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.
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