Archive for October, 2009

One of those offseason artifacts that gets picked over when there are no games to play is strength of schedule. Based on last year’s finishes, it’s an imperfect — at best — measure of what a team faces. So, four games into the season, here’s how the schedule looks today. As my measuring stick, I decided to use not wins and losses, as there are still too few of either, but Super Bowl odds. Bottom line: predictions that Cincinnati’s schedule would rank among the easier NFL roads were greatly exaggerated. Current odds for the good guys: Cincinnati Bengals Team Odds [...]

So, how much does it suck to be WR Chansi Stuckey or LB Jason Trusnik today? Yesterday, they looked playoff-bound; today…well, not so much. Bye Braylon! So long and thanks for all the drops! Best part is that the Bengals get to blank him again when they play the Jets at the end of the season. Ced-Bed is banged up ahead of the Baltimore game. Andre Caldwell is looking to bounce back from a shoulder tweak, and Tank Johnson has Eli-Manning-foot. Bad news there, as Cincinnati’s run defense clearly missed Tank and S Roy Williams against Cleveland. Today’s Marvin Lewis [...]

Right now, it’s popular to damn the Cincinnati Bengals with faint praise. “Yeah, they’re 3-1, but they’re only a handful of plays away from 0-4.” The reverse, however, could have been said after four games last year. “Yeah, they’re 0-4, but they’re only a handful of plays away from 3-1.” Only the Tennessee game in week 2 of 2008 was a blowout. The Bengals lost the other three by an average of six points. This year, they’re winning by a similarly slim margin. That’s how close things are in the NFL. That the Bengals are finding ways to slip over [...]

Whew. These aren’t your grandfather’s Bengals. Or your father’s, your mother’s, your cousin Joe Bob’s or any other version I’ve ever seen. The Bengals not only avoided another late-game origami fold, but they won in overtime, once again making two clutch fourth-down conversions to secure the victory. After the 23-20 overtime thriller, there’s plenty to be disgusted about:  an offense that is extremely inconsistent, play-calling that is about as diverse as the first version of Tecmo Bowl (run, run, pass, punt, repeat), a 14-0 lead that became way too close for comfort, and a number of unnecessary penalties. But in the end, [...]

Cincinnati Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty has two modes. In one, he actually uses his brain and writes good stuff. In the other, common to his writings on the Bengals, he spends lots of time eating dick-shaped crackers (h/t my old buddy Hair). Tonight is a rare example of the non-cracker-eating Doc. The Bengals’ offense played tragically for about two hours Sunday, managing zero first downs in 39 minutes and 54 seconds of clock time. It was beautiful on its last play, though. Carson Palmer channeled his inner Michael Vick and ran 15 yards on 4th-and-11, setting up the overtime field [...]

In the waning seconds of OT, the Bengals manage to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, beating the woeful Cleveland Browns 23-20. The Cardiac Cats are going to kill me by the end of the season. Gawd forbid they actually win a game by more than an RCH. RCH? That’d be “red” on the front and “hair” on the back and you can probably figure out the “C.” But anyhow…props to the D for some big OT stands, boos to the O for sucking wind most of the game, and a big “why the hell do you still have [...]

Cincinnati can get to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the AFC North with a win in Cleveland today. But they will have to get that W without Roy Williams and Tank Johnson, both of whom are out. Rookie and “Hard Knocks” star Tom Nelson is active for the first time this year, as is DE Non-Dairy Dessert Rucker. Still on the shelf are Jerome Simpson and Crash Dummy. On the opposite sideline, RB Jamal Lewis will not play.

Funny, but I was just thinking the same thing last night that kirk mentioned this morning: the “Battle of Ohio” just ain’t what it used to be. Being an old fart of 43, I can remember another time, a time when the week before a Bengals-Browns game was its own little media circus. There would be plenty of smack talk in the papers and on the tube, and the mayors of the two towns would wager gift baskets of local favorites on their teams. When the Browns won, Skyline Chili, Montgomery Inn ribs and Hudepohl beer would be shipped north; [...]

Via Lance McAlister’s blog, I see that Wednesday was Bengals beat writer Chick Ludwig’s last day at the Dayton Daily News. With award-winning Reds writer Hal McCoy’s time almost up as well, local Cincinnati sports coverage is contracting…again. So for what it’s worth, another shout-out to the guys at Cnati.com who are trying to keep the local flame alight. Good luck, Chick. Thanks for writing lots of crazy stuff I could make fun of. You’ll be missed.

“Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!” That was me in my car a few days ago, listening to Sirius NFL Radio as Carson Palmer recounted the fourth-down pass to Brian Leonard that perserved the Bengals fourth-quarter comeback against the Steelers and perhaps saved the early part of their season. About 24 hours after the game, it finally hit me. And I had to yell. Cincinnati had beaten Pittsburgh at home for the first time in eight years. With a last-minute rally. And two fourth-down conversions, the second of which was Leonard’s catch and run for 11 yards on 4th and 10. It was one of [...]