This is my first FanPost so please ignore any formatting snafus or lack of pizzazz. But I have a bone to pick with some NFL Network "experts" who were dogging Cincy's offense ranking on last Sunday's pregame show (I'm looking at you, Marshall).

According to NFL statistics regarding Yards-per-game allowed (from si.com); in the nine games the Bengals have played so far this year, seven have been played against top-ten defenses.

2 games vs. Pittsburgh (ranked #2)

1 vs. Green Bay (#4)

1 vs. Denver (#6)

2 vs. Baltimore (#7)

1 vs. Chicago (#10)

And I don't think Houston's defense is a pushover, either.

If this has been posted or ranted about already, I apologize. But I find this to be very interesting. I suspect the #16 ranking will improve over the next few weeks.

Go Bengals!

As I check in with other fan sites I feel a different aura concerning the Bengals and it makes me feel like this season is special no matter what happens form here on out.  Today I was on the Steeler SBNATION site and I actually felt pride in what the Bengals have accomplished, already, this year.  Many of the Steeler fan posts express some of the same doubts and questions that we Bengal fans have experienced most of our lives.  I must admit I revelled a bit in their pain.  Steeler fans are not accustomed to this doubt though and they seem a bit uneasy talking about their coaches and players in a negative light.  It is almost amusing to read through these negative posts and see that after each question or doubt comes a statement of reassurance that everything will be OK.  I have been amused all season when the Bengals win how it is usually due to the ineptitude of the other teams' coaches or players, or to a bad call from the officials, but seldom due to a methodical butt whipping by the Bengals.  This attitude seems to be changing with the last few wins but there are still some die-hard Bengal haters who usually end with a comment on how the Bengals will fold at the end or never be able to make it if they get into the playoffs.  It is refreshing to hear other team's fans talk about how they think their offensive coordinator is getting predictable and should be changed, or how there is still a chance to get into the playoffs if WE do this and this and this, or how if we only had this key player or that key player.  I am never going to take anything for granted but this year seems different, a special year maybe, perhaps the stars are aligning.  Whatever happens it is always refreshing to hear Steeler fans anguish about their team, or the Brown's fans relive events that happened nearly 50 years ago while proclaiming the new Browns as the team to beat util the third game of the season.  How about the Raven fans who still believe their defense is the heart of their team and they will be there in the end? This is fun.  I have to admit that even though I don't advocate it it is even nice to see militant Bengal fans ambush other teams comment sites and dis the opponents!  Hey, Peter King is actually speaking good of the Bengals!  Hopefully all of you other Bengals fans who have anguished for years without ever getting off of the bandwagon are enjoying this season with me.  The bengals actually have a defense!  I think I'll go read some more Steeler fan posts and enjoy their pain.

I have been following all your comments about what is goin on with the bengals and i agree with most but my true feelings r - I hope Ced realizes the LJ signing is gonna benifit him most in the long run and that he (CED) is still the #1 guy and as for injuries I am hoping our depth is gonna pan out as to the guys getting hurt when they did it gave them time to heal for the stretch and the finish

It seems too easy to pile on Al Davis and the Oakland Raider Asylum; that bit has done before, so we'll just skip it altogether.

Instead, the focus this week for the Bengals is preparing for the best thing the Raiders have going for them: their location.

Every week it seems Cincinnati is issued a new challenge to disprove the Same-Old-Bengals Theory. For Week 11, the challenge is to show they can travel to the West Coast and win.

In a sense, flying to Oakland is the practice-run for the San Diego game later this season. Instead of arriving on Friday like they normally do when heading West, Marvin Lewis has decided to fly out on Saturday to cut down on jet lag and squeeze in an extra day of practice. How effective that decision becomes will likely determine the team's itinerary for the Chargers game.

The game itself shouldn't be much of an issue for the Bengals. While maintaining a few good defenders, Oakland remains laughably dismal on offense, recently exemplified by the benching of former first overall pick, JeMarcus Russell, for the journeyman and third-stringed caliber, Bruce Gradkowski. Bengal fans will recall Gradkowski from when he played for Tampa Bay and beat Cincinnati in a nauseating game in 2006. That game could be the best of Bruce's career; nowadays he seems one step away from video-taping himself throwing footballs in a cornfield, like Uncle Rico.

Yet the Raiders can run the ball some and in close games, that attribute makes them scary, but I don't expect the game to be close. The Bengals stop the run better than they do anything else, which forces obvious throwing downs. Oakland would like to limit Gradkowski's throws to the bare minimum. They know on third-and-long situations, Mike Zimmer will bring the heat with the blitz, so I would expect them to try short throws to their talented tight end, Zach Miller, and screens to the solid running-back trio of Michael Bush, Justin Fargas, and especially Darren McFadden.

The Raider rookie receivers are lightning fast---Al Davis is unabashedly addicted to speed---but they drop lots of passes and are generally unimpressive. Our corners, perhaps the best tandem in the league, might need a little safety help on deep routes, but can take care of these youngsters on underneath routes and around the sidelines on their own.

It makes no sense to think the Raiders can do anything against a run-stopping, pass-rushing defense with excellent corners like Cincinnati's.

Still, I don't see a Bengals blowout this week as should be the case against such miserable opposition.

Oakland has good corners too. Nnamdi Asumugha is a top-5 corner and Chris Johnson has shown a lot of skill as well. The Bengals would prefer not to throw much anyway. A light workload for Carson Palmer this week (and the two weeks after that) can only be beneficial for the quarterback's long-term sustainability this season; I'd rather have him firing touchdowns for three weeks in January, as opposed to three weeks in November.

That means, without Cedric Benson, the other running backs will get a chance to carry the rock, including maybe the newest Bengal acquisition, Larry Johnson. The move to pick up LJ makes sense despite all of the obvious character concerns.

First of all, if you come to play for Marvin Lewis, you're there to work. This locker room will not tolerate any person not trying hard enough to win a Super Bowl. Johnson may be a big name, but he has little relevance to this team, and therefore must prove his worth by the effort he demonstrates in practice. Larry has looked lethargic the last few years and he's beginning to remind me of an aged Jamal Lewis on the field, however, he is a runner who can “carry the load” should Benson find himself further injured at any point this year.

Bernard Scott has exciting potential and his patient running style will serve him well in this league. Brian Leonard has proven himself as a talented third-down back and extra-effort guy. Yet neither is at their best if they have to carry the ball more than 15 times. Johnson can lift some of that burden by simply owning a fresh pair of legs, which are also vital to winning Playoff games in the snow.

Seeing LJ in stripes, railing against the Raiders like he's done so often before with Kansas City, would be an exciting development to an otherwise dull and lopsided affair in Oakland. Crazier things have happened and Any Given Sunday and yadda yadda yadda, but c'mon, it's the Raiders.

Bengals 20, Raiders 6

MK---the real Al Davis must be tied up inside a yacht somewhere near Costa Rica. The looney before us is an imposter hellbent on ruining an otherwise, really cool franchise. Too bad, Al. Too bad.

This has nothing to do with the Bengals.  I apologize if that's a classless move in this sector of the internet universe. 

Here is the link to my sports facial hair blog.  Go crazy.

http://www.mingkroskysbeard.blogspot.com/

In order to satisfy the word minimum to this post, I will go on record in saying that tomorrow I will post the Week 11 Preview which is intensely Bengals related.  Therefore, this post might be more acceptable to those who take issue posting links to random blogs about beards.  Thanks.

This is much closer to when I intended to get last week's thread up.  Sorry again about the mistake.  Anyway, here is the thread for week #8 of our Cincinnati Bengals player pick 'em contest.  (We didn't start until week 3 – and then the BYE week screws it up even further – for those of you curious about the mismatched numbers.)  To see the full write-up of the original rules see here.  Last week's scoring results and a summary of the rules are repeated below the jump.  Here are the current score standings:

1 (tie) – brandone – 78 pts
1 (tie) – FriarBob – 78 pts
2 – CincyMike56 – 67 pts
3 – Deisel2405 – 60 pts
4 – Vman in Germany – 54 pts
5 – ZJiff30 – 53 pts
6 – The Dealio – 44 pts
7 – Carsonorbust – 43 pts
8 – Mr. X – 39 pts
9 – Richard L – 30 pts
10 (tie) – jsl413 – 28 pts
10 (tie) – ritalin – 28 pts
11 – Bengals FTW – 21 pts
12 – Greener’s eyes – 20 pts
13 (tie) – IFChris – 19 pts
13 (tie) – featherman – 19 pts
14 – Kabash – 17 pts
15 – WHYUS!! – 16 pts
16 (tie) – JohnnyK – 15 pts
16 (tie) – indesignkat – 15 pts
17 Danimal – 13 pts

Last week nobody scored any points in this game, and I doubt a single one of us truly cared.  We beat the Steelers.  In their own house.  I'm still half-giddy over it.  Well OK, maybe not quite, but it was a great blast reading all those "concession speech" quotes from Steeler players in the AP recap article.  We'll probably face them again in the playoffs, but hopefully we'll manage to pull it out for the three-peat.

Next up, the absolutely moribund Raiders.  Are there words that can be repeated in polite company to properly describe just how awful these guys are?  This is a game we should probably be favored by 14.  Or maybe even 21.  Just yuk.  Then again, we have won quite a few games we were the underdog in, but so far we haven't managed to blow out an inferior and we need to do so to prove we really belong with the top teams.  All things considered I think the Cardiac Cats were buried when the Texans exposed them, but just in case I wouldn't recommend anybody sell their pacemakers just yet.  Every team in the NFL has talent and ability, and if they can actually come together and focus they could give us a real hard time.  Especially if we treat them like we did the Browns a few weeks back.

Time to place your bets.  Do you expect an offensive shootout?  We've got plenty of WRs and RBs to pick for the scores here.  Do you expect a defensive slug-fest?  We've got some secondary players who can catch INTs and linemen who can force fumbles now, so maybe they are the way to go instead.  Either way, pick your player to hang your hat on, and best of luck to all.

Continue reading this post »

I do... seeing others pop in here (and some Bengals supporters as well) and question (deservedly) the character of Larry Johnson led me to google a bit on character in the NFL.

Ran across this database in San Diego, probably started after they had their Bengal year last year:

http://legacy.signonsandiego.com/sports/nfl/arrests.html

I didn't parse it entirely to see if every team was represented, but there are some real horses on there from many contenders.  Then we get to also consider the non-arrestable character issues like having a baby and dumping the mama for a model (NE QB) or just being a douchebag (NO TE) or allowing your dangerous dogs to run free (eventually killing horses... HORSES?? MIA LB).

Any comments?

[I'm not sure of the propriety of copy-pasting data points from someone elses work, so I'll leave the link to you.

The Bengals’ next three games against the Raiders, Browns, and Lions are the Femme Fatale portion of the Bengals schedule. They’re the deceptively attractive females in action movies. I think this portion of the schedule could compare to the movie Species. In Species, you had this super hot woman played by Natasha Henstridge. All the characters think she’s hot, and one guy even gets seduced by her. The next thing he knows, she gets pregnant, and she devours him. How much does that suck? Not only does he inadvertently knock up some one-night stand chick, but she ends up being an alien and killing him. Of course, if you had to choose between Natasha Henstridge’s alien character vs. Rosie O’Donnell… well, you’d start writing your will and hope the death is quick (wait, which one did I choose? That could apply to either situation…)

Wait, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, the Oakland Raiders, et al., are the Natasha Henstridge of football. They look attractive… but then BAM! they get pregnant and eat you alive. Or just beat you in football… I’m losing my grip on reality, folks. Sorry. (What’s the lesson here? NEVER TRUST WOMEN (except for your mom and possibly the woman you married – especially if she’s a lawyer and can sue you for looking at her funny (I’m joking!!!)))

Read more: http://bengals.gearupforsports.com/blog/2009/11/the-oakland-raiders-are-like-the-really-hot-chick-from-species/#ixzz0XGQCUQYJ

I am from Cincinnati and I live in Florida now, and let me tell you what winning does. It's a rush! Floridians love them some Gators and Crimson Tide. But, there are also alot of SAINTS fans here too. The support is overwhelming, and you see it everywhere. I am hoping the same goes for my beloved Bengals. If your a true Bengal fan then stand up!!!!!They finally look like the team of 88 by signing LJ. See many people don't remember that drive before Montana had the game winning drive. We had a chance to RUN the ball and milk the clock more instead of settling for a field goal. This day and age it's about running the football in January. We have seen the three and even four headed monster in Pittsburgh if you think back to all the backs they have used since Bettis (Parker got his shine off him, and now Mendenhall to him). They still find a way to win by running the football!!! So LJ is perfect. He will help get those grind yards if Benson is hurt or tired. We all know Kevin Faulk don't we? He should be ettched in everyone's mind. If you check where he is on the depth chart he is never the starter, but he always seems to make the big play (Addai the same for the colts when they had James) and so on and so forth. Even the Saints have that kinda of 3-4 headed monster at the rb position. NFL today is about different looks. Johnson and Benson in at the same time would cause headaches for a Def. Coordinator...play action baby! Which is the Bengals strongest suit. Ocho is playing well but he needs more big plays. Adding a guy like Johnson is what the Bengals need offensively to make defenses think twice about blitzing! Who Dey

Plus two other veteran players in Defensive Tacke Ed Johnson and Safety Mike Doss

ESPN reported Tuesday the Bengals worked out a trio of veterans in wide receiver Joey Galloway, defensive tackle Ed Johnson, and safety Mike Doss, a guy that was with them late last season.

We are looking to sign a bunch of veterans it looks like, but I would have liked to see Simpson play before we signed another wideout. Seriously? or at least Coffman in a wideout role.