Questions about the Bengals?

Probably not as pissed as I was sitting in the dark & heat for 14 days.

That’s still an issue with Reebok. In order for him to have name changed on the back of his jersey, Johnson was required to buy out the remaining stock of unsold C.Johnson jersey’s. Reportedly Johnson would owe Reebok nearly $4 million to purchase the remaining stock, at which time, he’d be allowed to switch it over. The NFL supports Reebok on this one, being the official jersey and all.

Johnson also — again, reportedly — said he was going to change his name back after the year, more or less making this a quick rich scheme for him. And the league doesn’t want to allow that precedence. Long story short, Reebok and the NFL is making it hard for him to change his name on his jersey.

Since we’re really not sure what to call him anymore, we just say “Chad”.

For the most part, our defense had actually done well (despite the stats and points allowed and all that). Two things have factored into the perception that they’re a bad defense; (1) our offense leads the league with some 50+ three and outs (so our defense is worn out quickly) and (2) we’re still giving up big plays that deflate the team as a whole.

Our bookends pass rushers were designed to be chaotic. Instead, they’ve been more than pedestrian. In fact, they’ve been awful — that’s over $60 million invested into Antwan Odom and Robert Geathers and they haven’t even three sacks between them. And Odom is terrible on the edge during running plays. Rookie defensive tackle Pat Sims has done nicely in two games played, and Domata Peko is decent when the flow goes away from him — double team him and he’s likely driven 10 yards backwards.

Dhani Jones is our middle linebacker and led the NFL with most tackles much of the season (second now to D.J. Williams who recorded 16 tackles against the Patriots last week). Brandon Johnson will replace Keith Rivers at WILL, who is a massive downgrade, but serviceable.

Our secondary is young, impressionable and talented. But where they make tremendous plays, they’ve also forgotten about over-the-top coverage. When a guy like Nate Washington gets burns our secondary, you know there’s flaws. Also watch for additional blitzes with Dexter Jackson back.

I suppose like most teams, when our defense is on, we can be one hellva impressive unit. However, we give up too many big plays that sucks the life of them.

Last week, against the Steelers, the Bengals gave up seven sacks. However, most of them were from blitzing linebackers and only one of them came off a guy that our offensive line was blocking; the others were from bad blocks from our running back (4 on Kenny Watson) and tight end.

I’m not sure if Mario lines up strictly at right defensive end, or if they move him around. But if he’s on Levi Jones, then Mario could have a big game. Jones gets fat injected into his knees every week to help build the cartridge — no, I don’t know how that works, but us minions are like, “oooohhhh, that can’t be good… at all.” Once, he was among the league leaders in sacks allowed; now he’s a shell.

On the other hand, we played the Giants and Cowboys and shutout Justin Tuck and gave up a late fourth-quarter sack to Ware when the game really didn’t matter. Now the question of the supporting cast sacking Fitzpatrick (who tends to move around alot), really increases.

1) Chris Henry will be in town, so preparation is never a bad thing. However, be assured that Reggie McNeal is still playing in the CFL.

2) Hines Ward. Hines Ward. Hines Ward.

Rivers was solid. He had great speed going from sideline to sideline, though he left his feet a lot. But he was a tackler, for sure. He wasn’t a play-maker or a game-changer… at least not yet. He has seven career games at this point, so the loss, I believe will be minimal in that he wasn’t making plays, sacking the quarterback or causing turnovers. Just making tackles after 3-4 yard gains; not in the backfield much.

His replacement, on the other hand, isn’t even close to Rivers’ level. Brandon Johnson had a chance to level Hines Ward after Ward broke Rivers’ jaw. Instead of laying him out, he sidestepped him because the pass he was thrown went wide and incomplete. No doubt, it would have been a personal foul if he laid Ward out, but see, that’s the problem with the Bengals. We don’t have those killer instinct type of defenders. Offenses tend to walk over us.

We have guys in place that could be starters anywhere else. It’s the other guys that makes the defense so horrible at times.

But I hope that your family will keep feeling sorry for you for one more week. =)

Although it’s hard to imagine Houstonians feeling sorry for any other team’s fans, all things considered. Unless your fmaily is Cowboys fans, in which case, they suck (no offense)>

to this dude?

Personally, I’m not all that impressed. Typically, he takes his drop backs, looks for one (maybe two tops) receiver and bails. I’ve never much cared for quarterbacks that run, simply because they leave the pocket and defenders are easily crowding around them. But that’s just a personal thing.

On the other hand, the line hasn’t been great this year, and supporting pass protectors (TE, RB) have been awful. So Fitz is forced to leave the pocket quickly. So defenders get generous sack totals against Fitz because he’s looking to run the ball.

All in all, our deeper passing patterns fail to develop because the time to release the ball is shortened. It also potentially leads to picks.

And when he runs, he stops looking down field for a receiver.

Then again, we’re super-spoiled with Carson Palmer.

Walter was always a fan favorite and we were sad to see him go. He wasn’t so much a receiver as he was a special teams ace, leading the team with special teams tackles in ‘05. I am glad he’s succeeding elsewhere. He’s a good player, and a good person.

Which is awesome for a WR.