The Amnesia of '08

Well, it’s over. Can’t say it’s been a good ride, really; we never even got off of the ground. The team mustered the gumption to return itself to the hanger after stalling on the runway, and ‘round here, we see that as a step in the right direction. Sad but true.

But we should be happy, right? Finishing a respectable 4-3-1 in the season’s second half is picking ourselves up from the mat and finishing the fight. The city, the fans, the team can go around patting each other’s backs and drinking themselves into a New Year’s haze. We’re aren’t the worst team after all, eureka!!

The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Dustin Dow struck a nerve in Marvin Lewis when he asked the coach if the meaningless success in a lost season masks the inefficiencies of the organization as a whole. Perhaps Dow had hit too close to home for Marvin. For a person in stubborn denial, the truth is often the last thing they want to hear. But the question was asked because we’ve all read this script before. Cincinnati has a knack for trumping up enthusiasm for the future, based on late-season improvements which only serve to keep us out of last place. How many years must I spend muttering the worn-out, old phrase, “Just wait til next year”?

Next year will be Marvin’s seventh with this team. It will be young and inexperienced, and likely immature and emotional. Half the players invited to training camp will be returning from injured reserve and plenty of the veterans will not be asked back for another go around. Expectations and optimism will be minimal heading into a what seems to be a permanent phase of mediocrity.

Carson’s elbow is the perfect built-in excuse for that expected mediocrity of ‘09. Unfortunately, he is the keystone to the entire Bengal operation which will not operate correctly, if at all, without him. Carson has proven that he can be magnificent when everything around him is exactly in order, but sprinkle even a dash of the unexpected in the mix, and the man panics. The team crumbles around his inability to improvise and seasons are lost. All those Eagle’s fans who scream for McNabb’s head don’t know how nice they have it with a guy like that. Carson would be torn limb-from-limb in Philly, and would probably have an emotional meltdown.

A common symptom of a failed season is when many of the younger players see more playing time than anyone expected. Thanks to a plague of injuries and generally miserable play, rookies like Pat Sims, Andre Caldwell, and Anthony Collins were able to showcase themselves as possible starters for next year. Chris Perry ran himself into the ground, which gave the misplaced Cedric Benson a chance at a career again. Benson showed he’s at least capable of carrying the load if called upon. A complimentary speed back – maybe DeDe Dorsey – would relieve some pressure from Benson and the offensive line.

Fitzpatrick proved that he is definitively a back-up quarterback, but not a bad one. He struggled at times, but unquestionably improved throughout the season. Some of his late success was aided by improved playcalling from Bratkowski and the gelling of the second-string offensive line, but the accuracy on his throws became more consistent and his pocket presence increased over the last four games or so. It will be interesting to see if another team lures him in free agency, promising him a chance to start.

As for the o-line (perhaps this blog’s most thoroughly discussed aspect of the Bengals), it seemed the back-ups were better than the starters. Collins had some difficulty against some elite pass-rushers, but held his own against others, Livings didn’t appear to make many mistakes and Roland played well in his only start against the Chiefs. This is still an area of major concern, but it’s nice to know that some depth with decent young players already exists within that unit. If the Bengals are able to add another tackle and a new center, this line could be at least decent again by next year. Paul Alexander(offensive line coach), the whole world is watching.

Mike Brown is poised to make a statement this off-season. The pressure by fans and media has been adquately applied for him to beef up the scouting and general management departments in the organization. If he complies, we will stand there, mouths agape, and applaud Mr. Brown’s commitment to winning . If he “stays the course”, turns his back on competitive business practice and spends his time counting our tax dollars and eating Burger King, then we will have no choice but to storm the river banks and burn Paul Brown Stadium to the ground. Which message will you send, Mr. Brown? Choose wisely.

Mojokong - Happy Frigin’ New Year!

Things I've Learned From the '08 Season

Never bet against Peyton Manning:

The guy needs very little around him to win games. No run game? No problem. Soft defense? No problem. I’ve grown weary of the Patriots, Colts, Steelers, Chargers playoff party, and it looks like three of those teams will be back again this year (I have very little faith in Denver beating San Diego Sunday night). Without Mr. Brady, the Patriots were asked to give up their customary playoff armchair near the fire, but not without putting up quite a fight for it. The Colts stumbled early in the season and I pounced on the opportunity to write off Indy as “past their prime”, comparing their decline to that of the Bengals. How foolish of me.

Out of sheer bullheadedness, I predict that the Colts will have a hard time against a physically superior team, even the Ravens, but with Peyton at the controls and a mean pass rush to boot, the Colts could beat anybody their matched up with.

The two-back system works:

Power running teams that employed two or more backs, seemed able to sustain their dominance throughout the season, rather than watch their productivity peak at any specific point. There are some who think that Tennessee has peaked too early and are destined to be knocked out by either the fashionable Steelers or Colts in the playoffs. Even after beating the Steelers in Nashville, without Haynesworth or Vandenbosch, the Titans are considered by many the third most likely team to make the Super Bowl from the AFC. While LeBeau can out-scheme damn near anybody, the Titans could shock the world after posting the best record in their conference. Funny how that works.

The Giants could become the third team ever to have two backs rush for 1,000 yard seasons, and even sprinkle in a third back, Bradshaw, when they really want to pour it on. Carolina has two explosive backs who break off big chunks of yardage when they get in rhythm with an underrated offensive line.

First-round teams like the Dolphins and Ravens don’t allow much finesse in their games either. Their both hard-nosed teams that will give any of those other playoff contenders a bare-knuckled fist-fight in a back ally somewhere. The Dolphins got a little zany with their two-back approach with the Wildcat formation, while the Ravens found out McClain is bigger than the opposition and is apparently, a real pain in the ass to have to tackle 20 times a game. He, and the occasionally healthy Willis McGahee, not to mention a dash of Ray Rice, wear out defenses and chew up the clock. On both teams, the quarterback is the secondary focus to the offense, taking pressure off of the noodle-armed journeyman Chad Pennington, and the calm rookie, Joe Flacco.

Most teams really do peak throughout the season:

The Buffalo Bills tricked me this season. They beat some lame competition, ran off to a great start, and seized early control of the AFC East. I liked the way they looked on paper (when am I going to see a Bills game?), so I jumped on the bandwagon, talking smack and placing bets along the way. The played a couple of real teams and crumbled like bleu cheese. All of a sudden the Bills’ torch had blown out, and they stumbled around blindly in the wilderness the rest of the season.

Tampa Bay rolled off a few wins in a row and found themselves in a showdown for the division in Carolina. The Bucs, traditionally a defensive powerhouse, wilted against DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, and they haven’t been able to stop the run since. Garcia is a seasoned veteran who is no stranger to the playoffs, but the offense around him is not good enough to win without a commanding defensive presence on the other side of the ball.


Mojokong – learning something new.

Sputtering Acoss the Finish Line

Like a long cart ride to the gallows, the 2008 season promises to come to an end Sunday for the hapless Bengals. The irrelevance bowl will be played out amongst a light sprinkling of fans, many of whom have never been to an NFL game. Good for them.

A win against the Chiefs means the Bengals will have gone 3-3-1 in their last seven games and plenty of fans will line up to tell you how bad that is for this franchise. Mr. Brown has historically used irrelevant, late-season success as an excuse to shy away from making changes in his personnel and scouting departments. Hopefully -- and I’m not holding my breath here -- the act has become old hat to the fans, and maybe they’ll finally see through the shenanigan this time. It’d be nice to think that the home games won’t sell out next year, sending the message to Brown that we’ve had it with the losing and the lack of a competitive product, but, unfortunately, that’s just living in a dream world.

Maybe winning isn’t so bad. The lack of it is what has made this season so awful. Also, we would end up with the seventh pick or so, where we could take Maualuga at that spot without “reaching” for him. Some may think that using the first pick on a linebacker isn’t addressing the team’s biggest need, which is the offensive line, but a play-making middle linebacker who complimented Rivers in college would turn this defense from a C+ to a B- right away. I’d rather take a no-risk pick like Maualuga than try out the third best tackle in the draft just because we need one. Filling roster holes with the first pick is dangerous. Picking the best player available – who can still start right away – is the way to go about acquiring marquee players that a team can build their future upon.

I’ve read that the Bengals, and presumably other NFL teams, break the season up into four game sections to reevaluate their roster and schemes. You can see how the play-calling has improved over the last quarter of the season, allowing lineman to pull on sweeps, delays and off-tackle runs and find blocks out in space. This has resulted in a running game that, at times, feels legit. Any time Fitzpatrick can limit his day to nine pass attempts, something is working. Benson too has proven himself capable of handling heavy workloads when called upon. With a reasonable price tag expected next season, Benson should return to the team to at least compete for a starting spot in camp.

Stacy Andrews blowing out his knee may turn out to be a positive for the Bengals. Offensive tackles are a well-paid position in this league. One that can point to a full season of service and is young with limited injury concerns would command at least $5 million a year on the open market. One with a severe knee injury, who gave up a lot of sacks and never looked great, will have to rely on an excellent agent to get them that same contract. If Andrews returns, he might not be 100 percent for camp and will certainly not be guaranteed a starting job. While he would help add depth to the line when he does recuperate, there’s no reason to overpay a guy like that. A high draft pick would be a better bargain thanks largely to that player’s potential upside. Stacy Andrews came into the league as a shot-put and hammer thrower. This year, the coaching staff stood back and admired their finished project, and announced him the replacement of an aging legend. Not good enough, sirs. The experiment proved average at best, and long-time offensive line coach, Paul Alexander, is now under intense Mojokong scrutiny because of such a letdown. Andrews quickly surpassed Justin Smith as the worst franchise-player ever this year, remarkably from the same team in consecutive seasons. Could this be yet another indication that this franchise is being led into the ground? Probably, yes.

Cincinnati is playing well right now and I think we carry that into this week. If the defense can stop, or more appropriately, contain Larry Johnson, I think they can force Thigpen into a pick or two. Look for the Bengals to try a long play-action pass early in the game after refusing to pass at all in the second half in Cleveland. Chris Henry will get another score this week, as will Ndukwe. Week 17 lends itself to wild predictions.

Bengals 23, Chiefs 20

Mojokong — Santa hates the Bengals.

The Century Mark

How gracious of the Bengals to get a win in preparation for the 100th Bengals blog.

An inexperienced team with a first-year coach, a young quarterback and a pair of missing starting tackles allowed for the Skins to overlook the lowly Bengals on the road, and now they’re leaving the playoff party, and being laughed at on their way out. Even the Eagles, hovering by the door, get a chuckle out of seeing Washington escorted out by their own humiliation. Suckers.

Cincinnati did some nice things early on. The offensive line played well out in space on sweeps and the long screen play to Benson. Ghiaciuc and Stacy Andrews, a couple of lineman who live in Mojokong’s doghouse, did a few things right on Sunday. Bratkowski made logical attempts at playcalling early on, but again, freaked out with a lead and resorted to the tired list of predictable plays we’ve suffered through all season. Our lineman are best in the open field, pulling and finding people to block. What they aren’t, is a bulldozing bunch who can push defensive lines backward. Against Washington the Bengals played to their strength and success ensued. This is the only way Marvin Lewis’ team can “establish the run” until he gets stronger interior lineman, particularly at center. Anthony Collins has had some rough times in his debut season, but he’s as capable as Stacy Andrews at tackle and better already than the physically and emotionally broken Levi Jones. Drafting left tackle sensation, Andre Smith and moving Collins to right tackle, letting Andrews walk or sign for back up money – which will never happen – and cutting Levi makes a lot of sense to me. But then again, making sense is something we as fans have learned to live without.

Defensively, I thought the Bengals looked pretty tough and aggressive for a unit missing six of its starters. Zimmer’s intelligence and value to the team has shined through the heavy mist of misery this year. After giving up over 30 points two weeks in a row – when it appeared all motivation had evaporated – they came out and dragged down a staggering offense to its knees. The goal line stand that resulted in a turnover was the surprise left hook that just might have ended Jim Zorn’s brief head coaching career.

The defense, on paper, looks promising for the future. We have a couple of young tackles (Sims, Peko), a pair of overpriced ends we’re all just going to have to live with (Geathers, Odom), a building block linebacker(Rivers), two first round corners who get better each season (Joseph, Hall), and two hard-hitting safeties (white, Ndukwe), all in their twenties. More young talent at linebacker is an immediate need for Zimmer to complete his puzzle heading into next season. Defense is the one area I think our team shows competence.

Next week’s game is worth getting fired up over. Cleveland is as awful as we are, they beat us in Week 2, and...it’s the Browns, what more does it take during a lost season to provoke a little emotion? Since we’re guaranteed a top-5 pick in the upcoming draft, these next two games – both very winnable – can be viewed without the internal conflict between your team’s success and a nice draft slot.

The problem with wins at the end of the season for a bad team is that ownership always points to that as a reason to be encouraged for next season. As if it’s a movie trailer, previewing the excitement that awaits Bengal fans in 2009. Ownership and management use phrases like “hang our hat on” when asked about late meaningless wins, and defend their job production on these victories. Another lame statement made by coaches especially, is that “the players didn’t give up”. Even fans buy into this one. I feel like too much credit is given to coaches on bad teams whose players appear to still give their full effort in the face of a defeated season. That’s what they’re paid to do. It should be expected of them.

Even if the wins at the end of the season result in Mike Brown defending his product as passable, it’s still nice to see my team win. After all, sports, even the Bengals, only exist for our entertainment.

Bengals 24, Browns 17



Mojokong – Speeding along with a cracked odometer.

The Suicide Channel

The best thing Levi Jones can do for this team before he catches the first train outta here in 2009, is to get Anthony Collins drunk and talk him down off of the ledge. Levi has experienced first hand the chaos Dwight Freeney creates, and should be an expert by now at coping with sacks. AC was schooled (like the kids from the ‘90s used to say) on a variety of moves from Freeney and demonstrated how much stronger the rookie must become. I could do my best Geoff Hobson imitation and put a positive spin on it, say something like ‘at least he’s learning all of this now when it doesn’t matter’, but really, when will it matter?

The air never inflated the Bengal balloon to begin with, but now a dog has eaten the balloon and it’s going to take weeks for it to pass. The rare speck of light Fitzy flashed this season has been swallowed into this black hole and it appears he’s somehow getting even worse. Chris Henry has been utterly useless this season as well, and looks a little worse every week himself. We’ve been beaten 69-6 in the last two games and we officially look like a football scene from One Flew Over the Cookoo’s Nest. There aren’t words to capture just how bad it’s become. There aren’t words.

Mojokong - 16 black Sundays.

The Monster Speaks

A little, old tyrant who lives in a tower and chortles over his gold, invited a few writers up to grace them with his rarely heard insight and wisdom. Reading the reports of that meeting made all the demons I’ve pretended not to notice, flood out like an opened Ghost Busters trap. The disheartening excuses for failure and the promises of maintaining the current staff, make a Bengals fan want to shop for a new team.

The excuse this miserly scrooge coughed up for the immense failures of 2008, was, predictably, Carson Palmer’s injured elbow:

“This thing would take a quantum leap forward if we just had Carson Palmer back on the field playing the way he can play. We built our team with the assumption that he would be out there as our quarterback.”

There are so many things wrong with this statement, it’s hard to find a starting point.

First off, a well balanced team can survive an injury to even their best player. Secondly, the Bengals have relied on an obsolete passing game for a while now, that had shown its struggles in the last half of the 2007 season. Palmer came into the year with no health concerns and showed us a clumsy offense who looked determined to set a franchise record for punts in a season. This organization can no longer hide it’s ineptitude behind Carson’s greatness because he isn’t great. He once looked it, but that was when the Bengals caught the league by surprise which has since then completely worn off. Guys, wearing the divisional champs shirt from three years ago just isn’t cool anymore - it’s like being stuck in the ‘80s.

Next, the writers asked the tyrant about the job security of the current coaching staff:

“I'm not going to say anything other than they are the same people that have been here for years now and they've been good years and years that weren't so good. But they're the same. They coach the same. They're teachers. They do their jobs as teachers, the same as they did before this year. I don't criticize them for how they teach.”

The sameness is the problem. Perhaps their teaching methods can remain the same, but the content must fluidly adapt to the current trends of the NFL. Innovation makes great coaches, not drills and practices. Any dumbbell can coach, but it’s the non-traditional that go down in history. The tyrant is telling the world how good years and bad years are the same in his mind. How the seasons go by, sometimes we win games, mostly we lose them, but the profit margin stays mostly the same. That’s unfortunately the only sameness that matters to him.

And Marvin?:

“In many ways he's done an incredibly good job. Our players still try hard and that's hard to come by when you go through all the losing this team has gone through. But he has them out there trying to the best of their abilities. At least in my eye. And on this point my eye counts.”

Do you see the standards this man has for his employees? Just try. It doesn’t matter what happens, just try. Try to make it to practice, try out last week’s game plan and if you’re up to it, try to get a win Sunday. No big whoop either way.

The writers couldn’t bear anymore of this nonsense, so they asked about a player everyone likes, T.J. Houshmandzedah:

“He's a tremendous competitor. He's the one player that has played to his previous level this year. We've talked with his people but haven't been able to reach ground that both of us accepted. It's going to be a question of money and we'll find out in the off-season if it's a deal we can make or not.”

That doesn’t sound hopeful. But if we can’t make a deal, we could always franchise tag him right?

“I don't want to get into what we're going to do there yet. That's something we don't have to decide on for a couple of months. In all honesty we haven't focused on it or made a decision on it.”

Haven’t focused on it? What have you been focusing on...the season? After Sunday our record should be 1-11-1. Our record will look like an X-Wing! Is that what all this focus leads to? An X-Wing? Aaagghh!!!

Colts 78, Bengals 6

Mojokong - done gone mad.