Marvin Lewis stood all by himself on the sideline midway through the third quarter of the team’s 13-0 loss to the New Orleans Saints. When most head coaches position themselves on the line of scrimmage, Lewis decided to save some effort by staying 20 yards down the field. Was he trying to get a view from the endzone? Was he still in control of the team? Did he want to be in control?
In the week that was, Carson Palmer was bloodied with a broken nose as the first half ended, prior to that a disgruntled fan bought space on a downtown billboard and prior to that the Bengals decided to re-sign criminal Chris Henry.
Let’s start in the beginning, early in the week owner Mike Brown decided to do the unthinkable by re-signing troubled wide receiver Chris Henry. The move sent shockwaves through a city that is always expecting the worst. And by every account, the worst, just happened.
A fan with money pouring out of his pockets decided to vent his frustrations on a electric billboard in downtown Cincinnati. The billboard read, “Chris Henry Again? Are You Serious?”
After the two most disappointing preseason games in recent memory, the question throughout the city is, “does anyone think the Bengals will win a single game this season? Are you serious?”
I mean it is the preseason. Shouldn’t everyone calm down? But again, have the Bengals ever looked so bad?
Will the team turn it around when it returns its dynamic duo, Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmanzadeh? Will the offense ever block anyone or are they too out of shape?
Who knows? Offensive tackle Levi Jones did voice his frustrations when he saw his franchise quarterback on the ground bleeding from a block that he missed. Sadly, his frustrations during the post-game interview sounded forced.
On paper this team is good. Maybe not great, but very good. There is no reason that some kid couldn’t take this team to the Super Bowl on his video game console.
In reality, there is one preseason game left, Rudi Johnson is going to play, Chad Johnson says he is ready (Marvin won’t let him play), Housh and defensive end Antwan Odom should be able to play in the opener, but will any of them be in regular-season form on Sept. 7?
So far, as a team, the Bengals do not look ready for the regular season, but I am sure tired of this headache called the preseason.
I desperately want this preseason to be over, but we have to go through one more game on Thursday night. After the game, the Bengals will have to cut 22 of its players. They may scour the waiver wire to look for some veteran help. Soon they will be down to 53.
For the time being, as Bengal fans, we have to keep telling ourselves that it is just the preseason and on a paper this team has a chance to make the playoffs. Let’s just hope this team snaps out of it and we can enjoy an entertaining season.
3 comments ↓
When the coach fails to participate, fails to lead and has lost any and all control to put his own team together himself…well, people, the season has just ended. Marvin is looking at his last season in Cincy and who would want this guy as a coach? Is he on Prozac or what? It is a sad state of affairs for the players who really want to play professional football. Hey guys, just have fun…who knows, you might just win in spite of Marvin. Besides, even though Carson doesn’t want to face the facts…we still have the Buckeyes. Go Bucks!
Well….as you pointed out, this is (probably) going to be a long, long seaon. At first it seemd like the Defense was poised for a breakout year due to a training camp that was full of optimism. Now it just seems like the defense only looked good because our offense is so bad. Only Carson and a cast of backups have played thus far, and they’ve have looked out of sync and very mediocre. If your optimmistic, yo can only hope that there’s a chance they snap out of this funk, because they have been without several key players who haven’t played a down yet this season. But I wouldn’t bet on it. Also, it wasn’t that long ago that Marvin was the toast of the town; how soon we forget. I think this entire situation falls on the shoulders of the Brown/Balckburn monster. They have single handedly kept the franchis stuck in the 50’s (How the hell do they not have a General Manager!) with their ill front office decions and tight budgets. If the team continues losing (and continues to make horrible “front office” decisions), Marvin will be gone after the season. Whether it’s his fault or not.
Ok Debby Downers. It’s the pre-season…we haven’t lost any games yet. Can we honestly look at the pre-season and forecast the entire season? Let’s look to the past and present for the answers to the future. The years we actually did play well in the pre-season we always seem to play poorly (or not as well I should say) during the regular season. Also look at New England they haven’t won a single pre-season game so far and are they dashing the team’s entire season based on games where the 2nd and 3rd strings play the majority of the game, of course not. So why are we? The Colts were another team…lost all their pre-season games only to have the best record in the NFL in the regular season the very same year. And look at the Dolphins record so far…I won’t say anything more. The pre-season is like the weather forecast, we can use it to find trends, but it’s likely to change at a moment’s notice. So don’t throw the Bengals out yet…we have to let them prove themselves in the regular season. If the defense doesn’t improve after the first couple games…well I guess we can say it’s going to be a bumpy season and I will concede this argument.
Also, on the Marvin note. I know things have changed and yes he will probably be on his way out if the Bengals do not have a winning record this year…but let’s not forget all that he did do for this team. He came in and turned around the Bengals, with the help of Carson of course. We owe some great Bengals wins and an almost play-off season because of him. Like Shane says above, it wasn’t long ago that Cincinnati worshiped Marvin; he could do no wrong. He took the joke of the NFL and made a pro football team, which is saying something. He had a major impact on the Bengals organization, and no matter what I will always look back on the early Marvin years with heart full of Bengal pride and some great football memories made at Paul Brown Stadium. I don’t think we can hang the Bengal’s current situation on one man, and definitely not Marvin. (Also, maybe he ate too much SkyLine and got nervous which made him “gasey” and thats why he stood so far away…ever think of that??)
Lastly, I think everyone should take a moment to think about if they had enough money lying around in this current economic state to waste on a billboard that did not promote any monetary value back to them …where would you want it and what would it say?
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