A Soft Plummet

If the Bengal season is a plane ride, then the pilots are unaware that the jet is out of fuel. Once they realize, if they do at all, the only thing that can be done is to slowly descend into a cornfield somewhere.

While we, the passengers, wait for our emergency landing, we can at least check out our new offensive toys we picked up this week.

First off, we have the returned and allegedly repaired, Chris Henry. Our offense has the flu and Henry could be something like an Advil – helpful, but makes little of an actual difference. We know what Henry can and can’t do. He can jump well on deep balls and break tackles on smaller corners. He can’t take a hit very well and sometimes tends to lose focus (a common Bengal symptom).

Then there’s running back Cedric Benson who this week became the newest addition to the NFL’s Home for Wayward Boys, headquartered at PBS. Benson is an emotional guy who carries the ball with an angry running style similar to that of Corey Dillon. Here is a guy who broke down in tears when the Bears drafted him with the fourth overall pick in the 2005 draft. Chicago cut him when he was arrested for drunken driving and drunken boating charges in Texas, both have since been dropped. Now it looks as if he’ll be the starter Sunday against the league’s most talented team – the Cowboys.

I like the Benson acquisition. When it became clear that Perry wasn’t going to immediately improve our running game, I began to wonder if Mike Brown would pick Benson off the second-chance-tree that he keeps in his garden at home. It would be a ballsy move for most franchises, but here in Cincinnati, we have neither our season nor our reputation to worry about.

Let's talk about something positive and credit the defense. Mike Zimmer has an overworked unit which ranks 19th in overall defense. Not bad. The guy did come in with a nice resume and some legitimate accolades and is now putting his troops to work as expected. He blitzes at the right times, and his young corners have looked most professional in the first quarter of this season. Zimmer and his squad give us some fleeting hope to our current bleak outlook of the season. Whatever you do, Mike Brown, don’t lose this guy.

The captain notices the fuel light blinking now, and there’s some perspiration gathering on his top lip. He doesn’t want to inform us - the passengers - just yet. While there’s plenty of reason to panic, he doesn’t have the heart to tell anybody. Not until he either absolutely has to, or until we figure it out for ourselves. In the meantime, take in the scenes outside your window. Notice the little islands getting bigger? See how we’ve dipped below the clouds now? See how we’re crashing?

Mojokong – The Paper Tiger