would’ve tied him with Landon Johnson for most on the Cincinnati Bengals in 2006 (his 88 solo tackles would have been the most solo tackles overall on the Bengals last year as well).
It is no secret the the Bengals’ linebacking corps is a bit depleted with ILB Odell Thurman out for the season due to a suspension and OLB David Pollack out for the season with a neck injury, not to mention that LB Rashad Jeanty is currently inactive with his own undisclosed injury and first-year LB Eric Henderson was placed on the injured reserve after recently fracturing his wrist. Could Trotter be the plug up the middle that “2006 free agent splash” Sam Adams never was?
We may never know, but if the preaseason, thus far, has proved anything to the Bengals, they need all the help on defense that they can get. I don’t know if Trotter is the answer were looking for, but he may certainly be worth looking in to.
Hopefully Marvin Lewis & Co. are one step ahead of yours truly.
Tab Perry made his triumphant (not so much — 2 rec, 19 yds) return to the Cincinnati Bengals during Saturday’s 19-27 loss to the New Orleans Saints after being out nearly a year with an injury to his hips. This marks the first return from injury of one of Cincinnati’s regular players during this preseason that saw the team go in to the game against the Saints with 21 players sidelined due to some sort of ailment, bruise, or other physical injury.
With this in mind, head coach Marvin Lewis has announced this week that he will shave practices in half, from two hours to one, to try to nurse this team back to health; a team that claimed “camp legs” was one of the many reasons for the lackadaisical play during Saturday’s outing.
Returning To Practice This Week:
LB Earl Everett
WR Glen Holt (hamstring)
FB Jeremi Johnson (hamstring - expected to play Monday 08/27/07)
CB Jonathan Joseph (foot)
TE Reggie Kelly (should return - excused over the weekend for personal reasons)
CB Keiwan Ratliff (dental)
S Marvin White (knee)
FB Stan White
CB Brandon Williams (undisclosed)
Currently Inactive:
CB Blue Adams
RT Willie Anderson (foot as of 8/16 - indefinitely)
TE Bobby Blizzard (lower back - indefinitely)
WR Antonio Chatman (hamstring - indefinitely)
TE Tim Day (knee - indefinitely)
DE Robert Geathers (bruised chest/ribcage as of 8/19 - indefinitely)
LB Rashad Jeanty (undisclosed - indefinitely)
LT Levi Jones (knee - indefinitely: possibly returning to mild workouts by 08/24/07)
CB Ethan Kilmer (knee - indefinitely)
TE Sean Mulcahy (neck - indefinitely)
RB Chris Perry (ankle - five weeks of regular season - Physically Unable to Perform List [PUP])
LB David Pollack (neck - season)
DE Jimmy Verdon (undisclosed - day-to-day)
Season Ending Injured Reserve List:
LB Eric Henderson (wrist: fractured - season)
RB Kenny Irons (knee: torn ACL - season)
RB Dan Burks (season)
Suspension List:
WR Chris Henry (eight games of regular season)
LB Odell Thurman (season)
Most Recently Waived:
DE Bryan Andrews
DT Elliot Seifert
QB Jeff Smith
Willie Anderson appeared on Monday without the walking boot on his right foot that shocked Bengaldom last week and is optimistic for an Opening Day (September 10th) return. Levi Jones is also optimistic for a return in mid-September but doesn’t have the natural swagger that Anderson does to predict his comeback. The rest of the injured list can be assumed to be on a day-to-day basis unless otherwise noted as most ailments are due to the normal bumps and bruises of Training Camp, one that DE Justin Smith is calling Coach Lewis’ “toughest camp yet.”
This list will be continuously updated throughout the week as information becomes available.
Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 7:30PM EST at Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium
The Cincinnati Bengals (0-1) are back home at Paul Brown Stadium for their second preseason game of the four-game schedule. This week, the resurgent New Orleans Saints (0-2) from a year ago bring their high-powered offense in to “The Queen City” to go toe-to-toe with Carson Palmer and one of the most prolific offenses in the NFL.
Cincinnati Bengals (0-1)
The Bengals look to notch their first win of the preseason after a heartbreaking 26-27 loss to the Detroit Lions 10-days ago. On offense, all of the normal starters will be on the field for the start of the game with the exception of right tackle Willie Anderson, who showed up to camp this week in a walking boot on his right foot stemming from shock treatment that will side line Big Willie indefinitely; this is an indescribable loss. Look for RT Scott Kooistra to take Anderson’s place with the starting front five as Kooistra was able to get a lot of repetitions this week at that position against the Saints’ starting line, and star Charles Grant, in the joint practices held between the two teams. Kooistra is said to be one of the best re-signings for the Bengals as he is entering his fifth year with the team after resigning in late-winter without much debate. Kooistra knows the Bengals’ system well but Willie Anderson is damn near irreplaceable.
An MRI on Cincinnati Bengals running back Kenny Irons’ left knee last night revealed a tear on his ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), an injury that will force the Second Round draftee out of Auburn to sit out for the entire 2007 season. All reports indicate that Irons will be available for Spring practice in 2008 when the team opens mini-camps.
Irons’ injury is similar to ones suffered by Ickey Woods in 1989 and Ki-Jana Carter in 1995 in a preseason game against none other than the Detroit Lions. The injury-plagued bad luck for the Bengals has also seen its way to fourth-year running back, Chris Perry, who was a First Round draftee out of Michigan and has had just one full season, 2005, in his first three inured years. Perry will start this season, just like last season, on the Physically Unable To Perform list that will see him miss the first six weeks of the Regular Season.
The “Bad-luck Bengals” continue and Irons will be unable to fill the position the organization once hoped would go to Chris Perry, who has since been a bust, and this was the main reason the organization drafted Kenny.
My Take: Rudi Johnson is a workhorse and can pick up some of the slack that may have been left behind by Irons’ injury. I also feel Kenny Watson is a decent 3rd Down-back, and felt that way when I questioned the use of a Second Round selection on Irons, or any other running back; I have also seen Quincy Wilson show some promise in the limited action that he has seen.
The problem is not losing Irons, is losing WHAT THE COULD HAVE HAD, DEFENSIVELY, IN THE THIRD ROUND. As “Charlie Hustle” always calls it, the Bengals “swiss cheese” defense needs repair and we did not need a running back and a quarterback in the first four rounds. Now that Irons is out, I am going to sift through all of the defensive players the Bengals COULD’VE had in lieu of Irons and see how well they do this season.
The overall impact of any position player that could have been drafted in Irons’ slot will be missed with his season-ending ACL tear, I feel the Bengals have enough weapons in the running back position, especially when Chris Perry returns mid-season, to worry about the loss of a running back in Irons too much. Thoughts go out to the rookie, however, as I know it has to be frustrating…here is to a speedy recovery for Kenny.
Jon Kitna will tell you he heard it all: “you’re not athletic enough,” “you’re not tall enough,” “you don’t have professional-sized hands.” He heard all of the naysayers but with heart and determination as strong as his, there just wasn’t much you could say to ruin Jon Kitna’s spirits or crush his plans. And now, eleven years removed from his tenure at Central Washington, Jon Kitna is still just 1 of 32 starting quarterbacks in the NFL and that dedication has to be admired.
I don’t know if I speak for the entire “Who Dey Nation,” but I know I speak for myself, my Dad, and a few of my close friends when I say that we still love Jon Kitna. Sure he struggled a bit in his first two seasons as a starter in Cincinnati, but with the squads Mike Brown was fielding, Jesus himself would’ve been no better than a .500 quarterback.
We understand that in those first two woeful seasons of 6-10 and 2-14, Kitna only amassed 28 touchdowns to 38 interceptions, and we gave him a lot of shit along the way, but he was always the eternal optimist. You have to respect that attitude for a guy who has been penciled in to save both the Cincinnati Bengals AND the Detroit Lions - a team whose fans show up wearing brown paper sacks over their heads or where sports-talk radio stations try to organize a mass sellout/no-show for home games.
But fast forward to ‘Season Three’ of the Kitna era and enter: Marvin Lewis. Lewis instilled the confidence to win in just about everybody in Cincinnati, a feeling Jon already carried with him, and the Bengals went 8-8 with number one draft pick and franchise quarterback, Carson Palmer, riding the pine for millions; all the while, Kitna tallied 26 touchdowns to just 15 interceptions, his best season as a professional. This miraculous turn around from 2-14 to 8-8 helped ignite the Cincinnati Bengals for future seasons and earned Jon the “Comeback Player Of The Year” award, an honor he more than deserved.
Kitna resigned for the 2004 season, and then again for the 2005 season, knowing that he would be demoted to backup immediately upon signing, but he did so anyways for what he thought was ‘for the good of the team.’ During the next two seasons, Kitna played “Robin” to Carson Palmer’s “Batman,” and did so with all of the gratitude and grace one can imagine. Kitna helped mentor Palmer on, and off, the field and Carson Palmer will readily admit that Kitna is the reason why Carson is where he is today.
In the final entry of the now defunct Carson Palmer’s Official Blog, a post dated January 19, 2006, Carson has this to say about Jon Kitna:
Cincinnati Bengal Odell Thurman was denied reinstatement by Roger Goodell and the NFL.
Two reasons why this request may have been denied:
The fight with his brother where the charges were dropped
The Michael Vick situation has made Goodell even stricter
Regardless, Thurman will miss the 2007 season and can apply for reinstatement again this time next year. This is a huge blow to the 2007 defensive campaign for the Bengals…
Matt
Charlie Hustle
Condo
Doc Hancock
Bob Swerski
Vega
