Battle For Ohio

I was talking to someone the other day and I caught myself doing the same

This will perhaps be me after writing this artical!

thing I do every year when talking about the Bengals.  I was getting excited for the up coming season, despite the disastrous previous year.  Mike Brown is still the owner, Chad Johnson Ochocinco is still on the team, the offensive line has three new starters and a guy that was a starter in a new position, and Chris Henry is overdue for a mental breakdown.  So, why in the hell am I so excited?

Try and keep up here, this is similar to the argument that I have every year at about this time.  In black will be one half of my brain, in red will be the other half of my brain.

• The Bengals had a great draft.  They got a tackle that they desperately needed, they got a steal in the second round with an impact linebacker that could be the next Ray Lewis, another steal in the third round with a freaky athletic defensive end, which they need since Odom and Gathers have been a bust so far, they got a legit pass catching tight end and addressed their need for center.  Tackle they needed?  They did need a tackle, but this guy?  Andre Smith has been one debacle after another since the college season ended.  He makes Fat Albert look thin, he has changed agents like 20 times, not to mention his combine and pro day disasters.  Eugene Monroe was on the board and you know you wanted the Bengals to draft him.  I will give you Maualuga in the second round, provided Marvin can reign him in a little bit and get him to focus, but the comparisons to Ray-Ray maybe a bit premature, wishful thinking does not make it so.  Michael Johnson in the third is a steal IF you can get this guy to play every down.  You know you HATE guys with motor issues, it is why you had a huge man crush on David Pollack, he had the best motor you had ever seen.  And something you failed to mention, a punter in the 5th round, really?  You don’t think that is a bit of a reach?  Maybe, but the Bengals NEEDED a punter bad and Huber was the best available, they had addressed all their other needs, why not go get him before someone else does, like the Steelers, they always seem to take the guy the Bengals want right before they want to take him.

• The Bengals Defense was a top fifteen last year(12th) and will be a top ten this year.  They have added Tank Johnson, Roy Williams, Rey Maualuga, and Michael Johnson for interesting third down packages.  Let me get this straight, you are pinning the defense being better on a guy with legal issues(Tank), which is all this team needs.  A previous great one dimensional safety(Roy), that will probably not be able to play at the level he used to, hmmmm smells like Sam Adams in here.
  

  Can you smell that? Bengals FAIL.

  And two rookies that had knocks on them and that is why they dropped to the second and third rounds.  Yeah good luck with that.  P.S. You know as well as I do, since we are the same person, that Jonathan Joseph will get hurt in the second game and then you have David Jones covering one of the top two receivers on the other team, hope you like your toast really burned.  Tank has not been in trouble since Chicago and that was over owning and carrying guns.  That does not worry me like if he was killing people, drinking and driving, doing hard drugs or more serious offenses like that.  Roy will be great because I don’t think the Bengals are going to ask him to play every down and will use him in his best capacity, they have that luxury with their safeties this year.  Michael Johnson might be a stretch, but as I explained I only see him as a third down specialist for now, that is not asking for a lot.  Who are you trying to convince again?  Touche.
  

• Carson Palmer is healthy.  This fact alone has to be good for at least 3 more wins.  Palmer to Fitzpatrick is like Jesus to Jeffery Dahmer.  Palmer is healthy huh?  Isn’t he still on a “pitch count?”  You know deep down inside that you wish he would have just got surgery last year, I mean clearly he wasn’t going to come back, and even if he did for what?  The year was lost and Fitzpatrick was still clearly running for his life.  Why not just get the surgery and know without a doubt that you will be fine this year?  You know deep down you are waiting until halfway through the year when Palmer starts having elbow issues again, you know it is haunting you.  Plus that whole three win thing, how many games had they won when he did start last year?  Oh yeah none.  Wow, other half of my brain, you are particularly mean today.  Look, while I guess I have to admit I am a little nervous, Palmer has been nothing except a stand up guy since he got here.  He worked harder than anyone after the knee surgery to come back asap.  I think that if he REALLY thought he needed work done on his elbow he would have got it.

• The running game will be better.  Cedric Benson was great at the end of the year.  Once he got used to the offense and got back into football shape he was off and running, and was able to catch out of the backfield too, which was a nice surprise.  Now that he will have a full mini-camp he will only be better this year, even Palmer is singing his praises.  Hey, do me a favor and ask the Chicago Bears about putting your hopes and dreams in Cedric Benson’s hands.  Again, you know you are just
  

  Time to get over this!

  waiting for the other shoe to drop with this guy.  While he is slightly better than average, you have this sinking feeling that he just can’t stay out of trouble, call it the Bengal curse.  By the way, he had those big games at the end of the year against teams that either didn’t care because they were already mathematically eliminated, or just horrible defenses.  We will see how well he does against a pretty good defense in week two against the Packers.  I trust Palmer, he will forget more football knowledge than either of us will ever know.  Plus Benson has been here for a while now and there has not been even a sniff of trouble, I think it is time to forgive and forget.

• The offensive line has to be better, it just can’t be any worse than it was last year.  HAHAHA, your weakest argument yet.  They will have a rookie center, rookie left guard, and rookie right tackle.  And the rookie right tackle is looking more and more like a head case.  Oh yeah and one of their best linemen is moving positions, yeah clearly this group will be better, moron.  Whitworth was a tackle in college, a left tackle mind you, and he played in the SEC.  I think he will be fine, especially since he has all training camp to get re-acclimated.  Kyle Cook or Jonathan Luigs, even as rookies will be better than Eric Ghiaciuc.  Andre Smith has had agent issues, player go through that all the time, who cares?  The only reason people make a big deal about it is because he has been a soap opera since his last college game.  He is a kid, leave him alone.  Plus as far as talent, he has got it, so no worries there.
  

So, there are five reasons that I am reasonably sure that the Bengals will have a better season this year.  I am still thinking 9-7 and miss the playoffs, but I will take that over 4-11-1 and a top ten draft pick again.

Interesting that you did not mention anything about the receivers.  Are you scared that you lost TJ and that Ochocinco might be on the verge of going TO?  Are you worried that Jerome Simpson was a colossal mistake and that Andre Cauldwell will never be anything more than a decent slot receiver?  Oh and there is Chris Henry, but I don’t think I need to say anything about that do I?

You know something, you are really pissing me off.  Palmer and the offensive line are they key to the receivers.  If they do not block then Palmer will never have the time to get it to them.  I actually feel that Cauldwell has the potential to fill in for TJ, while I will miss TJ’s bravado, I think Cauldwell has the desire to be better and the will to succeed.  I have said my peace on Chad, and will reserve anymore judgement until after I see him in training camp.  I am willing to wait on Jerome for now and I am not touching Chris Henry.