Labor Day Musings and Ramblings -- Rudi Johnson is a Detroit Lion

Taking a lead out of the PFT guys, I decided to examine the site's hits for the month of August. Let me preface something by saying I've never done this for the hits; I love to write and the Bengals are my favorite NFL team. It's like mixing mashed potatoes and corn, or baked beans and macaroni and cheese. I'm in my sixth year blogging this team and each post has been a blast -- though some seasons more than others.

I was blown away by you guys, making August 2008 the biggest month in Cincy Jungle's lifetime. When I started this site, I was averaging 4,232 page views a month, blowing away my August 2008 total by nearly 1600%! Thanks guys for reading. Seriously. It means a lot.

I have more stuff to get through today. So here goes.

Matt Millen doesn't appear impressed with Rudi Johnson. "He’s got some decisions to make, too. We’re where we’re at. If he’s comfortable with it, fine. If he’s not comfortable with it … But there’s other things too. We’ve just got to get through some other decisions."

It would seem that Rudi is looking to become a starting feature back; my guess as to the "decision" he has to make, and getting "comfortable with it." Who knows what Matt means. A part of me wonders if Rudi Johnson wasn't convinced he'd get cut by the Bengals and didn't prepare for the eventual job interviews.

However, Geoff Hobson writes that a "league source said running back Rudi Johnson is going to be reunited with quarterback Jon Kitna in Detroit."

CONFIRMED: Rudi is now a Detroit Lion.

When NFL rookies met at the annual Rookie Symposium (June 29-July 2), they ate like kings. They consumed 500 dozen eggs, 500 pounds of bacon, 600 pounds of potatoes, 200 pounds of pasta, 900 pounds of beef, 600 pounds of vegetables (coach might be watching), and 200 pounds of chicken apple sausage (that sounds tasty!). But the item that topped the list is 1,000 pounds of chicken wings. Apparently NFL players are a lot like me; we love tons, and tons, of chicken wings.

Bengals wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh led all wide receivers, converting third down receptions into first downs. His 27 conversions were three more than Derrick Mason (24), and four more than Terrell Owens and Reggie Wayne (23 each).

Here's a list of NFL rule changes for 2008

• Defensive helmet radios. Only one defensive player is permitted a radio in his helmet.
• Incidental Facemask. Gone. Only the personal foul variety (twisting, turning, pulling) remains.
• Force out Rule. Gone. You must get two feet inbounds, or it's not a completion/interception.
• Reviewable Plays. Expanded to include field goals, extra-point attempts and illegal forward handoffs. We threw this under the common sense clause, but the league disagreed.
• Second-Half Coin Toss. Clubs are now given the opportunity to defer until the second half, if they win the game opening coin toss.

DID YOU KNOW?

- Since 1978, of the 426 teams that won openers, 225 went to playoffs (130 won the division). Of those 426 teams that lost, only 99 went to the playoffs (55 won the division).

- Last season, 17% of all games were decided by a scoring play in the final two minutes or in overtime; 47% of all games were decided by one score or less -- 21.5% were decided by three points or less.

- For 17 straight seasons, the NFC was represented by a different team (aka, no back-to-back).

- In 2007, seven quarterbacks passed for 4,000 yards -- most in NFL history. They were Carson Palmer, Tony Romo, Jon Kitna, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Drew Brees and Tom Brady. Palmer is among the five quarterbacks to throw for 4,000 yards in 2006.

- In 2008 (preseason and regular season), the Bengals will travel 8,564 miles to their away games. Only Tennessee, Pittsburgh and Cleveland travel less. Seattle will travel 34,766 miles in 2008.