Monday morning questions, comments

Some readers are beginning to question Marvin Lewis' personnel decisions and preparation, especially on defense.

Question, from Alex: Why were the Bengals permitted to leave the locker room at the
begining of the Ravens game? Is there not a rule in the NFL that when the coach fails to prepare a team for a game that they don't have to come out? Corey Dillion was terrible, and it is good
that he left. Who do we blame it on now?

Answer: The Bengals are a rebuilding team. The Band Aids applied last year worked well, maybe a little too well. Lewis is building for the future while trying to compete now. There are going to be serious growing teams. Preparation was not the problem Sunday in the 23-9 loss to Baltimore.

Question, from Jeff: Does anyone ever question Bob Bratkowski's play calling or offensive philosophies? He is so pass happy, that we continue to go away from the run. I'd rather the game be in Rudi Johnson's hands than Carson Palmer's.

Answer: It was in both. Bratkowski continues to emphasize a balanced offense. The Bengals trailed 17-3 at the half against Baltimore, and they ran 16 times in the second half. There wasn't a sense that the offense was out of balance. Rudi Johnson ran the 23 times; that's not abandoning the run.

There are red zone problems, and some of that can be attributed to wide receiver Peter Warrick being out with an injury. The problem, which is greatly detailed in this morning's Enquirer, is the Bengals defense -- especially against the run.

A look back at Sunday's newpaper ...

A reader wrote to take exception to comments made by Calvert Smith of the NAACP's
Cincinnati branch. In a story about Marvin Lewis' impact on the community as an African-American coach, a Bengals first, Smith was quoted as saying that Lewis is "heads and shoulders above any coach (the Bengals) have had."

To be fair to Smith, there was some contextual information edited out immediately above Smith's comments in the story. He had referenced the three or four previous coaches in reference to Dick LeBeau, Bruce Coslet and Dave Shula, all of whom finished well below .500 in career records as Bengals coaches. Smith was not referring to Forrest Gregg or Paul Brown or any of the earlier coaches.