Bengals Banter: Peter King Explains Bengals Pointless Ranking of Crazy Talk

by Josh Kirkendall on May 18, 2010 1:41 PM EDT in Analysis

Several were upset that Sports Illustrated's Peter King ranked the Cincinnati Bengals 23rd in his offseason Power Rankings. Not to mention the reaction from the readers on this site, several Bengals blogs and local media took exception. Paul Daugherty, doing his best to be diplomatic with King, says that King "hates the men" and that "he probably doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about them, one way or the other". Translated: King is far more interested in talking about the Patriots. Even Geoff Hobson finds King's Power Rankings a head scratcher, at best.

King did explain his ranking a bit on Tuesday:

As I said, I'm worried about Carson Palmer. He looked like a shell of himself late last year -- in fact, he struck me the wrong way for much of the season after his five-touchdown shredding of the Bears. Cincinnati averaged 6.3 wins a year for the three years before last season. After watching how shaky they were in the playoff debacle against the Jets, I'm not convinced they've permanently turned the corner.

Peter, we actually have a pretty damn good defense. You know, defense. The people that don't play offense.

+ So one of my favorite women in the world texts me last night to make sure I vote for Chad in Dancing with the Stars. It was the first time I voted. I have yet to watch the show, but I did my part to make sure he wins.

+ Chad Ochocinco wished Chris Henry a happy birthday on Dancing with the Stars Monday Night.

+ Chinedum Ndukwe will host a wellness camp for kids this weekend.

+ Poor Mardy Gilyard, robbed at gun point Monday night.

+ I know some of you don't care about the Reds. But I do. I love the Reds and I love the sports in this city. And with the Reds winning eight of the last nine, which includes a captain's seat at the first-place dinner table, we're going to bring them up from time to time. Johnny Cueto (seven innings, seven strikeouts, one earned run) and Jonny Gomes (three-run home run in the seventh) gave the Reds a 6-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers Monday Night.

+ Daunte Culpepper is heading to the UFL, signing with the Sacramento Mountain Lions.

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Comments

I love the Reds and I love the sports in this city

word.

while you’re at it, Cyclones could be champs for the 2nd time in three years.

just sayin

3 yards and a pile of dust

by Hudepohl Dey on May 18, 2010 1:44 PM EDT reply actions

!VIVA LOS ROJOS!

by quickslant on May 18, 2010 2:16 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Bailey with the K for the 3rd out

Votto/Gomes/ Cabrera up next…….eat that suckas

3 yards and a pile of dust

by Hudepohl Dey on May 18, 2010 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions

uh...nevermind

3 yards and a pile of dust

by Hudepohl Dey on May 18, 2010 2:30 PM EDT up reply actions

hell yes, some Cyclones love

by Rocket_Man_G on May 19, 2010 1:35 PM EDT up reply actions

Palmer

The o-line still isn’t where it should be, but I think it’ll be good enough…which means this is the year when we find out whether the problem lies with Carson or the receivers. We added Bryant, Jones, Gresham, Shipley, and Briscoe, so there can’t be any more excuses about not having enough weapons.

by Big Sky Bengal on May 18, 2010 1:53 PM EDT reply actions

he definitely did not look comfortable as the season progressed which is understandable with the inconsistency of Coles, Caldwell, and the TE’s. I think it is a good that we’ve heard positive rumblings from OTA’s and whatnot about Palmer having some sort of connection with Matt Jones as well as Antonio Bryant stating he is very comfortable with Palmer throwing the ball his way. I’m sure some of it is press hype, but if true, it just bodes well for the off-season.

by Cedric Benson Boat Party on May 18, 2010 3:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Let the numbers speak

Here are Carson Palmer’s career stats with the Bengals. The Offense is re-tooled, so we should see good numbers again http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/stats?playerId=4459

by justRick on May 18, 2010 6:13 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm not sure if this season is the make or break with Palmer everyone talks about

All receivers that are expected to contribute heavily are new to the system, other than Chad. If you consider Caldwell a receiver who will contribute heavily then you can throw him in. Other than that you have Bryant an Unrestricted Free Agent-1st year with the team. Shipley a rookie-1st year with the team. Briscoe a rookie-1st year with the team. Matt Jones FA-1st year with team. Gresham rookie-1st year with team. Don’t get me wrong Carson needs to perform this year. I guess what I am saying is if he has a decent year then are we going to start saying we need to replace him? What type of season is it that everyone expects out of Palmer? I guess thats what I would like to know. Every one says it is a make or break year for him. What would be considered break? If he performs at a level we consider as a “break” year then what?

I do think Carson has to perform this year but I don’t want fans getting too much expectations. A lot of these players are rookies and players new to this system. A repeat of 2005 isn’t likely, this year anyway. I think Carson needs to perform but at the same time what level of performance are most fans thinking Carson needs to perform at? Are we putting simply stats on it or are we looking at wins or are we looking at what our eyes tell us on the film?

by C1ncy4Life on May 19, 2010 8:18 AM EDT up reply actions

I woulda liked to have culpepper

Good backup IMO

by Tdlong85 on May 18, 2010 2:00 PM EDT reply actions

I Dislike Peter King more and more each day

There is no indication that the Bengals are going to slide. Even if Carson never has a repeat of his 2005 and 6 years, the rest of the team is improving. It took a while for Marvin to get the boat fully turned around, as the year after his first play-off appearance, the draft went complettely bad. Since then the Bengals have had some of the best drafts in the NFL, and NFL free agents want to sign with Cincinnati.

In his first 7 seasons as a head coach, Marvin Lewis has won more Games than Bill Belichek (in his first 7 seasons), has as many play-offs seasons, and has more non-losing seasons. Marvin Lewis is a good coach, and is turning the corner in Cincinnati.

Most NFL analysts are seeing this; however, my one complaint about most NFL analyst is that they are not very good at analysis. They know the Game, but not analysis. Some, like Peter King, I think don’t know either.

To sum up, Peter King Bad – Marvin Lewis and the Bengals good.

by jim0ijk on May 18, 2010 2:11 PM EDT reply actions

I gotta say, it’s nice to see Hobson stick up for the Bengals.

This is our year!

by Paul Cannon on May 18, 2010 2:15 PM EDT reply actions

Peter King...

Should play in traffic!

by TCfromDubVee on May 18, 2010 2:42 PM EDT reply actions

I would hate to see him damage a nice car.

Maybe he could play on a construction site.

by jim0ijk on May 18, 2010 2:49 PM EDT up reply actions

I like the way you think!

by TCfromDubVee on May 18, 2010 4:38 PM EDT up reply actions

I would have been much happier

had PK just said “The Bengals are the Bengals, I dont trust them to be good 2 years in a row. they always have bad luck and find a way to screw things up” rather than his completely flawed and lazy assertion that “he doesnt trust Palmer” without thinking about WHY Palmer wasnt as effective last year and what the Bengals did to help that situation ( 5 wr’s & TE’s in the offseason) or the fact that we still have a killer defense.

Hi fans it Brandon Roy.
And ME.....LaMarcus Aldridge

by Derftron on May 18, 2010 2:55 PM EDT reply actions

But why would Peter King actuallly do some research like that?

I mean, it’s not like the Bengals are one of the “sexy” teams. If the Bengals continue to improve, I’m sure he has a pre-written column explaining why picks aren’t an exact science.

by IFChris on May 18, 2010 3:08 PM EDT up reply actions