Aside from coming entirely too close to making me look like a prophet when I mused that we might find a way to throw a game we should have a legitimate shot at, yesterday's game was actually fairly good.  We weren't great in pretty much any area, but we were mostly good enough in almost every area.  At least this week we accomplished the comeback, rather than falling short of it.  But is it too much to ask for us to play somebody and just beat the tar out of them?  Well, it probably is.  There just aren't very many truly terrible teams in the NFL.  You'd think when we decided to stop being one of them that somebody else would step into our place.  Maybe they did and we just don't get to play them this year.

Oh well, enough on last week.  Up next we have the winless Indy Painters, who can paint any field with lots of yards and points but so far no wins.  I for one would really like us to avoid going down in the 2011 NFL annals as the first team to lose to them.  If our defense keeps doing its job and our offensive line can keep Andy clean (sad to say that is NOT an easy task against Mathis and Freeney), we do probably have a shot at winning.  But it will take all our boys have, on both sides of the ball.  We can't let somebody get ridiculously open for another 74 yard touchdown in the fourth quarter or anything.  Garcon is good enough as it is, and he and Painter have great chemistry, we can NOT just let him run around free to paint the scoreboard.

Oh and please remember to un-rec the previous week's post if you rec'd it previously...

Scoring recap post from last week is repeated below the jump as well as the summary version of the rules.  (Review the original full write-up of the rules here if you like.)  Pick your player in the comments and have fun!

Well well well, that was an interesting game the real players played. And it was also an interesting game for us here as well. I counted 50 legitimate entries, discounting the obviously disallowed picks of the QB. I’ve never disallowed picking people not on the team, I only gave the option to change your pick if you picked somebody who WAS on the team and then was removed (via trade/cut/waiver/suspension) after the pick was made. So the MJD picks turned into free points for some people. Everybody make sure to thank our visitor Jaguar fans for that one.

As for the offense, it actually showed up today. A.J. Green is a beast, of course, but we had two other offensive guys score TDs as well, we had a defensive recovery of a fumbled snap, and we even had a defensive TD (though that one probably should have been reviewed, but it still counts in the game here if it’s on the official stats on NFL.com).

So here are our weekly points scored:

featherman – 98 pts (Geno Atkins)
WHYUS!! – 49 pts (Nate Clements)
MCSubtext – 49 pts (Bernard Scott)
Cry – 44 pts (Jermaine Gresham)
casapennec – 44 pts (Jermaine Gresham)
ephram – 44 pts (Jermaine Gresham)
bill schwab – 44 pts (Jermaine Gresham)
these3words – 44 pts (Jermaine Gresham)
duffmane – 44 pts (Jermaine Gresham)
JerseyBengal – 39 pts (A.J. Green)
James Schmid the great – 39 pts (A.J. Green)
Rockhound-11 – 39 pts (A.J. Green)
Boomer Lion – 39 pts (A.J. Green)
KyleStyle11 – 39 pts (A.J. Green)
Paul Cannon – 39 pts (A.J. Green)
BoomerEsiason’sLoveChild – 39 pts (A.J. Green)
BonnieBengal – 39 pts (A.J. Green)
rudebengal18 – 39 pts (A.J. Green)
Alexneyer – 39 pts (A.J. Green)

Added to previous standings, this gives us a week 5 leaderboard of:

1. duffmane – 169 pts
2. bill schwab – 166 pts
3. The Dealio – 147 pts
4. TruWhoDey – 125 pts
5t. Cry – 116 pts
5t. ephram – 116 pts
6t. Boomer Lion – 109 pts
6t. BonnieBengal – 109 pts
6t. Paul Cannon – 109 pts
6t. James Schmid the great – 109 pts
6t. JerseyBengal – 109 pts
7. Grizzlyfox – 107 pts
8. biggie22 – 106 pts
9. Cedric Benson Boat Party – 105 pts
10. MCSubtext – 101 pts
11. featherman – 98 pts
12. jimbasa – 88 pts
13t. Rockhound-11 – 74 pts
13t. BoomerEsiason’sLoveChild – 74 pts
13t. KyleStyle11 – 74 pts
14t. diehard bengals fan 20 – 72 pts
14t. bengalsfanforlife – 72 pts
14t. LookingDeep – 72 pts
15t. i am will – 70 pts
15t. Aether – 70 pts
15t. jim0ijk – 70 pts
15t. JADefense – 70 pts
15t. Mr. X – 70 pts
15t. K312 – 70 pts
15t. Joe Goodberry – 70 pts
15t. Throw the ball – 70 pts
15t. BradDwayne – 70 pts
15t. CincyMike56 – 70 pts
15t. Pardon_My_French – 70 pts
15t. emeybee – 70 pts
16. ItsAlwaysSunnyInDayton – 53 pts
17t. Richard L – 52 pts
17t. FriarBob – 52 pts
18. WHYUS!! – 49 pts
19t. casapennec – 44 pts
19t. these3words – 44 pts
20t. rudebengal18 – 39 pts
20t. Alexneyer – 39 pts
21. Striped_To_Impress – 35 pts
22. ThreeofSpades – 28 pts
23. 70sav – 27 pts
24. Jordan G – 25 pts

Here is a quick recap of the rules.

1. Pick one player (Make it easy on me, make him the title of your post.  Both first and last name please, and please try to avoid nicknames or blatant misspellings.) who is NOT officially listed as a QB, P, or PK on the roster.
2. An offensive score is worth one point per participant who did not pick your player.
3. A defensive player is worth 2/1/0.5 point(s) per participant who did not pick your player based on if he 2) actually scored, 1) gained possession of the ball for the team but didn't actually score, or 0.5) allowed the Bengals to gain possession by causing a fumble (or blocking a kick) that another Bengals player recovered.  Sacks or tackles behind the line of and by themselves are not worth anything unless they are a strip-sack (0.5 points if we recover) or they are also a safety (2 points).  All half-points will be rounded down.  A blocked FG is always 0.5 for the blocker, a blocked punt is the same unless the blocker is the only person (on either team) to touch the ball before it becomes a safety (in which case it becomes 2 points).
   
4. You score the maximum possible points for your player but only one time.  So a defensive player who forces an opponent's fumble that Cincinnati recovers and recovers another opponent's fumble at a different point in the game is worth 1x points (not 1.5x cumulative).
5. Keep commentary to the bare minimum please.
6. Predictions on how they will score are not required, and if you provide one they don't net you any bonus if you are right nor do they detract if you are wrong (so long as they do actually score by game rules).
7. Try to be original yet still pick somebody you think has a realistic chance to score or cause a turnover.
8. Only ONE (1) player entry per contestant, per week is allowed.  Unless your first player was on the roster at the start of the week and is put on IR/cut/traded before the next week, your first comment is your player, so pick carefully.
9. Deadline for player entries each week is THIRTY (30) minutes prior to kickoff.