Archive for December, 2011

Bobbie Williams, the lovable and always-smiling veteran offensive lineman has been placed on injured reserve today. Williams hurt his right ankle during Sunday’s 20-19 loss to the Houston Texans. With 6 minutes left in the second quarter, he fell to the ground and needed an examination from the training staff. He then unbelievably walked off the field under his own power. A 300+ pound man walking on a broken right ankle, with absolutely no help. What a tough man, and he even seemed to be pumping the crowd up as he left the field. It appeared that Right Tackle Anthony [...]

Every week, I’ll take a look behind enemy lines and try to understand the enemy team from their persepective. Here’s this week’s interview with Fansided’s Texans’ Blogger Rick Brokaw.

Bengals Head Coach Marvin Lewis surprised the media room yesterday when he pronounced tomorrow’s game against the Texans the biggest game he’s been a part of. “Yes. Very good,” he said. “It’s a rebirth. It’s a big game to win now because of what it means and how it continues to keep us moving forward.” Lewis went as far to say it was his biggest game in 20 seasons of coaching in the NFL. Even bigger than Baltimore’s Super Bowl victory over the Giants when he was Ravens defensive coordinator. “I wasn’t worried about winning that one,” Lewis said. “I [...]

With the final injury reports released for both teams released,  both teams have several questionable players. The Texans may be on the worse side of the coin with All-Pro Wide Reciever Andre Johnson officially listed as ‘out’. One of their backup WRs (and a former Bengal), Kevin Walter is also questionable with an illness. Finally, their starting Fullback Lawrence Vickers is also questionable with a hamstring injury. Vickers in instrumental in allowing Houston RBs Arian Foster and Ben Tate to do what they can do. For the Bengals, 5 players practiced fully on Friday after missing practice in some form [...]

Bengals Defensive Coordinator Mike Zimmer is frustrated with his unit right now. The Bengals are on pace to record a franchise-low 8 interceptions for the entire season, and Zimmer wants more of them. Rank Team Interceptions 28 Cleveland Browns 7 28 New Orelans Saints 7 30 Cincinnnati Bengals 6 30 Minnesota Vikings 6 32 Indianapolis Colts 5 Zimmer had this to say about the lack of picks this season: “I am going to start changing guys out if they don’t start doing it better,” Zimmer said. “I am going to tell them that today. I am tired of it. I [...]

Defensive End Carlos Dunlap looks like he will miss yet another game. He went down in the final minutes of the Steelers game 4 weeks ago and hasn’t been fully healthy since. He was putting together a very impressive season until that point. Though the defensive line rotation is deep, his presence is still missed. Cornerback Nate Clements may miss a second game in a row with a hamstring injury. Runningback Cedric Benson is still hurting from a lingering foot injury that he suffered against the Browns two weeks ago. he will probably be questionable this week. Right tackle Andre [...]

Did the commentator really just call Maualuga, ‘Maualagu’? Butchered… Rey is putting together a decent game here, he got off his blocks pretty well, and actually made 5 tackles in the first quarter alone! Over-pursuing was a bit of a problem again, but this was one of his better games. Pacman Jones shows some really great flashes at times. He’s still a quite inconsistent, but you can really see his talent. The big hit on Wallace yesterday, the tackle for a loss on the opening drive. To be honest, he’s playing incredibly well for a guy who hadn’t played a [...]

Clipped from: www.allproblogger.com (share this clip) We were a veteran team, the Bengals are led by a young group. Marvin Lewis has to handle this differently. The players will take his lead. If guys feel like he is pointing the finger or blames players and doesn’t include coaches, things will go south. If Marvin shares in the blame, tells the players that they all are in his together, I think the team will continue to get better.

Clipped from: espn.go.com (share this clip) Sunday’s 35-7 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers was absolutely horrible. Embarassing, horrendous, whatever you want to call it. The Bengals were outplayed on every level and I simply want to forget that loss. Marvin Lewis and the rest of the team seem determined to move on from it as well. Hell, they were eager to forget the game even when the 4th quarter had just started. That’s why QB Bruce Gradkowski was put in for most of the 4th quarter, not because Dalton was too hurt to play. Yesterday’s postgame press conference was ridden [...]

Here’s a little preview piece that I wrote for Fansided’s Steelers blog over at nicepickcowher.com. Thought I’d repost my thoughts on the Bengals-Steelers game here. I think the Bengals offense can get going this week, but I’m nervous about our injury-ridden secondary! When the Bengals pass: I’m a bit worried that Dalton may fall prey to making the same mistakes he made last game against the Steelers. He threw a few interceptions when the ball shouldn’t have been thrown, and seemed to have major miscommunications with WR Andre Caldwell. This game, AJ Green is back from his hyperextended knee (which [...]