Cincinnati Bengals Links and Notes: We Beat the Steelers Yesterday Edition

Maybe it's not supposed to be such a big deal that we beat the Steelers yesterday. Or maybe it really is a huge deal. I think the offensive line was under-heralded for the victory yesterday, and did a great job of keeping Palmer upright for most of the game, especially once we got the first quarter jitters out of the way.

All in all, it's a great day to be a Bengals fan. 2-1 is not ideal given the week one FLUKE (that's right, Denver fans), but as Kirkendall mentioned last night, we have a good shot at being 5-2 going into the bye week. I think any Bengals fan, presented that option before the season, would readily have taken it.

That said, here's what the internets are saying about the now-legitimate Cincinnati Bengals!

• Here are all the postgame quotes, as always (also Tomlin's post-game interview here). Good stuff. I dislike Hines Ward. Also on Bengals.com, Geoff Hobson reviews the biggest plays of the game, with a cool quote from Brian Leonard walking us through his pivotal catch on 4th and 10.
• We'll start local. Here's Paul Daugherty's recap of the game. He says there has been a major attitude shift in Cincinnati. I kind of agree, I think in the past, a Bengals team would have bent over after the first quarter. These Bengals will fight you, Bobbie Williams said so. Joe Reedy also recapped the game, talking about what actually happened more than the psychological impact of the victory.
• Also local is C. Trent Rosencrans' CNati.com, which is pretty cool, and has some pretty cool stories about different interesting topics related to sports in Cincinnati. Chris Crocker does not like Hines Ward. Chinenum Ndukwe hates the Steelers. The Bengals think the Bengals are for real. Also, Carson Palmer has led some scintillating drives this year. We give him a lot of flak, but Carson has come through more than once in this young season. Finally, from cnati.com, some really cool photojournalism.
• Moving on to national media, here's ESPN's coach ratings by week for Marvin Lewis. Note, with wins, his approval ratings improve. James Walker, back in the good graces of Cincy Jungle, writes that the Bengals earned contender status. I mean, we did beat 2 straight so-called playoff caliber teams, and really should have beat Cleveland. "The Bengals of old would have laid down," Ochocinco said. "We would have been rattled."Also, Keith Rivers agrees with everyone that Stokely's TD was a fluke.
• John Clayton writes that the Bengals shook up the AFCN. "The Bengals officially have moved into the surprise team category with their 23-20 victory over the Steelers," he wrote. Sadly, he also wrote that the AFCN belongs to the Ravens. I guess we'll have to show them what's up in a couple weeks.
• In SportsNation's "Making Sense of Sunday" column, one of the most shocking things that happened this week was the 3-11-1-in-2008 Bengals beating the Steelers in week 3. I'm not so shocked, but the game itself was shocking.
• Geoff Hobson was apparently the first team-hireed writer in the U.S. 10 years ago. The Bengals pioneered a now-common marketing technique, says this NYT article.
• Peter King at SI, usually a Bengals HATER, finally has something good to say. Vindicating.