Bengals Banter: Breaking News. Bengals are one win away from clinching the division. A look at the human Psyche and sarcasm
Remember you can follow us on Twitter @CincyJungle.
Breaking playoff note: Cincinnati can clinch the AFC North with a win this weekend. Also, Cincinnati can clinch a playoff spot if Jacksonville AND New York Jets AND the Texans and Dolphins ending in a tie. Hummm... OK, so the Bengals can clinch the North this weekend.
Chad Ochocinco Johnson chose not to wear Chris Henry's number on Sunday against the San Diego Chargers. He said that he didn't want that to be a distraction during the game. I think, in the end, it was probably the wise choice. As much as we'd like to see Henry honored by Chad, the best thing that Chad can do now is keep hauling in those 50-yard touchdown passes.
However, we were asked by the Washington Post if the Chad wore Henry's jersey, should the NFL fine him or let him be. Of course, I'm going to stick up for our boy, saying "Where's the harm."
Cincy Jungle gets recognition . In news regarding Cincy Jungle, Sports Media Challenge ranked Cincy Jungle as the sixth blog overall in the NFL blogosphere. Sports Media Challenge ranks blogs based on content, the community and the influence on the overall impact within the sports blogosphere. They wrote about us:
This blog is one that didn't particularly dominate any of our criteria, but was consistently strong across the board. They don't really have a lot of special features aside from Kirkendall's Bengals' Banter, but they do the expected (previews, recaps, etc.) very well. A model of consistency, they're rewarded with a top 10 spot.
So thank you, the readers, all of whom that greatly interact with each other. We couldn't do it without you guys. Now we're going to be obsessed with improving our rankings until 2012.
Random thoughts about the Bengals and Sunday's loss.
On Leon Hall: It appeared that there was confusion on Vincent Jackson's 33-yard touchdown reception. After Hall bumped Jackson, it appeared that Hall was passing Jackson onto a safety. Problem was that there was on safety covering Jackson.
However, it's the 15-yard reception by Malcolm Floyd that set up Nate Kaeding's game winning field goal. Hall said, "I was playing the inside. I know when I look back on the film I should have had a better break and I've got to contest the ball." Fine, contest it. But why aren't the Bengals calling a defense that prevents the use of the sidelines anyway? I'm more willing to let Hall of the hook -- he's had a great year and deserves the benefit even through a bad performance. I want to ask Mike Zimmer why the team isn't blocking the hell out of the sidelines.
On Carson Palmer.
- First 300-yard passing game since December 30, 2007.
- First game with 40 attempted throws since throwing 44 times against Cleveland on October 4.
- First game with multiple touchdown receptions since throwing five touchdowns against the Chicago Bears on October 25.
On Cedric Benson. It didn't seem like Benson was himself Sunday. He had a few really good runs, but one in particular stood out to me. With 9:21 left in the third quarter, Benson took a second down handoff from the San Diego 48-yard line and kicked it to the outside. Approaching the first down marker, he elected to go out of bounds instead of turning upfield. It was very uncharacteristic of him. As a result (or as a result of the play-call), Carson Palmer tried to squeeze a pass to Jeremi Johnson on the sidelines which fell incomplete. Bengals punt. Granted, one play doesn't summarize the performance of any player and Benson did pick up a first down on third-and-one earlier in the quarter. Still, it was uncharacteristic move for him.
Benson stat: Benson rushed for 53 yards on 15 carries. This year, Benson has rushed for over 100 yards in five games (a record to be broken? read below). The Bengals are 5-0. When Benson doesn't rush for over 100 yards and carries the football 10 times or more, the Bengals are 2-4.
Chad Ochocinco stat: Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco had three receptions for 79 yards receiving and a touchdown. This puts Chad over 1,000 yards receiving with eight touchdowns on the season. Two more touchdowns and he'll tie his career-high (10) he set in 2003.
| Points broken down by quarter. | |||
| Offense | Points Scored | Defense | Points Allowed |
| 1st Q | 61 | 1st Q | 48 |
| 2nd Q | 115 | 2nd Q | 73 |
| 3rd Q | 42 | 3rd Q | 58 |
| 4th Q | 67 | 4th Q | 65 |
| Three points scored in overtime against the Cleveland Browns | |||
Don Banks details the list of tragedies that's faced the Bengals this season.
Clark Judge believes that the Bengals deserve praise. Then, in a separate piece, Clark Judge writes on something totally not related to the Bengals: "Suddenly, it's beginning to look like 2006 all over again in Denver." I shuttered.
Peter King has a nice piece about the Bengals and Henry, concluding "if ever a team won by losing, it was Cincinnati on Sunday.
Andrew Sharp takes a deeper examination into sports tragedies in general.
Paul Daugherty gives the Bengals praise for a loss.
Benson fell short of breaking the team record for most 100-yard games in a season. He has two chances left.
Another former Bengals player died this weekend. Clem Turner died in an accident in West Prince Hill.
Turner, a running back, went to Woodward High School. According to the Bengals' Web site, he was the first Cincinnati prep player taken by the team -- a fourth-round choice in 1969. He played for Denver from 1970-1972.
Chad has been showing his emotions with the loss of his teammate.
Who Dey Fans believed that the Bengals can play with any team in the NFL after seeing Sunday's performance against the Chargers.
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27 comments
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Comments
Congrats on the Top 10 ranking, Kirkendall...
for all of us out-of-town Bengals fans, I don’t know what we would do without Cincy Jungle.
"Ryan, Things in here don't react too well to bullets." - Marko Ramius
Agreed 100%
This is my #1 spot for Bengals chatter, opinion, analysis, and info. As TZ said, living out of town sucks when you’re a Bengals fan and the community here is amazing for folks like us. I feel like I’m virtually tailgating every Sunday morning. Keep up the good work!
+1
Not many Bengals Fans in Minnesota … so this is where I go when I need to escape brainless Vikings banter.
Great Job Kirk with the sight!
This is our year!
by Carsonorbust on Dec 21, 2009 7:53 PM EST up reply actions
yep, awesome
also… shuddered
Gnight, Slim
by supergrover on Dec 21, 2009 10:08 PM EST up reply actions
i'm pretty happy with the way J.P. Foschi has come along.
he has gotten a lot better throughout the season and he played great yesterday. he hauled in a couple tough catches and was pivotal in moving the chains as well. i wouldn’t mind bringing him back if nothing more than a backup. the dude is pretty solid.
Nice job Cincy Jungle- first season with you guys and one of the most enjoyable I've had
Since we can’t get a bye, I’d like to see Denver at the Jungle for revenge in Playoff #1
it looks like it could
end up being Baltimore though. Not sure the Bengals can beat them three in a row.
by occams_tiger_teeth on Dec 21, 2009 9:34 PM EST up reply actions
Superb observation on Ced
…he looked like he didn’t fancy it – or made an honest mistake.
Congratulations on the recognition. We’ll need to re-sign you for next season.
Ced is looking a heck of a lot
like the bad Rudi Johnson of the sub 4.0 yards per carry years.
In fact all year long the worst thing about the running game is the huge number of plays that go for zero or negative yards. You can only get away with that if you’re Barry Sanders.
by occams_tiger_teeth on Dec 21, 2009 6:17 PM EST up reply actions
Ced the Pred may still be a little dinged up
I remarked during the game he looked a little tentative but on that last drive he was going for it. The guy has taken a fair pounding this year. He has had a helluva season just think he is playing through some niggles right now.
anyone worried with the shortened practice week?
practice? we talkin’ about practice. practice.
Gnight, Slim
Don't worry about the lack of special features, Josh.
I think the Six Pack is taking off nicely. :) In all seriousness, congrats to the team for the ranking!
well, I would like to be able to tweak the colors...
sometimes I can’t tell which are new posts
Gnight, Slim
Bravo
Aside from criticizing this team in many of your posts, then suggesting that anyone else who does it might want to take it somewhere else…I enjoy the site. Crossing my fingers this team gives me more reason to be positive and not ruffle too many feathers.
Speaking of Ced...
He also had the 15 yard chop block penalty, completely missed on a block that led to a sack, and punched a guy (no flag though) as a play was ending.
Add in his little step out that made it 3rd and 1 instead of 1st and 10 and you’ve got yourself a heckuva game. Hopefully the coaching staff has already got him pretty hard about some of this stuff, and that this week was an isolated incident.
i forgot about that chop block...
in his defense, i think andre was supposed to slide to the gap to double team the end instead of taking on the blitzer. i don’t know—i only saw the play a few times. but nevertheless, pretty below-average game for cedric. i wonder if they’ll let LJ get a few ore carries since he’ll be going against his old team…
chopping
What’s the rule on a chop block? It didn’t look like the defensive guy was “engaged” with anyone else. That, and I think Ced was just ticked off and thought “what the hell”. Foschi had a solid game, minus the two penalties. No mention of how you guys thought the OL did – seemed that the pass protection was improved.
I only saw the one quick replay, and I thought the guy wasn’t engaged at all. The dive looked kind of desperate, which I think you are saying with the “ticked off and thought ‘what the hell’”.
Foschi also missed one third down pass, but I think it was his only drop.
Gnight, Slim
by supergrover on Dec 22, 2009 10:23 AM EST up reply actions
Zimmer...
I was wondering and ticked off why Zimmer didn’t guard against the sidelines too. The fans really need an explanation where the breakdown occured-either Zimmer or Hall screwed the pooch on that and cost the game.
Truth
See Bengals vs. Browns part 1 2009.
Slim 15, you will be missed. RIP Chris Henry
by Danimal, Destroyer of Worlds on Dec 23, 2009 4:16 PM EST up reply actions

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