Post-season award ballots

Good evening. It's Saturday night, Jan. 8. The third quarter of the Jets-Chargers game
has just wrapped up. Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson was announced at halftime of the game as a starter for the AFC Pro Bowl team. Right guard Willie Anderson and cornerback Tory James are backups.

Here are some postseason leftovers for you: I was asked to vote for the NFL Insider Player Awards and Playoff Predictions. Here are the links:

http://www.fantasyguru.com/1-5insider.html
http://www.fantasyguru.com/1-5insider2.html

For the second year, I was one of the official voters for the Associated Press awards.
There were 48 of us nationwide this year. Here were my votes:

Most Valuable Player: Peyton Manning

Comeback Player: T.J. Houshmandzadeh (I was his one vote.)

Defensive Rookie: Jonathan Vilma

Offensive Rookie: Ben Roethlisberger

Defensive Player: James Farrior

Offensive Player: Peyton Manning

Coach: Bill Cowher

As for e-mail letters, many have involved asking my opinion of Marvin Lewis' firing of
defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier. Good questions. Difficult answers. So many of you have written that I don't think I can dodge it.

Frazier is a good coach, and his contract was up. He was in a difficult situation to
begin with, working for a strong personality in Lewis, who also happened to be one of the
highest-profile coordinators of the past 30 years. Whether it was the right move or not, credit Lewis for his single-mindedness to win.

Lewis thinks another coordinator, presumably Chuck Bresnahan, will lift the performance of the
defense. Former Bengals coach Dick LeBeau had the opportunity to make changes after the 2000 season on the under-achieving staff he inherited from Bruce Coslet. He didn't, other than to demote Ken Anderson and hire Bob Bratkowski as offensive coordinator. LeBeau could have made changes on special teams and throughout the defense. He was blinded by loyalty.

Bengals inactives; Eagles rest starters

By Mark Curnutte
Enquirer staff writer

PHILADELPHIA -- Carson Palmer is the Bengals' third quarterback for the game today
against the Eagles. Jon Kitna will start for the third game in a row in place of Palmer.

Shaun Smith will start at defensive tackle in place of Langston Moore, who was placed on the injured reserve list Friday with knee and ankle injuries.

Other inactives for the Bengals are wide receiver Matt Cherry, running back Quincy
Wilson, safety Rogers Beckett, offensive tackle Pete Lougheed, offensive lineman Alex Sulfsteed, offensive tackle Stacy Andrews and defensive tackle Greg Scott.

The Eagles de-activated eight players, including six starters. The starters not dressing
for Philadelphia are safety Brian Dawkins, cornerback Lito Sheppard, right defensive end Derrick Burgess, offensive tackle Jermane Mayberry, wide receiver Terrell Owens and tight end Chad Lewis.

The Eagles did not designate a third quarterback, so backups Koy Detmer and Jeff Blake -- the
former Bengal -- are expected to split time in place of starter Donovan McNabb, who will play a
series at most.

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com