What's Really Going On?

It’s still only preseason. The words repeat themselves in my head like a mantra of rationale. I heard it over and over again Saturday night as I watched Carson getting smacked in the mouth by an aged safety we released two years ago. “We’ll get it together,” I say aloud after witnessing yet another missed tackle. A blocked field goal?...we’ve still got time to fix all of this...right?

I sometimes get the feeling I’m telling everyone to be calm in a plane crash. There’s a lot of doubt floating around right now and we haven’t even started yet.

There are some legitimate excuses for some problems. Chad’s shoulder tear (as reported first on this blog) has been legitimized by ESPN’s John Clayton and it sounds like it will be 85's choice to play with the injury or not. I predict he gives it a go, gets hit once...maybe twice, and calls it a season. As the great Basilgrey wisely noted, the words Chad and tough are not synonymous. Housh continues to mollycottle his hamstring and the rookies look like babes in the woods out there. Chris “Afrodite” Henry will have to wait four whole games to contribute, and the promising Marcus Maxwell is out for the season as well. Of course the passing game is going to struggle, but I think it will get better as personnel returns..

And then there are some not so legitimate excuses for the Bengals’ struggles. Our offensive line, the so-called Jurrasic line which has applied more to being slow and dumb rather than big and scarey, is the healthiest its been in years, has pro-bowl talent and is apparently blind. It’s just not good business employing blind lineman, I’m tellin’ ya. Bratkowski made mention that some of the blame goes to the backs and tight ends as well. None of that matters. Just keep our franchise off of his back and keep his nose in tact for chrise sake.

The value of a good center is hard to quantify. They’re rarely considered a worthwhile first-round pick yet there never seem to be decent free agent centers to plug into a line. Paul Brown knew the value of a good one. He took a center, Bob Johnson from Tennessee, with the Bengals first pick ever. Rich Braham was great and I miss him. Ghaciuc is still getting pushed around, and I don’t mean to offend him but I think he’s a pansy. It’s too bad though: back up Dan Santucci is out for a while and really isn’t that much better when healthy.

I like what I’ve seen from Leon Hall so far. Even the Garbage man himself, Dexter Jackson, has looked aight. Keith Rivers showed us last week he does indeed have some rookie tendencies that need polishing, but overall this one looks solid. Pass rush has not improved an iota but, in theory, help is on the way with the expected return of Odom for Week 1.

It’s only preseason. It’s only preseason. It’s only preseason. It’s only preseason. It’s only preseason.

Mojokong - You’d better buckle up.