The Daily Banter: Power Rankings Drop The Bengals

Even though the team lost, and some will undoubtedly promote themselves as wiser beasts that only football gods would smile upon, we still decided to run a reader poll on Player of the Week against New England. Sure, the team looked terrible. Sure, much of the good we witnessed Sunday was a result of New England's first half domination. All that being considered, we went forth. Our nominations were Carson Palmer, Chad Ochocinco, Jordan Shipley, Mike Nugent and Keith Rivers.

Having caught 12 receptions for 159 yards receiving and a touchdown, Chad Ochocinco pulls in 53% of the votes, with Shipley's performance coming in a distance second. Thanks for voting.

+ Speaking of Chad, he was selected for another drug test, giving him three in one month.

+ The Enquirer's Joe Reedy breaks down personnel snap totals, charting how many snaps each player took. For instance, you might not have noticed, but Andre Smith had 10 snaps against the New England Patriots. Jordan Shipley had 58 snaps too.

+ After a hard fought 10-9 win over the New York Jets on Monday, the Ravens will come into Cincinnati, who has beaten Baltimore in five of the past seven games.

+ According to Clark Judge, the Bengals loss to New England proves that Cincinnati isn't "the team to beat in the AFC North. Baltimore is."

+ Pete Prisco dropped the Bengals power ranking from eighth to tenth after last week's loss, writing, "Even though they got handled at New England, the play of Carson Palmer -- save for one bad pick -- had to be encouraging."

+ SB Nation's ranking has the Bengals 18th, also dropping two places.

+ The Bengals fell five places in ESPN's Power Rankings to 17th. John Clayton was the most favorable towards the Bengals, ranking them 12th.