Archive for June, 2010

One of the most interesting things facing this year’s Bengals team is the weight of their own expectations. Last year, they came out of nowhere to sweep the division and win the AFC North. This year, they’re going to face much greater expectations than in year’s past. Fueling that fire are the lists and rankings that the pundits love to produce. This season, the Bengals have been faring pretty well in them. Exhibit A:  USA Today just released its power rankings and the Bengals are 11th, a solid number. The note attached says it’s going to be difficult for the Bengals [...]

This has happened before. I’m a sucker for men in orange and black. Carl Pickens. Corey Dillon. Ki-Jana Carter. Odell Thurman. Chris Henry. I’ve fallen for them all before, and I get the feeling it’s hapening again. I just can’t help it. I’m catching Pac-Man Fever. Adam Jones is saying all the right things. Yes, he missed a couple of days last week due to some nagging injuries. And yes, his rap sheet is thicker than a city phone book. But Jones said he’s working hard. And he’s heaping praise on defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, which certainly doesn’t hurt. Here’s [...]

NFL.com’s Steve Wyche puts the Bengals at No. 6 overall in the NFL in his preseason rankings. The Bengals are still behind Baltimore in Wyche’s list, but that’s a rather impressive placement for the men in stripes. Here’s what Wyche had to say: 6. Bengals — The defense might be the most physical in the AFC. Carson Palmer needs to regain his form. He has more wide receiver (Antonio Bryant) and tight end (Jermaine Gresham) threats. I think Wyche has been reading my stuff. With all his new weapons, I’m predicting an impressive season for Carson Palmer.  As for the [...]

The NFL Network’s Jason LaCanfora made his early predictions for the NFL’s division winners and Baltimore got the nod in the AFC North. La Canfora says the Bengals have to prove they can do it two years in a row (fair enough) and he’s still not convinced the Bengals offense will be better or that the offensive line can duplicate its 2009 success (Now, we have beef). Add that to the fact that LaCanfora says Baltimore was the best team in the division at the end of the year (he might be right) and the Ravens get the nod. This [...]

For fantasy freaks like myself (I mean the football kind, not the bikini babe-tricycle-pinata kind), it’s never too early to start thinking about fantasy football. ESPN has helped us all out in that regard with some preseason rankings. Here’s one from my favorite fantasy scribe, Matthew Berry.  Berry has Ced Benson 12th overall, Chad Ochocinco 54th, and Antonio Bryant 126th, right behind Louis Murphy and Mario Manningham. Bryant has a chance to be a fantasy steal this year if he can approach T.J. Houshmanzadeh numbers, which I think he can. In ESPN’s staff rankings, Cedric Benson is 16th, Ochocinco is [...]

The ratings for EA Sports’ Madden 2011 video game have begun to trickle out and the Bengals are a respectable 9th out of 32 teams. Here is the complete list, provided by GameStop. Rank Team 2011 Rating 2010 Rating Rating Change Playoff Seed 1 New Orleans Saints 92 94 -2 NFC-1 2 Indianapolis Colts 91 93 -2 AFC-1 3 Baltimore Ravens 90 87 +3 AFC-2 4 New York Jets 89 88 +1 AFC-3 5 Minnesota Vikings 88 90 -2 NFC-2 6 Green Bay Packers 87 87 0 NFC-5 7 Dallas Cowboys 87 88 -1 NFC-3 8 New England Patriots 86 [...]

Chick Ludwig announced Michael Johnson as his candidate for Bengals Breakout Player of 2010. The pick makes a lot of sense. The defensive coaches are working with Johnson as a strong-side backer to allow him to wreak havoc at multiple spots. Johnson had a nice debut last year, displaying a habit of knocking down passes at the line of scrimmage. He could still get some time at defensive tackle in addition to end and outside backer. Personally, I’d like to see him as a pass rusher more often next season, giving the team some speed and athleticism off the edge. My own pick for [...]

Shayne Graham signed with Baltimore today and Cincinnati turned the page on a good kicker who was bad in clutch situations. Shayne Graham was extremely consistent in his tenure with the Cincinnati Bengals, hitting on almost nine of every 10 kicks. The only trouble is, he missed all the ones I remember. He missed against Pittsburgh when it would have sent Cincinnati to the playoffs. And he missed two against the Jets in the playoffs. Those are the two that really hurt. Had he made one more field goal against the Jets, Cincinnati’s last possession would have been aimed at [...]

There’s a good bit of Bengals ink on ESPN’s AFC North Blog.  James Walker looked at some Bengals who are in the final years of their contract (Marvin Lewis, Ced Benson, and Jonathan Joseph) and then hit a variety of topics in his chat. It’s interesting to note that he has already eliminated Pittsburgh from consideration as AFC North Champions. Walker said he’s trying to decide between Cincy and Baltimore. I’d love a repeat title, but I just want to see the Bengals in the playoffs again. And I want to see them win a few games. Make it happen. [...]

Week 5:  Oct. 10 vs. Tampa Bay There is no such thing as a “gimme” game in the NFL (see Oakland, 2009), but this game is a must-win and a should-win for the Bengals. Tampa Bay figures to have an untested quarterback in Josh Freeman and a team that is still in transition. Cincinnati should have the edge in almost every facet of the game (including home field advantage) and needs to dominate this game. The team has a bye in Week 6, so a win here should give the Bengals some momentum and a 4-1 or perhaps 3-2 start if [...]