Bengals Banter: When Graham crackers finally crumble

Bengals still down, but instead are working the clock instead of having to try to rush downfield to get a score so they can hope to get the ball back.

"Today, we’ve secretly replaced Marvin Lewis with Lovie Smith. Let’s see if they notice."

It’s a good thing I wasn’t drinking coffee when I read it.

Peter King also gave his Special Teams Player of the weekend to Rico Murray on that fantastic punt return where he just came out of nowhere and surprised the hell out of EVERYBODY. I was at the game, and we are all looking at each other like “Who the hell WAS that guy?”

Cincy is in desperate need of a receiver — RIP, Slim — a tight end and a pass-rusher. If they can address this in the upcoming draft and free agency, they won’t miss a beat. Unfortunately, the lack of a practice facility is something I don’t think we’ll see addressed until Mike Brown is gone.

The text messages that I sent to my friends about Shayne Graham. Dude better get cut………for real.

We also need to fix either the WR’s or Palmer. Something there isn’t right. The Bengals arent that far away from being a very good team, but the passing game is horrible.

The next few weeks are going to be filled with all of the media types proclaiming that they “knew all along the Bengals were not a good team” – mainly because they predicted nothing out of the Bengals in the preseason predictions and they love proving themselves right, facts be damned. The fact is the Bengals won a lot of games with a very young roster and some critical injuries.

I would not trade Carson Palmer for any other QB mainly because he is dedicated to this team and city. He showed some real leadership this season – maybe not as vocal as some would like. Him diving for the first down in frigid PBS this past weekend shows he’ll do what it takes to help the team win. Palmer was facing the #1 pass defense in the league – ALOT of QBs have had bad days against the Jets this year. I think he’s has earned the right for us to cut him some slack.

The Bengals lost because 1) they did not execute on some critical defensive plays, 2) the Jets had a very good offensive gameplan coupled with an all-Pro Offensive line, 3) Bratkowski refuses to make adjustments or utilize ANY deception in his play calling, and 4) Shayne Graham let the team down.

The Bengals can only fix what they control – the most critical weakness being the signing of a new OC. Just ONCE I would love to have seen the Bengals play-action pass from an unbalanced line. When I team rushes for 169 yards, you would think PA passes would be devastating.

In sum, however, this team gave me alot of joy this year. I can’t wait until next year.

make the kicks and the Bengals are down by a score. Make one kick and the drive at 3.5 minutes in 4th is to tie.
The last two drives, Palmer and the offense were rushing to get two scores in less than five minutes. They’ve had plenty of practice of needing to get one score in 5 minutes or less and been decently successful (even when they ended up losing the game).
Last two rushed drives: Palmer is 3 for 13. Pretty limited offensive options when you have 3 minutes to get 10 points instead of 7 to tie or win.

that thinks that Graham was franchised solely because that was the cheapest position for Mike Brown to franchise? I was baffled when I learned about it and my brother suggested that then…its the only way I can really make sense of it. If Brown didn’t franchise anyone, he looks like a straight up tightwad so did the next cheapest thing.

I was really looking forward to seeing the Ravens play you guys in the playoffs. Just remember, a lot of those young kids you picked up this year will get better. I firmly believe that despite the disappointing end of the season, the Bengals are on better footing then they have been in a decade. During the off season all the Bengals need to do is just keep Andre Smith from the buffets, the Brown family plane crashing and killing off the entire brood, and hold on to that Defensive Coach and I can see the Bengals really improving. I kid..I kid…we all know that Mike Brown is too cheap to fly…I assume he he bums rides from his unpaid college interns.