The Bengals Still Among the Best

You simply cannot take in the whole view of the AFC without first paying tribute to the conference's overlords, quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.  Every offseason we become increasingly optimistic that age will finally take its ultimate toll on these living legends, only to see them back in the AFC Championship Game yet again come winter.  Pittsburgh and Baltimore always fancy themselves among the heavy-hitters regardless of their record the previous year, and Indianapolis seems to have hardly skipped a beat in terms of continuing to show up for annual postseason appearances.

The Cincinnati Bengals are the party crashers of this haughty group of elitists.  They too show up to the Playoff party each year only to drink too much, get the spins within the first hour or so, and recklessly find their way home.  They are mocked and laughed at and find it nearly impossible to feel included.

Some might say that they aren't growing up.  They still wear the clothes of a boy when they dangle the limbs of a man.  They struggle to imitate adulthood and shrink from major achievements and responsibility.  Something is great about them, but it fails to rise up when it becomes absolutely necessary for it do so.

Yet, it is not an incurable case.  Time, as we all know, is a funny thing.  No matter how long a tradition has enjoyed being in existence, one day it will break.

The Bengals remain among the handful of most-promising contenders to form next year's playoff pool.  They are in jeopardy of losing two potential starters in free-agency, but have serviceable contingency plans in both areas currently on the roster if no other replacement is obtained.  The youthful talent they have stockpiled in the draft continues to bloom and develop.  Key contributors-some tops in the league at their position-return from injury, mended and angry at their setbacks.  If you look below the raincloud of pessimism formed from the latest playoff letdown, you may notice a river valley quietly pumping out another bumper crop of potential.

There are some areas that need fortified.  The corners have aged to the point of worry, there is a weak beam or two along the offensive line, and the quarterback play still doesn't instill confidence for the next game, but the repairs are minor in a grander scheme.  AFC North rivals, Pittsburgh and Baltimore have salary-cap problems and some gray holdovers from the glory days of yesteryear.  Their concerns are far greater than Cincinnati's big picture as the Steelers continue to endure the discomforts of a transitional era and Baltimore tries to assess what went so wrong in 2013 after going so right in 2012.

San Diego, the villains who bumped the Stripes from a game they were supposed to win, feels like a team with future promise, but they could just as easily prove to be a one-dimensional group that heated up at the right time last season.  Philip Rivers played like a poised leader down the stretch and let his experience take over for his limited weaponry and rookie head coach.  Kansas City shocked the league, but endured too many key injuries late in the year to advance deep into January.  With the group they have currently, however, it's hard to think they can match that kind of campaign again in '14.

If the Bengals continue their linear regular-season trend of the last three years, they will win 12 games next year, win their division, and lose in the first round of the playoffs.  Or time could decide that a dip in success is necessary for them next season and send a heavy dose of mediocrity squarely their way.  I, being the tortured optimist, however, think it will go the other way, and time, or karma, or whatever superstitious element of destiny you subscribe to will smile upon Cincinnati and provide them with a well-deserved playoff victory.  We will drink local ales from large steins and waltz merrily in the snowy streets.  The red will be in our cheeks as we grin and kiss one another.  The Bengals will then be our friends and the conjured mental image of Marvin Lewis will be met with sincere satisfaction.

To look down on this prospect is done out of fear.  It hurts to lose when it matters the most, and we shy away from the pain.  Some may think preparing themselves, both mentally and emotionally, by expecting the worse will take some of the edge off, but this is wrong.  The hurt comes either way, but the glory is far sweeter when the believer is finally proven correct when his team wins.  The Bengals will be back because they remain better than most of their opponents.  It's as simple as that.

Mojokong-snowed out.

The Bengals Future Focus

As the football world briefly naps before the Scouting Combine nudges it awake again, front offices everywhere are still up, quietly looking at big pictures. Not unlike Bilbo, they climb to the very tops of the trees around them and see out among the whole landscape. They look at their team, they look at their division, they look at the league. It's a time of collective introspective and self-assessment.

This line of thinking always leads to the money. The suits stand around a table, nod to each other and drag out the chopping block. Expensive veterans are sized up and the suits imagine a world without them. They pack their bags, and scramble for their replacements.

The salary cap makes this process interesting in the NFL. In baseball, mediocre players hit the lottery every season thanks to the limitless earning potential their sport has created for them. The big dogs just buy everybody all the time. It's super boring. Roger Goodell's syndicate, though, slaps the reigns on his horses and forces teams to strategically spend rather then go on mad shopping sprees. Rookies have limits, positions have limits, salary floors have limits, everything has limits.

Teams with cheap, young, effective quarterbacks are in the best shape. Russell Wilson won a Super Bowl playing for metaphorical peanuts. When you can save cash on the most expensive type of players, essentially exploiting them during their rookie contracts, you can load up elsewhere and build a power-house program, at least temporarily. Seattle, San Francisco, Indianapolis, and yes, Cincinnati.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," you say. "Powerhouse? Cincinnati?"

Yes, I admit the claim is diminished thanks to multiple futile postseason attempts, and the approval rating of the entire franchise has dipped severely since January, but I think a lot of NFL executives would like to be in the position that the Bengals are in this offseason. Their roster is rock solid, they have lots of cap space, and, at least from a regular-season standpoint, they're proven winners.

Thanks to developing young players into Pro-Bowlers and locking up the most promising of the bunch, they've positioned themselves to the point of not even worrying about losing a marquee player like Michael Johnson in free agency this year. They have so much depth and versatility that Anthony Collins returning isn't all that vital. Andrew Hawkins may be the most important free agent to resign this spring and he certainly won't break the bank.

So in a macro sense, the Bengals are doing well, but in a micro one, I think more money and investment will go toward the secondary, particularly at cornerback.

Dre Kirkpatrick showed some promise last year and raised his perceived value when pressed into action. He still showed his youth when trying to cover double moves, but he made plays and showed toughness. After him, however, the position is ripened with age. Adam Jones and Terence Newman are thirty-something corners, a rarity of the species. They served well under Mike Zimmer and wrung out every drop of their remaining potential for him but one has to wonder about their proverbial tanks. Leon Hall, the most decorated of the bunch, is closing in on thirty himself and has not one but two ruptured Achilles in the recent past. There is no middle ground at the position in terms of age and the depth there has become mildly worrisome.

This conversation, though, began with the quarterback. Andy Dalton, despite his playoff letdowns and occasionally shaky play, is playing well below his worth under his current contract. The Bengals can begin negotiations this year to drag him into the long-term picture at a likely reasonable rate, but if they decide to wait until his contract officially runs out and he continues to statistically improve, they might have to pay a lot more for his services. Or they could let him walk either way, but I think they will make a strong attempt to keep him, like it or not.

As for numbers, it's hard to say. Kansas City claims they would like to extend Alex Smith's contract and while many of you may consider Smith to be a better player than Dalton, I think Dalton's agent will look to those numbers if the Chiefs do sign Smith for two more years. Without claiming any expertise in football economics, I would put those numbers in the 9-12 million a year range.

Obviously A.J. Green's approaching turn for the big bucks will force the eye of the franchise to make great accommodations for the young mega-star and that contract might hinder the team's long-term plans in a purely economical sense. It is nice to have elite players, but those players eventually gobble up huge chunks of cap space that can send a team's books off balance. Nonetheless, Green is an exceptional talent that must be retained at nearly all costs.

The fun part about all of this equation is that the Bengals will still have play-money in free agency even after resigning their guys. The bummer about it, though, is that they will let big name after big name pass under nose without even a sniff come March. They keep drafting (or signing undrafted) players and developing them into surefire keepers. What about when Vontaze Burfict and Gio Bernard need to get paid? Will Cincinnati still have the loot? What about Kevin Zeitler and Tyler Eifert? These guys matter, probably more than the flashy veterans that find themselves on the market.

So while the league largely ignores the Bengals as still not-good-enough, they carry on with their organizational philosophy in hopes that things will be better next time. They will continue to pay their own guys first and go for quality depth over splashy new starters. They will stick with their homegrown program and assume their trust in Marvin Lewis for another go around. It may not make for a riveting spring, but it seems to work from September to December.

Mojokong-a sorry substitute for bacon.

Super Bowl Preview: Grime vs. Gleam

The Sheriff's eyes watered some from the dust cloud that raised up from the road. He looked out at the riders on the horizon and sighed.

He knew about these whippersnappers: bunch of loud-talkers and dancers.  Some may have even call them clowns. He wiped his eyes with his handkerchief and opened his holster. He would try to reason with them if he could, but these clowns were the most dangerous kind of all and he figured that he wouldn't be able to say much anyway.

The Seahawks are the ultimate party crashers. In the football world, they are anti-establishment, renegade demonstrators, ready to make noise and make change by any means necessary. They are resentful underdogs who play with tenacity.

The Broncos on the other hand, are the self-assured, perhaps smug, elite. If Seattle is a grimy hip-hop show than Denver is an awards banquet held at an upscale hunting lodge. Oh look, there's Champ Bailey drinking champagne with Peyton, classy stuff. They have the kind of self-assurance that is so steadfast one thinks it must be a facade for some deeper-seated issues, but their play this year has been spectacular and has reached new heights for statistical greatness.

Of course, when operating in such swanky circumstances, many will feel obliged to apply the "soft" label upon the Broncos because of how easy they seem to have made the game for themselves. Offensively speaking, this kind of labeling is blind jealousy and has no real grounds, but the Denver defense is certainly not made of unbreakable steel.

If the Seahawks are going to win, they must run the ball well. Marshawn Lynch is the angry silent-type of runner-that in the mold of Corey Dillon-and he has earned his spot among the tops at his position. With a Seattle victory, he may put himself in the drivers seat toward hall-of-fame consideration. Russell Wilson is a fine young player who grows with the game at each new level, but his receiving corps is limited and his safety net remains Lynch. If Percy Harvin plays, there could be some explosive razzle-dazzle moments where he breaks loose on a reverse or something, but Harvin is the most injury-prone dude in the sport today it seems, and if he finishes the game, I would be impressed. Ultimately, they need Lynch to keep their offense on schedule, wear down the Bronco front seven and loosen up the passing game, but Denver has limited their opponents on the ground nicely since being bullied by San Diego in Week 15. Their run defense broke the offensive scheme of both the Patriots and the Chargers when they met again in the playoffs.

The ballyhooed clash of the titans is between the Broncos spaceship-offense versus "The Legion of Boom". The Seahawks secondary is terrifying and awesome. Denver has seen nothing like it this season, or maybe ever. They are rangy players with a blood lust for big hits. I'm sure their plan is to get rough with their opposing receivers and disrupt all that illegal-pick, crossing-route nonsense the Broncos have mastered so well. If they do plan to jam, then they are forced closer to the line of scrimmage, sacrificing the possible deep pass. Whether Peyton can convert on the bomb would then would become the new focus of the Bronco game plan. It won't be easy.

Strangely enough, I think Knowshon Moreno will make the difference. I look for the Broncos to set up the pass for the run and find big chunk yards on the ground the way New Orleans did in the Divisional round against the Seahawks. Once Moreno breaks a couple off and has the Seattle secondary second-guessing, that's when the vast football universe that is Peyton Manning's brain will unfold and crush the Legion.

Afterward, with a steady hand, the Sheriff opens the door to his office, removes his holster and hangs it back up on the gun rack. He locks the door behind him on the way out and heads back home to his land and family. The clowns lay wounded along the main drag, and the Sheriff nods to them as he rides past.

Broncos 26, Seahawks 17

MVP: Knowshon Moreno

Mojokong-the right bookend.

Freestyles of Our Forgotten Ancestors

When rappers freestyle, they use a unique neural network that allows them to improvise verbally in real time. It is unlike other states in that it increases activity in the parts in charge of motivation and action of thought, but decreases the regions in charge of filtering and supervising, so what is left is a person literally flowing thought from their heads.

When reading this, I immediately connected it to football. Perhaps some individuals are more naturally predisposed to facilitate improvised actions than others. Maybe when Ben Roethlisberger makes broken plays look golden it's because his brain is hardwired to perform those moments better than say, Andy Dalton's brain. What if the ability to improvise is genetic and cannot truly be taught?

This also makes me wonder if Big Ben can rap.