Most of you know that most of the Cincy Jungle staff hold regular jobs and/or going to school to further their respective education into the field of journalism. And while my "day job" consists of many issues that requires patience while waiting for results to further the jobs, along my ability to multi-task, keeping Cincy Jungle updated hasn't been too difficult. A project at my day job crushed that this week, forcing much of my time to resolve the system-wide implementation of new software. If there are any computer/system technicians reading this, you know that implementing a new system-wide policy never goes flawlessly. That being said Jason Garrison and crew managed the site quite well. Yet the road block I'm hitting is that now I'm just as much a reader as most of you, catching up on the news of the day. So a week in review is called for, if for anything to catch myself up on the Cincinnati Bengals, as well as rehashing the news of the week.

+ What Role Will Adam Jones Have? With Cedric Benson facing a one-game suspension this weekend against the Seattle Seahawks, it frees a spot on the 53-man roster. For weeks we've heard that Adam Jones was medically cleared, ready to kickoff his regular season after spending seven weeks on the Physically Unable to Perform list with a neck he's been rehabilitating for a calendar year.

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You have to enjoy the momentary pauses during the NFL lockout. Newsworthy stories that breaks the stale months of May and June, assisted with player workouts and a head coach talking to a radio station in St. Louis. Yea. Not Cincinnati radio hosts. St. Louis. Stories involving the lockout have gone from concern, to general interest to now passive observation. There's a court date today? Big deal. Just wake me up when the lockout is actually over. They're talking about an eight game season now? With the rhetoric from both sides being echoed throughout the media, no one really believes what one side or the other is saying. Wake me when football starts.

And for a moment, an awakening happened this week. A high turnout of Bengals players gathered in and around Cincinnati for workouts with a team-workout at Nippert Stadium on Wednesday. The quarterbacks looked sharp, Andre Smith appears to have lost a lot of weight and the least favorite rookie (at least amongst the commenters at Cincy Jungle) wide receiver Ryan Whalen looked good.

Then Marvin Lewis joined ESPN 101 in St. Louis on Friday and talked about a variety of issues.

• Lewis is given another chance at rebuilding this football team, and he knows it. However you look at it, this is definitely his second chance after being hired in 2003. Or his third chance on a more philosophical level after the 2002 and 2008 seasons.
• Lewis also reiterated two things. There is a plan in place after the Carson Palmer era if the "franchise" quarterback elects not to return. Lewis also reiterated that Andy Dalton could be the starting quarterback if he's ready.
• What was surprising during the interview had more to do with the praise that Lewis gave Chad Ochocinco after months of public shots the two have taken at each other.

Under the rules of the old Collective Bargaining Agreement, players with expired contracts and five years of accrued experience or less are classified as a restricted free agents. Teams made a mad sprint sending tenders to respective restricted free agents over the course of the past two weeks, even though a new Collective Bargaining Agreement would likely wipe out tenders to players with five years of accrued seasons, reclassifying free agents to the old system of allowing a player with four accrued seasons to become an unrestricted free agent.

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Since the Cincinnati Bengals signed Jay Gruden as their new offensive coordinator, the team has made little noise. They still need to find a wide receivers coach to replace the departed Mike Sheppard, who took a job with the Jacksonville Jaguars as the quarterbacks coach. They may need to find a new assistant defensive backs coach after Louie Cioffi was announced by Arizona that he'd be the Cardinals new defensive backs coach. Whether they'll replace Cioffi is up in the air, considering that Kevin Coyle is the team's defensive backs coach, who manages the largest group of players than any coach on the team behind Paul Alexander and the offensive line.

They still have moves to make. But while they're deciding, the AFC North is taking care of business on their end.

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As Jason pointed out earlier this week, Peter King thinks he thinks (that's not a typo) that Carson Palmer will remain with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2011. Why? Two reasons. One, Jay Gruden's new offense will convince Palmer that he be "great" and Marvin Lewis will make sure that neither Terrell Owens or Chad Ochocinco are on the team.

What King says, does make sense. For one, Bob Bratkowski's offense often had routes that took time to develop. With Gruden's West Coast style, Palmer will have the football out of his hands, hitting receivers much earlier in the routes. This isn't a knock on Palmer. In Bratkowski's system, by the time the routes were ready for the reception, he was under fire from a pass rush that already struggled keeping him from taking hits (and we're not just talking about quarterback sacks). For two, when Palmer had Jerome Simpson and Andre Caldwell to work with, instead of Owens and Ochocinco, the quarterback actually looked like he was having fun again.

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On Friday it was learned that safety Chris Crocker was medically cleared after he injured his MCL against the Buffalo Bills last season. A player being medically cleared isn't something we'd make a big deal out of in February, with six months until training camp (or 16 years based on the rate that the NFL and NFLPA are progressing with a Collective Bargaining Agreement resolution).

However, Crocker's medical clearence only promotes the team's desperate need to address the position in the future. And we're not they'll be able to address it completely this offseason.

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After the Bengals fired offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski on Monday, the team went search mode for a replacement. Marvin Lewis wanted someone younger with fresh ideas broadcasting the general belief that the Bengals head coach was looking within the college ranks for a new offensive coordinator. Former Vikings head coach Brad Childress was believed to be a candidate, simply because he joined Marvin Lewis for dinner several weeks ago. In the end, I guess he just wanted to have dinner with Childress, who was reportedly passing through on a trip to Florida.

On Wednesday night, PFT released a report, via a source, that the Bengals were going to hire the UFL's Virginia Destroyers head coach Jay Gruden to become the team's next offensive coordinator. We wrote up a quick history on the Gruden.

PFT's story was confirmed Thursday morning with a press conference later that afternoon. Gruden wants to get Carson Palmer back, saying that they're going to do everything right for the franchise quarterback. At the same time, Gruden echoed Marvin Lewis' demands weeks ago that the team will pound the football.

Gruden will bring a form of the West Coast to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Perhaps the biggest news out of Paul Brown Stadium this week, if not the offseason, is the team's sudden decision to dismiss offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski. Granted, as fans will point out, it was time to move on after three consecutive seasons in which the offense ranked 20th or worse; this turned somewhat devastating because of the talk surrounding this team's talent level. Of course, one has to argue that in order for a team to have a certain level of talent, they actually have to produce. But that's just trivial banter on my part.

When the team decided to take Bratkowski to the Senior Bowl last week, it seemed that the coaching staff was set and the Bengals were set for status quo, at least in the coaching ranks. Therefore, any news of a coaching change would be somewhat of a surprise; especially those coaches that have longer tenures in Cincinnati. Speaking of which, doesn't it raise an eyebrow when a coach is with the same team for over 15 years? If they're that good, why hasn't another team enticed these coaches with promotions? But that's just trivial banter on my part because we're well aware of the answer.

During the early afternoon on Monday, January 31st, Chris Mortensen sent a tweet that the Bengals fired Bratkowski. Within hours, Cedric Benson was quick to applaud the move, saying:

"It's good to see the Bengals making some moves," Benson said. "It's not just about going back to that '09 style, but being able to fit everything together and use our talent. And we've got a lot of talent and I don't see any drop off if those guys (Owens and Ocho) don't come back."

Carson Palmer reached out to Bratkowski and assured the former offensive coordinator that it wasn't because of him that he demanded a trade. T.J. Houshmandzadeh agreed while Chad Ochocinco thinks the team will do whatever it takes to keep Palmer happy.

No matter how you look at it, the Bengals fired Bob Bratkowski this week. And hopefully shovel passes leave with him.