…but at least the beer’s cold. Hope no one minds if I open a tall boy along with the windows as we air this place out after a nearly 10-day hiatus. Living the High Life indeed.
So, howdy from me, the new guy. Just to make sure everyone is throughly confused, the site overlords have seen fit to bring on someone with the same name as the guy who came before, so it’s Dave, but not Dave, if you get my drift. I thought about going with something like Dave2.0 or NewDave, but frankly Dayton Daily News sportswriter Chick Ludwig has cornered the market for “cheesy nickname choices by a Bengals blogger” with “The Chickster,” so I just stuck with the basics.
Anyhow, thanks to Adam and Zach for giving me a shot, and a tip of the hat to (old) Dave as well, who in my book is welcome here any time. Between them they’ve put together a damn fine blog and…aw hell, enough with the explanations and ass-kissing. This is supposed to be a Bengals blog. So what did we miss during the interregnum?
The answer would be, quite a bit, actually. Which is surprising, since the waste of time between the draft and training camp is probably the deadest stretch on the NFL calender. T.J. Houshmanzadeh mulled showing up for the voluntaries after the Bengals drafted and/or signed about 847 wide receivers, but hasn’t appeared yet. After spending all of last year on injured reserve with a busted wrist, LB Eric Henderson is moving back to his old college position of defensive end. The early book is that he and former third-round pick Frostee Rucker will battle it out for the fourth and final DE slot. Ahmad Brooks is getting looks at the SAM spot, but his slow recovery from last year’s groin injury is limiting his reps in practice. RB Chris Perry is healthy (the over/under on how long that lasts is six weeks) and, with Rudi also recovered from his hammy injury, the Bengals are in no rush to sign former Seahawks star Shaun Alexander. Finally, new DC Mike Zimmer is installing a new defense whose No. 1 priority is stopping the run. Well, more power to ya, Mike, but we’ve heard that before. Good freakin’ luck.
Oh, and they signed a long snapper, Tim Bugg. Is the end nigh for Brad St. Louis?