Friday morning my hometown (plus Bengals stuff)

DIXON, Ill. -- A few housecleaning items:

Item 1: Thanks to everyone for the kind messages regarding my mother and our family in this trying time. I appreciate having the opportunity to write about these personal times. I had asked Mom for her permission to write about here when she was first diagnosed in August with inoperable lung cancer. Typically, she thought of other people first and said, "I would be honored."

She's sleeping now. She had a restless night but enjoyed her scrambled eggs and pumpkin bread for breakfast. She commented on the beautiful colors on the trees outside of her front window. I asked how she felt, and Mom said, "I can't complain."

Then her mind went somewhere else.

Item 2: Thanks to my Enquirer colleagues Dustin Dow and Kevin Kelly for picking up the slack on the Bengals beat while I was off for a few days. I can't believe how much talent those guys have, and they're still so young. Dustin handled the daily news Wednesday and Thursday, and Kevin has a wonderful feature story running in the Enquirer on Sunday. I can't tell you what it is, but you'll definitely want to check it out. I did file my NFL insider column and Power Rankings for the Sunday paper, so have at me if you disagree with my rankings. There's some good stuff in there about former Mid-American Conference quarterbacks, including Ben Roethlisberger's top-10 hit list. Go RedHawks, says this Miamian. Like wanting to see MAC teams do well in non-conference and bowl games, I like to see former MAC players do well in the pros. There's still a relative perspective in the MAC as "college" athletics, unlike the major conferences.

Item 3: I'll be back at work Monday when the Bengals head back to practice for the Oct. 15 game at Tampa Bay. As you know, the Bengals are off this weekend.

Item 4: Lyric of the day -- from the Jayhawks' song "Break in the Clouds." I listened a couple of times to the band's live acoustic show from 2002, and though the song is a romantic one, it fit my mood as I drove from Cincinnati the 383 miles to Dixon. It was a clean, crisp autumn day, ablaze with color, and I six hours in the car was not enough time to count my endless list of blessings.

"Every time I see your face
It's like cool, cool water
running down my back."

Item 5: I will never not post Bengals news on this blog when I get it. I will always have it here. There just hasn't been much happening the past few days. But I will continue to post a variety of material. Please just skip over it if you don't care to read it. We will continue to publish 20-30 Bengals pieces in the newspaper and online during a given week, not including the related material about fans written by my Tempo and Metro section colleagues. Read Chuck Martin in Tempo. The guy is a scream. Writing humor is not easy. Chuck does it exceptionally well. He's always be Food Boy to me, but I'd read his grocery list. He's that good.

Item 6: In case you did missed this piece on Tuesday, we did run a quarterly report card in the Enquirer and on our Web site. I ran through a bunch of numbers and considered some trends in putting these grades together. I'm sure many of you would disagree. I'd like to read what you think.

(From The Enquirer, Oct. 3, 2006:)

The Bengals have reached the quarter of the season with a 3-1 record. The quarterly report card:

RUN OFFENSE, B-minus: The Bengals rush yardage has dropped the past three weeks, from 160 against Cleveland to 71 Sunday against New England. Rudi Johnson has four touchdowns and a 4.1-yard average on 87 attempts. Despite Johnson’s consistent performance, there are problems here. The Bengals have just 22 first downs on the ground, compared to 46 through the air. Part of the problem is with the offensive line.

PASS OFFENSE, C-plus: The problems start up front with the high-priced offensive line. It’s not all the fault of second-year backup Eric Ghiaciuc, who’s filling in for the injured Rich Braham. Carson Palmer’s knee has held up, despite 15 sacks through four games. He looks a bit rusty with six touchdown passes and four interceptions. Palmer had nine and two after four games a year ago. Teams are taking the big play away from Chad Johnson, who has a long reception of 18 yards and an 11.2 average, down from his career norm of 14.7 yards a catch.

RUN DEFENSE, C-minus: Credit the Bengals for solid games the first two weeks, when they allowed an average of 85 yards on the ground. The Patriots had 125 in the third quarter alone. Stopping the run is the Bengals’ single biggest problem. Tackling is embarrassingly bad.

PASS DEFENSE, B: Opponents really don’t need to pass much when the Bengals can’t stop the run. Third-down efficiency defensively has risen to 37 percent.

SPECIAL TEAMS, B: Punter Kyle Larson could join buddy Shayne Graham in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl. Injuries to Tab Perry and Antonio Chatman have hurt the return games. Coverage has been solid, save for Kevin Faulk’s 43-yard punt return for New England.

COACHING, B-plus: The Bengals are 3-1 after a fourth of the season, and that’s the bottom line. They’re on a 12-4 pace. But there are dark clouds on the horizon, and they’re shaped like opposing offense’s running backs. The Bengals’ biggest problem remains their run defense. It has allowed an average of 203 the past two games. Coaches on both sides of the ball have work to do. The Bengals must fix a disjointed offensive line that’s allowing Palmer to get hit too often.