Archive for May, 2009

Mercurial Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco will skip at least the first two weeks of the Bengals voluntary workouts. Instead, the artist formerly known as Chad Johnson will be working out at Coach C’s Phenom Factory in L.A. Coach Collins, a long-time friend of and mentor to Chad, tells Bengals.com’s Geoff Hobson that Chad is in good shape and looks to have strengthened the shoulder he injured in preseason last year. Chad is scheduled to be working at the Phenom Factory through Memorial Day. “I don’t know what he’ll do after that, but I expect him to be at [...]

The Cincinnati Bengals’ first-round pick, offensive tackle Andre Smith, is changing agents again. SI.com’s Jim Trotter reports that Smith has terminated his contract with Priority Sports. Smith signed with Priority just prior to the draft after firing agent Alvin Keels. Keels was widely blamed for Smith’s train wreck at the combine. As Muckraker Mike notes, Ian Greengross, head of Greengross Athletic Management Enterprises, was initially believed to be Smith’s choice after Keels got the boot. Update: Per NFL.com’s Steve Wyche and Muckraker Mike, Smith will apparently be re-hiring Keels. Go figure, eh? Update 2: Joe Reedy exchanges e-mails with Keels, [...]

ESPN’s John Clayton, a.k.a. The Cryptkeeper, isn’t high on the Cincinnati Bengals’ chances of making the postseason this time around. Q: With a healthy Carson Palmer and a 12th-ranked defense sure to improve, what chances do you give the Bengals to make the playoffs this season? From Brian in Cincinnati A: I don’t give them a great chance to make the playoffs, but I give them a chance to be much improved. On defense, they are still a pass-rusher or two away from being good. They need to have more playmaking ability on defense. But I like their draft. Clearly, [...]

Stripe Hype switched over to the new FanSided server a couple weeks ago, a move which trashed the previous blogroll and forced a from-scratch rebuild. But that also gave me an excuse to update all the links, so here’s a rundown of changes to date: Gone But Not Forgotten. Pragmatic and Bering Sea Bengal appear to have called it quits, as Bengals Nation Daily has reverted to a godaddy holding page. C. Trent has also had to take down his own site, apparently due to a noncompete clause in his separation agreement with Clear Channel. You can still follow his [...]

Cincinnati Bengals fans looking for reasons back off the building excitement about the 2009 season can always count on Peter “Buzzkill” King, who predicts fewer than seven wins because the defense will stink and Carson Palmer may not return at 100%. But despite the fact that he thinks they’ll blow, King “likes what the Bengals have done in the offseason.” He even gives the Bengals props for the Brian Leonard trade. In short, great work in the “CYA” department today, Peter. When you make up your mind about the Bengals (my prediction: about week 10 of the regular season) let [...]

“We researched it,” said Nick Harper, a senior at Lakeland, Fla.’s White Haven High School, “and found out he was pretty good.” I don’t know Harper, but clearly he’s a master of understatement. Harper and classmate Jordan Powell are fighting the good fight on behalf of White Haven dean Ken Riley, better known to Bengals fans as The Rattler. From 1969 through 1983, the one-time college QB roamed the secondary, piling up team records that still stand today: 65 interceptions (1), 596 total return yards (1), 141 return yards in a single season, 141 in 1976 (3), five interception returns [...]

Bengaldom is in a state of shock this morning, the prevailing question being, when did Mike Brown fire himself and hire a real general manager? Or some variation thereof. When the team moved quickly at the start of free agency to secure its own free agents — and, when they couldn’t, to bring in equivalent talent, as in the case of Laveranues Coles — fans took note but remained largely unimpressed. No improvement. They’re just running in place. The Tank Johnson signing did get some grudging props, but it was a much-praised draft that finally started to crack fans’ practiced [...]

Safety Roy Williams has signed on the dotted line in Cincinnati. But will he make a difference in 2009 for the Bengals? Opinions are mixed. One of the writers over at FanSided’s Dallas blog, thelandryhat.com, says that Williams wasn’t the same after Dallas switched to a 3-4 defense. He’s actually had to cover people, which is something that Williams doesn’t really excel at. In fact, he downright stunk at covering people. Some might say that Williams’ recent downturn is due to the lack of a rangy free safety to cover his tail like Darren Woodson did, but I think that [...]

The Cincinnati Bengals have shipped defensive tackle Orien Harris to St. Louis in exchange for running back Brian Leonard, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Leonard started in seven games as a rookie in 2007 and finished with 303 yards on 86 carries. His best game came on Oct. 7, 2007, against Arizona when he had 102 yards on 18 carries. He was limited by injuries last year, playing in only two games with seven yards on two carries. Harris was acquired on waivers before the start of the season last year and saw action in 14 games with 24 tackles. [...]

Cincinnati Bengals head coach coach Marvin Lewis hopes that safety Roy Williams, set to finalize a contract with the Bengals today, will bolster the defense on third down. “We gave up an unbelievable amount of third-down touchdowns last year,” Lewis said, “When you look back on our (4-11-1) season, if you could just cut those in half, what a difference you’d have.” In the comments section of his post on the Williams signing (scroll down to “REAX” here), John Thornton breaks down Roy versus the departed SS Dexter Jackson. Roy is a different player than Dexter. SS’s dont have to be [...]