Archive for March, 2011

Clark Judge from CBS Sports chimed in on Carson Palmer’s trade demand and shared the news that Bengals coaches have been visiting Palmer in hopes of changing his mind. But Judge believes Palmer isn’t bluffing and will indeed retire if the Bengals refuse to trade him. While I personally am skeptical that Palmer would walk away from football with many good years and many millions still out there, I think it would be wise for Cincinnati to start preparing for life without No. 9. So far they seem to be doing that by scouting quarterbacks and attending pro day workouts. [...]

Quick:  Whose team is this? Who really runs the Cincinnati Bengals? Aside from the easy answer, Bengals owner/puppeteer Mike Brown, whose identity is stamped on the Cincinnati Bengals? It used to be Carson Palmer until the franchise quarterback said a separation was in the best interest of both. And of course there’s Marvin Lewis, who does what he can to instill his values. But in my mind, right now, this is Andrew Whitworth’s team. Big Whit might be Cincinnati’s best player. He serves as the team’s union representative for the NFLPA. And at this point, he’s essentially the team’s biggest [...]

On Friday afternoon, I listened to former Bengals beat writer Chick Ludwig for 3 hours on Cincinnati’s ESPN1530 discussing the possibility of the Bengals drafting Cam Newton or Ryan Mallett with the 4th pick of the draft. I wanted to bang my head on my desk, my steering wheel, and any other blunt object I could find. Here is why I think drafting a QB at #4 is a bad idea. 1. There is no clear top choice. Any QB taken that high had better demonstrate four qualities clearly: athleticism, accuracy, intelligence and leadership. They can’t get consideration for that [...]

Back in January, fan rage with the Bengals was everywhere. Season ticket renewal forms were met with eyerolls (or worse) as cancellations skyrocketed. Fans were mailing back Bengals gear to PBS along with “It’s not me, it’s you” break-up letters. Threats to sever ties with the Bengals were common, most notably with the guy who sold his NFL allegiance on ebay. In the weeks since Jay Gruden was hired, that rage has quieted down. But is it gone? I’m not convinced that it is. Pick the color of your threat level on this “Frustration Index” and help us gauge your rage.

The NFL players and owners have postponed the lockout one day, but it doesn’t seem like a deal will get finished in that time span. Thus, a lockout should hit this weekend, putting a deep freeze on free agency and other player acquisitions, along with a ban on team-sponsored practices and workouts. Until that’s lifted, we will be writing about the same topics over and over and over and over. But we’ll somehow make it interesting. I pinky swear. Now, grab a stick and get ready to join  me.

I’ve started looking into the actual trade value of Carson Palmer. As pedestrian as some of Carson’s numbers have been lately (i.e. he was 19th in passer rating in 2010), I could see the first offer only being a 3rd round pick. Interest from a couple of teams could net a 2nd. If the Bengals could start a bidding war, then perhaps they would get the 1st round pick that many have assumed would be automatic. Then I saw reports like this one, that the Bengals remain unchanged in their position that there will be no trade of Palmer. Scratch [...]

The Carson Palmer saga continues as does the silence on the franchise quarterback’s end. I get it. Palmer is classy. He doesn’t want to bad-mouth his team or its owners. Instead, he’s trying to arrange an exit in a respectable fashion. Well, I want Carson to give us some dirt. Turn this offseason into a full-blown Jerry Springer show. We all know Mike Brown has his faults. We know his presence has been hurting this team for several seasons. Well, Palmer knows even more. He has been embedded in Cincinnati for almost a decade now and he surely has some [...]

OK, using a quote from the freak show that is Charlie Sheen to describe a guy like Mike Zimmer might be minor sacrilege, but The Zim is everything that “Tiger Blood” Sheen thinks he is. Skilled. Intense. Nasty. Awesome. Zimmer is such a complete misfit for the uber-dysfunctional Bengals that you can’t help but notice him. You can’t help but like him. His direct honesty, his willingness to call out mistakes and to own them does not fit the Mike Brown style of management. Ask Mike Brown why the Bengals failed, and you’ll get this. He’ll point out the tiny [...]

My scouting department, which, at zero members is only a wee bit smaller than that of our beloved Bengals, has yet to finish its homework on the NFL’s draft prospects. And yet, I’m ready to roll out my draft-day wish list. Since the Bengals are selecting fourth overall, I only have to go four deep. Here goes: 1. Da’Quan Bowers, defensive end 2. Patrick Peterson, envisioning him as a safety/returner 3. Nick Fairley, defensive tackle (perhaps he could also play some end) 4. Marcell Dareus, defensive tackle Perhaps A.J. Green is slightly more talented than some of the players above, [...]

In what I can only hope is an all-out disinformation campaign by Geoff Hobson to throw off other teams from the Bengals’ draft intentions (but I know is not from the sinking feeling in my gut that feels way too much like I just OD’ed on sliders), we learned this yesterday from deep inside the bowels of PBS: All indications are this is going to be an offensive draft in the first two rounds for the Bengals even if they lose cornerback Johnathan Joseph to free agency. What?!?!? Excuse me while I go pound my head on the nearest wall.