As Mark Curnutte steps aside, Joe Reedy comes in. He's the newest primary for the Bengals blog on Cincinnati.com and the Bengals beat writer for the Cincinnati Enquirer. This works well for us, we figure. You know, you always screw up 2-3 checks dating "2009" when you slap yourself in the head ("I could have had a V8") because of the new year. So, just to make sure you knuckleheads don't hammer me for misplacing Mark Curnutte's name with Joe Reedy, I'm preempting your attack with the acknowledgment that not only might I screw up, but I will screw up. That said, we wish Joe Reedy good luck, thick skin and an unhealthy desire to feed us information like Audrey II's appetite (think Little Shop of Horrors... then take a bath).
So, our first link of the day comes from Mark Curnutte Joe Reedy, who caught Bill Cowher's prediction on NFL Today: The Bengals will make the playoffs in '09. If Cowher said it, it must be true, right? Then again, Cowher has always been a dick to Bengals fans, hasn't he?
Curious as to who picked Keith Rivers for Rookie Defensive Player of the Year? Jay Paris of the North County Times. Paris writes to Fan House: "I wish I had a good insightful reason for it. But it was just a mistake that I didn't realize until after the vote came out. When it came time to turn in the votes Monday, I was working on a Chargers playoff piece on Philip Rivers at the same time. I switched back to my early DROY watch list, which included Mayo and Rivers, and was going back and forth from the two screens."
Matt quotes a source from Pro Football Weekly that Chris Perry won't be back in 2009. I'm seriously wondering if that would make as happy as the Bengals replacing their offensive coordinator.
Good luck to Andrew Whitworth getting married this spring in California with KTVE's Melissa Clark.