"I ruptured my ACL and MCL. I don't care. I'll do what I want."

The ACL and MCL is overrated, anyway. What's been totally disregarded (save for Mehl) since he went on Injured Reserve, is that starting safety Marvin White played most of three quarters on a ruptured ACL and MCL against the Baltimore Ravens. All we know about a ruptured ACL and MCL is that the word "ruptured" is a terrible sounding word. Even John Madden would tell you, "when you rupture something, you don't perform as well on the football field. Favre. Turkeys. Fat. Football." Better yet, Mr. Mackey would say "rupturing something is bad, mmmkay." At the same time, we learned two weeks ago that tearing the plantar fasciitis is a good thing and speeds the healing process. Detached ligaments from the bone on your throwing shoulder? That don't confront Carson Palmer, as long as he pays his rent (Edit: stopping bad reference right there). He's going to throw around December 7 to see if he can toss a football with detached ligaments. Say what you will about the Bengals, but some of our boys are tough when it comes to dealing with injuries not related to the wonderful playing surface on Heinz Field.

White has been a mix of good and bad. While, in our opinion, he's making strides to becoming one of the league's better run support safeties (provided he doesn't miss the tackle), he's struggled against the pass, which we knew he would coming out of college. With 10 starts and 12 games played, White finished the season with 68 tackles in 2008, second to Dhani Jones and Rashad Jeanty. He's one of eight Bengals with one interception (how sad is it that we don't have a player with two picks?), of which half are on IR (Rivers, Joseph, Lynch and now White).

Turning 25 this Friday, White has made 13 starts in his young career in 27 games played. Six games he recorded seven tackles or more, including seven against the Ravens where he had already ruptured his ACL and MCL. If we gave out Tough Guy Awards (and that's not real likely this year), then White has to be the top nomination.