Bengals tidbits

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Bengals? focus on field after another arrest
Thurman?s gone, all but forgotten after suspension

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Bill Rabinowitz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




CINCINNATI ? What, us worry?
The excitement over Cincinnati?s 3-0 start heading into a home game Sunday against New England has been tarnished by yet another off-thefield incident. But Bengals players said yesterday that they are not fazed or distracted by the hit to the team?s reputation after Odell Thurman?s DUI arrest early Monday morning.
"What?s adversity? " receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh said. "What?s happened? There?s nothing going on right now that?s adversity. We?re winning."
Yesterday, the NFL made official what the Bengals expected. Thurman?s fourgame substance-abuse-policy suspension, which had been scheduled to expire Monday, has been extended for one year. He can apply for reinstatement before training camp next year.
Don?t hold your breath. The Bengals cleaned out his locker, and coach Marvin Lewis said, "We?ve told him he?s not to be around here."
Thurman became the sixth Cincinnati player arrested this year. Such a litany of problems can?t help team morale, but the Bengals have become masters of compartmentalization.
"This isn?t a team issue," quarterback Carson Palmer said. "It?s not something that?s happening with the majority of our team. We?ve had a couple guys who?ve had one or two or more run-ins with the law. It?s not something that affects the entire team in that way."
Defensive tackle John Thornton agreed.
"I think our team is really focused and we really don?t let stuff off the field bother us," he said. "It?s a whole different issue, more of a personal deal. You don?t worry about guys? contracts. You don?t worry about what people do off the field. You just try to take care of your own business and try to be accountable as a person."
The Bengals have known for months they wouldn?t have Thurman to start the season and planned as if they wouldn?t all year. But receiver Chris Henry, along with rookie Reggie McNeal, was a passenger in Thurman?s car.
Henry has been arrested four times and been ordered by a judge to abstain from alcohol. He reportedly vomited out of Thurman?s SUV, and Thurman told the arresting police officer that his passengers were in worse condition than he was.
Though Henry was not cited by police, his presence with a drunken Thurman at 3 a.m. raises questions about his judgment.
"I?ve talked to him," Palmer said. "I?ve seen lots of people talking to him. He?s just a guy who?s been in the wrong place at the wrong time a couple times. This is another incident of that. I just hope he learns his lesson from this and moves on and continues to make plays on the field."
When Houshmandzadeh was asked whether he?d be willing to spend a night trying to get through to Henry, he replied, "That?s one night, man. You can?t hold somebody?s hand every day. Chris will be fine, I believe."
Henry was not listed on the team?s injury report, but he was observed heading to his car in the team parking lot before practice ended.
"He practiced," Lewis said. "He had to go get some treatment."
There have been calls for Lewis to bench Henry against New England.
"I?ll do the inactives when I do the inactives," Lewis said. "I don?t tell anybody who?s going to be playing on Sunday. Why would I start now? It?s not to my advantage to tell anybody who?s playing."
[email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Cover boy enjoys time in spotlight

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Bill Rabinowitz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




CINCINNATI ? When your 15 minutes of fame dawns, you might as well have some fun with it.
That?s the attitude Bengals linebacker Caleb Miller is taking. Miller is on the cover of the latest Sports Illustrated. He is shown hitting Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Hines Ward above a headline that reads, "The Nastiest Rivalry In the NFL."
Miller said he has gotten a lot of calls from family and friends. The third-year backup has a quirky, dry sense of humor, and it was on display when he came into the media room to look at the magazine.
"I?m bigger than anything," Miller deadpanned. "I thought I saw some paparazzi in my rearview mirror. I put on my sunglasses.
"The fame and fortune, it?s too much to handle."
Miller?s 2005 season was ruined by a lingering ankle injury. Now healthy, he has played himself back into the linebacker rotation.
His playing time should be bumped up even more. Rashad Jeanty, who has taken over with David Pollack out for the season because of a broken neck, suffered a foot injury against the Steelers. Jeanty is listed as questionable for the game Sunday against New England.
"I would say he?d see more time," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said of Miller.
Bengals sign Frazier

The Bengals signed former Steelers linebacker Andre Frazier yesterday.
Frazier, the son of former Bengals linebacker Guy Frazier (1981-84), played for the University of Cincinnati. He spent his rookie season with Pittsburgh. He received a Super Bowl ring but didn?t play in that game because he suffered an injury to his right leg in the AFC championship game against Denver.
"He really excelled on special teams in Pittsburgh last year," Lewis said. "He did a good job in coverage."
The Steelers cut him Sept. 3.
"We tried hard to sign him as a free agent after UC and weren?t able to do it, and now we?ve got him," Lewis said.
The Bengals had room on the 53-man roster because they placed rookie defensive end Frostee Rucker (shoulder) on injured reserve. Rucker, a third-round pick, was on the inactive list for the first three games.
Injury update

Receiver/punt returner Antonio Chatman practiced in team drills for the first time since early in training camp. He is listed as questionable.
"He had a really good workout (Tuesday) and so we felt good about him, progressing him back into practice," Lewis said. "He?s been champing at the bit, so we?ll see how he does."
Linebacker Brian Simmons, defensive tackle Sam Adams, left tackle Levi Jones, defensive end Justin Smith, safety Kevin Kaesviharn and receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh are listed as probable but did not participate in team drills.
[email protected]

 

[studepaber]

Great....another player from UC :ohwell: What the heck happened to Frostee Rucker (did he hurt himself in the midst of pimp-slapping his girlfriend)? Friggin' Bengals are dropping like flies.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Palmer pans self for sacks
Bengals? quarterback admits he?s holding onto ball too long at times, inflating total

Friday, September 29, 2006

Bill Rabinowitz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

NEAL C . LAURON DISPATCH Umpire Jim Quirk gives Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer a hand after Palmer suffered one of six sacks against the Steelers.

CINCINNATI ? The number is alarming, especially compared with the impressive total from last season.
Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer has been sacked 11 times in three games this season. That?s more than half the 21 the Bengals allowed in all 16 regular-season games a year ago.
The Pittsburgh Steelers sacked Carson Palmer six times Sunday, a week after the Browns sacked him four times. Last year, Palmer was not sacked more than twice in any game. New England, with coach Bill Belichick at the controls, will pose another stiff challenge Sunday.
By reflex, blame for sacks is usually placed on the offensive line. But it would be wrong to pin a scarlet "S" entirely on that unit. Sacks can happen because running backs fail to pick up blitzes and receivers fail to get open.
"We haven?t protected well," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. "We?ve missed some things in protection. We?ve got 11 guys in there and it hasn?t been just one area."
Sacks also can happen because the quarterback is slow to get rid of the ball. Palmer said that?s the biggest culprit.
"I?d say out of 10 sacks (the past two games), at least half are my fault," Palmer said.
Palmer is always quick to accept responsibility for any offensive shortcoming, but in this case, he?s right.
Many, if not most, of the Pittsburgh sacks came because Palmer hung in the pocket too long.
"I need to do a better job of realizing there?s nothing here, there?s nothing more that can be made of this play, and throw it away or go down early and not try to make something happen," Palmer said.
Still, Bengals linemen know they?re going to take the heat for the sacks. Understandably, right tackle Willie Anderson was a little defensive about the subject.
"We admittedly had a game last week that was not up to our standards," he said. "But we found a way to come up with crucial drives against a tough team on the road. It was loud, crazy. (We had) a new center. Pittsburgh has a great defense. We didn?t do the standard of what (we?re) used to, but we still scored 28 points."
Because of the crowd noise, Anderson said, Bengals linemen had to look at center Eric Ghiaciuc to see the ball snapped instead of going on Palmer?s hike call.
"You can?t hear and you take a bad step and he gets a jump on you because he sees the ball and sees you looking in, and he?s got you," Anderson said.
He said it would be more troubling if Bengals linemen were being physically dominated. That?s not happening, Anderson said.
"The stuff that?s going on with us right now is fixable," he said. "They?re not physical things. It?s not that guys can?t hold up."
The Bengals are playing without injured veteran center Rich Braham, whom his linemates regard as the brains of the unit. But Anderson and Palmer said Ghiaciuc shouldn?t be viewed as the reason for the elevated sack total.
"I?m confident in him," Palmer said. "There were a couple of miscues here and there. But there are miscues with 10-year centers. I think he?s done a really good job."
Both Palmer and Anderson said they weren?t worried about the number of sacks.
"We?re winning," Anderson said. "If those things are directly making you lose, then we care. (But) obviously, you don?t want your quarterback hit." [email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Boobirds expected for Dillon?s return

Friday, September 29, 2006

Bill Rabinowitz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




CINCINNATI ? The Bengals? career rushing leader will make his first regular-season return to Cincinnati on Sunday. Corey Dillon probably won?t receive a warm welcome.
"I would assume they would boo," receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh said. "They might boo him because you (media) guys painted a bad picture of him, some of it his fault and some of it not his fault."
While racking up 8,061 yards for Cincinnati, Dillon nursed an image as a malcontent. The Bengals sent him to New England in March 2004 in a trade that has benefited both teams. Dillon gave the Patriots the workhorse they needed to win the Super Bowl, and the Bengals got to showcase Rudi Johnson and draft safety Madieu Williams with the second-round pick they acquired.
Dillon, who returned to Cincinnati for preseason games in 2004 and 2005, is the NFL?s leading active rusher with 10,582 yards. But the 31-year-old is not the clear-cut primary runner for New England this season. He?s sharing time with rookie Laurence Maroney. Both have 169 yards, with Dillon doing it in four fewer carries (41).
Belichick , comedian

Of all the impressive feats Chad Johnson has accomplished in the NFL, this just might be the most astounding:
Yesterday, Johnson?s playful taunting of New England defensive backs in a conference call with Patriots media got coach Bill Belichick to reveal a sense of humor.
Johnson listed the Patriots cornerbacks and safeties and said he would torch them all. Belichick said he has spent enough time around Johnson to know the talk is all in fun.
"I could throw the same stuff back at him if that?s what he really wanted me to do," Belichick said.
It took only a tiny bit of prodding from the Patriots media for him to do just that.
"Tell him we?d cover him one-on-one all the time, but he pushes off more than any receiver in the league," he said, laughing. "He must be paying off the officials not to call it. We?re going to have to double-cover him some ? not that he can get open ? "
Cue the apocalypse.
Jeanty , downgraded
Linebacker Rashad Jeanty (foot) was downgraded from questionable to doubtful. Caleb Miller would replace him. [email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Cincy

Chef keeps Rudi running
Personalized diet helps Bengals star shed pounds, body fat

BY CHUCK MARTIN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

She has put Brian Dennehy, Brooke Shields and other stars in costume on Broadway. Now, Rhonda Clark is putting food on the table for a bigger celebrity in Cincinnati.
Clark, 36, prepares healthful meals for Bengals running back Rudi Johnson. The National Football League star, who is fourth in the league in rushing, hired the personal chef in August to cook meals for him in his Amberley Village home. While several Bengals have personal chefs prepare their meals, only Johnson and offensive tackle Willie Anderson have chefs come to their homes to cook. The Bengals' team nutritionist provides dinner menus for Johnson's meals, but it's up to the chef to make the food lean and flavorful.
"I don't think low-fat food should taste bad," says Clark, who lives in Norwood.
Johnson has been eating a high-protein, low-fat diet since the spring, dropping his weight from 234 to 211 pounds and reducing his body fat from 12.5 percent to 6.1 percent.
He credits the regimen - and Clark's cooking - for his improved performance on the field.
"It's good, healthy stuff," Johnson says.
Getting hired by Johnson was the break Clark was hoping for, having started her personal chef business, Flash in the Pan, a year ago. But earning her place in the football star's kitchen took a lot of hard work - the chef has sometimes held several jobs at once. And she had to risk turning her back on her chosen career in order to follow her passion.
Growing up in Roselawn, she always loved to cook for others. After her mother died of cancer when Clark was 12, her grandmother, Juanita Anderson, raised her.
"I belonged to the Seventh Ward Club," says Anderson, who still lives in Roselawn, "and whatever Rhonda made to take to meetings, it would always be a hit."
But the theater - not the kitchen - was Clark's first career calling. After graduating from Walnut Hills High School, she went to the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, where she received a degree specializing in costume design.
Clark moved to New York in 1999, where she worked as a "dresser" - the person responsible for quickly putting performers into their costumes.
She loved working backstage with the stars. But in her spare time, she cooked. For 25 cast members of "Death of a Salesman," Clark once prepared fried chicken and mashed potatoes in her Brooklyn apartment. She packed the food in a duffel bag and hopped a subway to the Mid-Town Theater.
"Brian Dennehy loved my fried chicken," she says.
But after working four years on Broadway, Clark began having doubts about her theater career.
When she thought about what she'd like to do next, Clark remembered the happy days in her grandmother's kitchen and the satisfied looks on cast members' faces as they ate her food.
"The thing that made me the most happy was cooking," she says.
In 2003, Clark entered the culinary program at the Art Institute of New York City, attending class while working nights on Broadway. Completing her culinary degree the next year, she cooked in two Manhattan restaurants - Lever House and Bolo, owned by Food Network star Bobby Flay.
By 2005, Clark was ready to return to Cincinnati, to be near her grandmother. She first found a job for a few months as a demo chef at bigg's in Hyde Park. While preparing food samples at the grocery, she met another chef, Amanda Lisa Thomas, who helped convince her to start her personal chef business.
But things were so slow that the chef began working part time as a sales clerk at Sur la Table, a kitchen shop in Rookwood Commons. To help pay the bills, she hired on in February as full-time kitchen manager at Rockin' Robin's Rock'n Sports Bar, downtown.
With only a few clients, her personal chef business looked bleak until Clark received a "culinary emergency" phone message in August. The call was from her friend, Thomas, who told her that the Bengals had offered her a job that she was too busy to take on.
Clark called Bengals team dietitian Michele Macedonio, who said a player wanted to hire a personal chef to prepare meals for him.
"When she told me it was Rudi, I knew he was big," she says, "but I wasn't sure what position he played."
Clark's boyfriend, Mike Marcotte, who drafted Johnson No. 1 for his fantasy football league, soon filled her in.
Johnson asked if Clark could start cooking for him the next week at his house.
"I like to eat it fresh, and I like to eat no later than 7:30," he says.
The first night, she prepared iced cucumber-walnut soup, salad, grilled chicken, vegetables and peach-blueberry crisp. Johnson ate it all. Clark says her client likes just about anything - even grilled asparagus - as long as there aren't too many onions involved.
"Everything she cooks is good," he says.
Just two weeks later, Johnson asked the chef to cook for 20 family members visiting from Virginia, including his mother, Janice. Clark admits that she felt a little maternal pressure that night.
But Johnson says his family loved the beef tenderloin, lobster tail, grilled corn and fried chicken - though he swears he didn't touch the chicken that Dennehy would die for.
True to her word, Clark told few people that she was cooking for Johnson. But then he praised his chef in a USA Today story this month, and the calls and e-mails began pouring in. This was bigger than the break she was hoping for.
Now that she's working for Johnson, Clark was able to quit her job at the sports bar. Even though he is a highly-paid athlete, the chef charges Johnson her regular rate - $30 an hour. As she gains clients, she hopes to go full-time with her personal chef business.
Meanwhile, she promised her boyfriend she will watch more football with him this season. After all, Clark does have a vested interest in the Bengals' leading rusher.
"The night after he (Johnson) scored in the Kansas City game, I told him: 'You know, I was thinking about taking a little credit for that touchdown.' "
E-mail [email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Cincy

Veteran wideout Chatman might play
Bengals notebook
BY MARK CURNUTTE | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The Bengals are getting healthier.
Wide receiver Antonio Chatman, who hasn't played and hadn't practiced all season, completed a full work week Friday and could play Sunday against New England, though he remained listed as questionable (50-50 chance of playing).
A Chatman appearance would add another veteran receiver to the lineup in what could be the Bengals' single biggest advantage heading into the game - their pass offense against the Patriots' pass defense.
"Yes, there is a chance right now. He's missed some time, but he stayed up with us mentally. He's had a good week of practice," Lewis said of Chatman.
His game: "Speed and quickness, which is why we've been cautious with him with this injury; we'll keep evaluating it and see how he feels tomorrow," Lewis said. "He's done more and worked harder and seems to have his speed and quickness."
OTHER INJURIES: Defensive tackle Sam Adams (knee), for the fourth consecutive game week, returned to practice Friday and will start Sunday.
Left tackle Levi Jones (ankle) also returned to practice and remained probable.
Tight end Reggie Kelly (foot) was added to the injury report as probable and did not practice.
SACK EXCHANGE: Beat reporters wanted to know if Lewis were alarmed by the 11 sacks allowed by the Bengals in three games - just 10 off the 21 allowed all of last season.
"Sacks are not an indication of winning and losing. It never has been in the NFL," Lewis said. "Sometimes it is the offensive line, sometimes it's the running back, sometimes it's the quarterback, sometimes it's the receiver. Sometimes it's the defense.
"We're not doing as good right now (with pass protection). We'll do better."
E-mail [email protected]

 

[OH10]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgNREzBAnY4&mode=related&search=

Can't watch it enough.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Bengals expect different looks from Pats defense

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Bill Rabinowitz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




First, Dick LeBeau. Now, Bill Belichick.
For the Bengals offense, it doesn?t get any easier.
A week ago, Cincinnati had to decipher LeBeau?s zone-blitz scheme. Who would be coming? When? From where?
But at least there was a starting point. The Steelers? scheme was no mystery.
Today against New England, Cincinnati can?t count on anything. Patriots coach Bill Belichick made his reputation by figuring out a way to implement wholesale changes in his defense on a weekly basis.
"You don?t know what?s coming," Bengals right tackle Willie Anderson said.
Like Pittsburgh, New England uses a 3-4 as its standard alignment. But that can change dramatically.
"They change up from week to week," Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer said. "They do a great job of scheming against other teams? offenses. Coach Belichick is famous for that. They?ve shown a ton of different things so far this year and in the past."
As big underdogs to St. Louis in the first of New England?s three Super Bowl titles, the Patriots defied the conventional wisdom that expected their game plan to be based on pressuring quarterback Kurt Warner. Instead, Belichick?s strategy was to harass running back Marshall Faulk. Caught offguard, the Rams? high-powered offense sputtered.
It?s all part of the Belichick mystique, and Cincinnati is prepared to be surprised.
"All we can do is prepare for everything and try to get ready for everything and hope we cover all of our bases," Palmer said.
Asked whether it was more difficult to prepare for Belichick or LeBeau, Palmer said, "That?s a toss-up. Both of those guys do a great job of taking something away. That?s what we?re expecting."
Last week, the Steelers based their game plan on preventing receiver Chad Johnson from having a big game. He caught only one pass for 11 yards.
That could be harder for New England to do because of injuries to its secondary. Cornerback Randall Gay is out for the season and three other defensive backs are listed as questionable.
But New England?s front seven, featuring lineman Richard Seymour and linebackers Mike Vrabel and Tedi Bruschi, remains formidable.
In Cincinnati?s last game against the Patriots in December 2004, the Bengals had success offensively, totaling 478 yards. Palmer was 18 of 24 for 202 yards and two touchdowns before leaving the game because of a sprained knee in the third quarter.
"That?s in the past," Palmer said. "This is a new team. They?re going to have a bunch of new looks for us, and we have to be ready for them."
[email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Bengals? psyche takes big hit in loss

Monday, October 02, 2006

Bill Rabinowitz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Bengals running back Rudi Johnson runs into the proverbial wall in the form of the Patriots? defensive line.


CINCINNATI ? The Bengals aren?t the first team the New England Patriots have made look awful this decade, as three Super Bowl titles can attest.
But Cincinnati thought it was well beyond playing the role of roadkill to Bill Belichick?s team.
Instead, the Bengals slink into their bye week having to swallow a 38-13 beating yesterday in Paul Brown Stadium. Cincinnati (3-1) fell out of a first-place tie with Baltimore in the AFC North.
Despite knowing that New England had gone 52 games without consecutive losses dating to 2002, the Bengals were stunned by the way they were dismantled.
"There?s no way when I played the game in my head that I thought we would lose," receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh said. "I go through different scenarios, and not in one scenario did us come out losing. And especially not losing like this, not with the kind of players we have. They would trade player for player with us any day, I think."
But football is played as an 11-man unit, and New England (3-1) has mastered that concept. The Patriots don?t bat an eye, for example, when they have to use receiver Troy Brown as a fill-in defensive back in an injurydecimated secondary, as they did yesterday.
The Bengals, in contrast, continually shot themselves in the foot on both sides of the ball. For the second game in a row, they tackled as if the opposing team had Vaseline on their jerseys. A week after giving up 170 yards on the ground to Pittsburgh, the Bengals allowed New England to average 5.8 yards per carry while racking up 236 rushing yards. Rookie Laurence Maroney (25 carries, 125 yards) shed three tacklers on a 25-yard touchdown run.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady provided the necessary balance, throwing for two touchdowns.
This from a New England team that managed only seven points last week against Denver.
Meanwhile, the potent Bengals offense gradually wilted as the game progressed, largely by self-inflected wounds.
After settling for a field goal on their first possession, the Bengals drove deep inside Patriots territory on their second. But on third down, Cincinnati was penalized for having 12 men in the huddle, turning a third-and-3 into a third-and-8 it couldn?t convert.
"A 12-men-on-the-field penalty should never happen, and it happened," quarterback Carson Palmer said.
Except for a 62-yard touchdown drive on their first possession of the third quarter to close to 14-13, the Bengals offense did little after that.
Cincinnati got fewer than two first downs on seven of 12 possessions.
"Coaches, players ? have to figure out a way to capitalize on those moments," right tackle Willie Anderson said of the squandered early chances to seize control. "When the moment is big, we have to realize that each and every play against teams like these is important, and we can?t pee down our leg."
It only got worse late. Palmer was sacked four times in the fourth quarter, twice losing fumbles that the Patriots converted into short touchdown drives. Palmer has been sacked 14 times the past three games and fumbled five times in the past two.
The Bengals now have two weeks to salve their wounds, physical and mental.
"Every time you lose, it?s important that you use it as a lesson," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. "We?ve been flying along pretty good. Today, we got hit in the face."
The same thing happened last year when the Bengals lost at home to the Steelers. That proved to be a blessing in disguise as Cincinnati rebounded to win the divisional title.
"Hopefully, four, five, six weeks from now, we?ll look back on this game and realize that this was the best thing that could have happened to us," Palmer said.
[email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Inability to stop the run could bring down Bengals

Monday, October 02, 2006


TODD JONES

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CINCINNATI ? A graveyard of skeletons in the Bengals? closet tempts fans to react to a pathetic performance by strapping a boulder on their shoulder and leaping off the suspension bridge near Paul Brown Stadium.
The Bengals were indeed terrible yesterday. Visions of the Ghosts of Cincinnati Past taunted the fast-exiting crowd while the grizzled and proud New England Patriots issued a woodshed smack-down in the game?s final 22 minutes.
At times, the Bengals? 38-13 loss made it seem like it was once again 1991 or ?93 or ?98 or 2000 or 2002 or ...
"The whole team stunk," defensive tackle John Thornton said.
Yet being manhandled by New England can?t undermine the heart transplant Marvin Lewis has performed on this franchise in his four years as Bengals coach. Yesterday aside, this is still one of the NFL?s better teams, an up-and-comer that, for one game, suffered the wrath of the league?s old lion.
While it?s not time for mass panic in Bengaldom, the nature of the Patriots? win ? running the ball down the home team?s gullet ? is reason enough to question if Cincinnati can do anything more than repeat last season?s one-and-out postseason appearance.
New England ran for 236 yards (its most in 13 years) and three touchdowns against a Bengals defense that had shown improvement while yielding 47 points in three victories to begin the season.
Patriots rookie running back Laurence Maroney scattered striped defenders like bowling pins while rushing for 125 yards and two scores, and old friend Corey Dillon, still running angry after all these years, added 67 yards and a TD.
The bludgeoning administered by New England?s rotating duo looked frighteningly similar to the tire tracks the Pittsburgh Steelers laid on Bengals? chests in the playoff mugging last season.
Carson Palmer?s knee injury early in that meltdown to Pittsburgh, and his subsequent rehabilitation, meant the star quarterback?s health was the Bengals? main concern heading into this season ? matched only by the question of what Cincinnati player might be arrested on what day, for what offense.
Palmer?s knee is fine, although he still looks a bit rusty. If the Bengals don?t fulfill their potential this season, it won?t be because his knee hasn?t healed.
Instead, the rush defense, if not improved, will undo this promising team, just as it did yesterday when New England bashed its way to 174 secondhalf yards on the ground.
"We?ve got to bounce back and stop the run," Bengals defensive end Justin Smith said. "That?s what teams are going to come at us with."
Knowing what they had to do didn?t help the Bengals when victory was within their grasp. Midway through the third quarter, they trailed just 14-13.
New England then unleashed a tank attack that would have made Patton cackle. The Bengals were simply muscled around by a veteran club that still sets the NFL standard for 21 st century success under evil genius Bill Belichick.
"Good teams don?t get beat like that," Smith said.
Complete teams are rare in the salary-cap age, and so Lewis is left with a club not made in the image of his defensive background. His best players are on offense, and although he has improved the other side of the ball, the Patriots showed once again that Cincinnati?s soft underbelly remains vulnerable.
"It comes down to tackling," Lewis said, insisting that poor fundamentals are the problem.
Of course, he can?t say otherwise four games into the season. A boatload of new defenders isn?t going to suddenly land on the banks of the Ohio River.
Cincinnati would be better if it had its top two draft picks from last season, but linebackers Odell Thurman (suspended by the NFL) and David Pollack (fractured neck) won?t be available all year. The Bengals are who they are.
So, they enter a bye week knowing that their most glaring weakness is the same blemish that last season caused them to give up 30 points a game in the final six regular-season games and then 31 in a playoff loss.
"We can?t sit back and bitch and moan about it," Smith said. "We got our butts kicked and we?ve got to do something about it."
If not, Super Bowl hopes won?t be realized. That the Bengals even have such championship hopes shows how far Lewis has brought them, but yesterday showed how far they still must go.

Todd Jones is a sports columnist for The Dispatch
.
[email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

BENGALS
Lewis comfortable with decision to sit Henry against Pats
Coach says message to team worth the loss of key player

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Joe Kay
ASSOCIATED PRESS

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CINCINNATI ? Chris Henry sure could have helped the Cincinnati Bengals? faltering offense Sunday.
Instead of catching passes against a beat-up New England secondary, the troubled receiver was on the sideline in a warmup outfit ? his coach?s way of saying he needs to shape up.
Coach Marvin Lewis thinks it worked out well.
Even though he wasn?t listed on the injury report all week, Henry was inactive for the Bengals? 38-13 loss to the Patriots. The last time Henry was inactive for a game was last December, after the first of his four arrests.
The first benching didn?t seem to have much effect. Lewis thinks this one already has been felt across the team.
"I did notice a difference,," Lewis said yesterday. "I didn?t have anybody taunting, in anybody?s face or anything like that. That?s where I noticed the difference: Guys doing it the way they?re asked to do it. I didn?t have to worry about the guy taking off his helmet on the field and things like that."
Six Bengals players have been arrested in the past nine months, bringing attention to the type of players the team drafts and how Lewis handles them.
Henry had a history of onfield tirades at West Virginia, where he was penalized, ejected, benched, suspended and described as an embarrassment by his coach. Lewis drafted him anyway, taking him in the third round last year.
Henry became the team?s No. 3 receiver as a rookie ? and had one throwback moment. He removed his helmet in celebration after a touchdown, drawing a 15-yard penalty.
Lewis berated him for that. He later benched him for one game after his arrest for marijuana possession in December.
Lewis usually defended his players as the arrests mounted, insisting that the incidents weren?t hurting the team.
Lewis finally lashed out publicly after linebacker Odell Thurman was arrested and charged with drunken driving last week, drawing a seasonlong suspension from the NFL. Henry was a passenger in the vehicle but wasn?t charged.
Without mentioning a player or specific incident, Lewis emphasized yesterday that he is going to enforce standards for conduct.
"Those are things we?ve got to continually get straight all the time because I?ve got to know who I can count on and when I can count on them," Lewis said.
By benching an offensive threat for an important game, Lewis got the locker room?s attention.
"It?s tough," quarterback Carson Palmer said. "He?s one of our best receivers. Any time you lose any player, it?s tough, especially big-play guys."
The Bengals (3-1) have a lot more than their misconduct to mull during their bye week. Their fast start has hit the wall with a loud thud.
In the past two weeks, the defense hasn?t stopped the run and the offensive line hasn?t protected Palmer, who has fumbled five times. Lewis thinks the quarterback might be bringing some of it on himself.
"He?s trying to do too much," Lewis said. "He?s trying to win the game. He?s a great player, but we?ve got to take care of the football, and he will. We?ll go forward. A couple of times when those fumbles occurred, he just tried to do too much."
The Pittsburgh Steelers ran for 170 yards on the Bengals two weeks ago but had five turnovers that helped Cincinnati pull out a 28-20 win. The Patriots ran for 236 yards, repeatedly gashing a defense that had trouble tackling.
They?ll be working on that this week. "We?ve got to get back to our training camp mentality and come out like we did against Kansas City (in the opener)," defensive end Justin Smith said. "We know we have to stop the run, especially in the division we?re in."

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Bengals focus on improving
Flaws were exposed in loss to Patriots before week off

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Bill Rabinowitz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




CINCINNATI ? The Bengals are not practicing for an opponent this week, which might make sense even if it wasn?t their bye week.
They have been their own worst enemy lately, so it?s probably good timing. Cincinnati can take this week to focus on itself rather than concentrating on another team.
"You try to get a chance to self-scout," linebacker Brian Simmons said. "You look at the things you?ve done well and the things you haven?t done well and the things you?ve kind of done well and get better in every category."
When the Bengals were 3-0, it might have been easier to gloss over shortcomings. A 38-13 spanking administered by New England on Sunday has made self-evaluation more urgent.
"The second we walked into the locker room, the first thing we said to each other was, ?That?s not good enough. We have to stay poised and go to work,? " center Eric Ghiaciuc said. "We went to work yesterday. We?re already addressing problems."
The Bengals? defensive woes are not new. The defense has long been a unit that relied on turnovers to mask weaknesses such as an inconsistent run defense.
Problems on the other side of the ball are unexpected. When quarterback Carson Palmer returned from his devastating knee injury before the season, the offense seemed destined to pick up where it left off.
Instead, Palmer has fumbled five times in the past two games and been sacked 14 times in the past three games. The Bengals allowed only 21 sacks last season.
"If you look at the teams that we?ve played to this point, we?ve played some good defenses," offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski said.
The good news is that Palmer?s knee has held up. But the more he is hit, the greater the odds for calamity.
"It has an effect on any quarterback," Bratkowski said. "What we?ve got to do is do a better job of protecting him. I think his knee is fine. I don?t think that is even an issue. I?ve always said it, but the quarterback is only as good as the players around him are. And in most cases, we?ve been playing OK. We?ve won three games. The other day we didn?t quite get it done."
It would help if the Bengals could get their deep passing game back on track, but it?s obvious opponents have made a concerted effort to take that away. Chad Johnson?s longest reception is 18 yards.
"I think after the things we did offensively last season, a lot of teams have spent a lot of time in the offseason studying us and trying to take away some of the things we did last year," Bratkowski said. "We?re constantly adjusting and trying to stay a step ahead of them."
Success would be easier if the offensive line had remained intact. Center Rich Braham, out because of a fractured tibia, is revered for his ability to change blocking assignments just before the snap. Ghiaciuc, a second-year player, simply lacks the experience.
"He?s playing good. He can play better," Bratkowski said.
The same goes for most of Ghiaciuc?s teammates. They have 10 days to fix the deficiencies before they play at Tampa Bay.
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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

BENGALS
Pollack upbeat about continuing his career
Neck injury must heal properly to keep playing

Friday, October 06, 2006

Bill Rabinowitz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




If David Pollack never plays football again, he will still feel blessed.
The Bengals linebacker is grateful for his wife. He takes comfort in his faith. As bad as his injury is, he knows it could be worse.
In Pollack?s first interview since he suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck Sept. 17 against the Cleveland Browns, he said he won?t know until his protective metal halo is removed in two months whether he will be able to attempt a return to football. If the fracture has healed, Pollack said he will be given the green light to start preparing for football. If it hasn?t healed properly, surgery to fuse neck vertebrae would be required. That, he said, would end his career because of the increased risk of another neck injury.
Pollack said X-rays have shown his neck is healing, though he still has numbness on the first two fingertips of his left hand.
"Everything seems to be looking good," he said in a conference call yesterday from his suburban Cincinnati home. "It?s a mild fracture; it?s not as bad as it could be. It could be worse. It could be a complete fracture, and it?s not near my spinal cord, which is awesome, obviously."
The Bengals? first-round pick in 2005, Pollack was eager to become a standout player after a rookie season hampered by a long holdout. A hamstring pull slowed him this summer, and he was just rounding into form when he suffered his fractured neck tackling Cleveland running back Reuben Droughns.
Pollack said he found out at the stadium the severity of the injury.
"I had a lot of peace over me," he said. "I never cried once. I knew that God was in control, and everything happens for a reason.
"If God took football away from me, if God didn?t want me to ever play football for a reason, I know that?s something I would have to deal with, and he would give me strength to do it. It wouldn?t be easy, but if it?s God?s will, then that?s how it would be."
Though Pollack is philosophical about the big picture, he is frustrated by his inability to perform everyday tasks. He has trouble sleeping more than four hours because the halo forces him to lie in an uncomfortable position. He can?t drive. He can?t kiss his wife, Lindsey.
"We?ve tried a couple of times and I whacked her with my halo," he said.
Pollack got choked up talking about Lindsey.
"She?s been unbelievable," he said. "I knew I had the best one, that?s for sure. I knew that when I married her, but she has been my personal little nurse, and I don?t know where I?d be without her."
Lindsey is one of the reasons he hasn?t asked, why me?
"How can I sit here and say ?Why me?? when I?m getting paid to play a kid?s game?" he said. "Things don?t always go like I want them to. I want to be healthy all the time. Coming into this year, I wanted to be a Pro Bowler. I had a bunch of goals I wanted to reach.
"But that?s not something I look at and go, ?Dang, why me?? I could be homeless on the street looking for a way to feed myself and looking for a way to pay the rent. I?m just so blessed and so fortunate."
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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

ANALYSIS
Bengals aren?t there yet
Inconsistencies on offense, defense still need to be addressed

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Bill Rabinowitz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

</IMG> Because of extra defensive attention, Bengals receiver Chad Johnson hasn?t been able to bust many big plays.


At the start of training camp, the Bengals would have gladly taken a 3-1 record heading into their bye today.
They didn?t know if quarterback Carson Palmer?s reconstructed knee would hold up to the rigors of an NFL season. It has.
They ? or at least their fans ? looked at a rugged early schedule and worried they could find themselves in a hole. Cincinnati is ahead of Pittsburgh and a game behind Baltimore in the AFC North. The bullet has been dodged.
But all is not ribbons and bows for the Bengals. The 38-13 loss to New England last week showed Cincinnati is a team that will require significant improvement if it?s to be the Super Bowl contender it believes it is.
Even with the return of Palmer, the offense has not clicked consistently. It ranks only 19 th out of 32 NFL teams. Without injured center Rich Braham, the offensive line hasn?t been the overpowering unit it expected to be.
"Guys just have to come together more, get a better feel for each other," right guard Bobbie Williams said. "That?s one thing that the original line had ? that togetherness. We?ve been together for going on three years. You?ve just got to get that feel, and in this league you?ve got to do it fast.
"There?s no margin for error. You see what can happen with that error. It leads to five or six sacks. And that?s not us. That?s not this offensive line here in Cincinnati at all."
Palmer has rightly taken some of the blame for the 15 sacks. He needs to do a better job of sensing pressure and getting rid of the ball when he does.
The Bengals also must find a way to get their deep passing game untracked. Extra defensive attention has turned Chad Johnson into a glorified possession receiver. Though T.J. Houshmandzadeh has played well since returning from a heel injury, it was clear in the New England game how much Cincinnati missed Chris Henry. The NFL has suspended the oft-arrested receiver for the next two games. Even after the suspension expires, the Bengals will count on Henry at their own peril.
"We?re not where we were at last year, but I don?t think we?re too far behind," running back Rudi Johnson said. "At the same time, everyone just has to improve, whether that?s watching more film, communicating more with everybody, whatever has to be done."
Defensively, it has been mostly the same story as last year, which is a disappointment. The addition of Sam Adams was supposed to help shore up the run game, but shoddy tackling and missed assignments continue. Adams hasn?t had a tackle the past two games. Though his value isn?t necessarily reflected in stats, Adams has looked like a nonfactor most of the time.
"We?ve got to be more gap-sound," middle linebacker Brian Simmons said. "We have to do a better job of tackling. If we get those two things fixed, we?ll be all right.
"It?s one thing to sit here and talk about it. It?s another to go on the field and get it fixed. Right now, that?s kind of the phase we?re at."
Simmons has been a Bengal since 1998, so defensive struggles are nothing new to him. He acknowledged it?s frustrating to have to answer the same questions all over again.
He also has experienced seasons that were all but doomed at this point of the schedule, so he knows how much worse it could be.
"The great thing about it is we?re sitting here and have to make these adjustments and fix these things, but we?re 3-1," Simmons said. "We can?t lose sight of that. You?ve got to take the good with the bad and realize we haven?t played as good as we can, because we know we can be a great football team. At the same time, we?re 3-1, and you have to feel good about that also."
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