Bengals look healthier
Linebacker Ahmad Brooks and safety Chinedum Ndukwe were two of the players who returned to practice this morning.
The team moved inside to Paul Brown Stadium to practice on the FieldTurf because of the rain.
Also practicing: left guard Stacy Andrews (shoulder) and center Eric Ghiaciuc (thumb).
Running back DeDe Dorsey wore No. 27. He signed earlier in the week. Cornerback Blue Adams wore No. 46. He signed a two-year contract Wednesday when cornerback Keiwan Ratliff was waived.
Right tackle Willie Anderson (heel) watched practice in street clothes. There was no sign outside of wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh (knee) and tailback Rudi Johnson (hamstring). The Bengals unofficially have listed Johnson as questionable for New England.
posted by Mark at 11:39 AM
7 Comments:
at 9/27/2007 3:07 PM 
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at 9/27/2007 3:57 PM 
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at 9/27/2007 3:58 PM 
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at 9/27/2007 4:20 PM 
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at 9/27/2007 4:31 PM 
Shiv said...
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at 10/01/2007 10:04 AM 
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at 10/01/2007 10:52 AM 
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Post a Comment*Healthier doesn't mean faster. The Bengals have done nothing to improve the terribly slow special teams. We are going to get burnt this week. Marvin Lewis needs to stop coming up with excuses. He has had several years to shore up the defense and special teams. I would even venture to say that our defense and special teams is worse off with him has our head coach.
Before the entire painful season unfurls the very real thought of a 6-10 record for 2007 needs to be anticipated. 1-3 after Monday night leaves 12 games left. If the Bengals win 5 and lose 7 there you have it, 6-10. Look at the schedule do you see more that six wins in the last 12 games? If there is a sports God, a Bengal turnaround will be on the level of the Mets World Series win, US Olympic hockey gold medal, and the real biggie, the parting of the Red Sea. Yes there are injuries and, as the coaches lament, people not carrying out assignments, confusion, poor decisions, etc, etc, etc. The faces have changed on defense, the talent has changed, yet the results remain the same; poor inconsistent tackling, blown coverage’s, etc, etc., etc. From a management view (head coach) the constant that matches the continued unacceptable results has been defensive team coaching.
“It is one thing to identify talent; it is another to mold it. Coaches are no different than your best managers. They are responsible for developing players and forging a sense of shared mission that separates the best teams. Like all managers, coaches must massage egos, build consensus and motivate players to disregard pain, exhaustion and self-interest for the greater good”. Coaches set the organizational tone. They understand that football, like business, is not a game of statistics. It is a game of discipline, guts and tendencies. That's why they focus on repetition and habits, knowing one blown assignment or half-hearted effort can lose a game. (Jeff Schmitt, Marketing Manager, Dubuque, Iowa)
Leadership requires hard decisions and after 5 years of defensive inconsistencies, unacceptable results, and the same excuses, (Marvin must have them written somewhere) self preservation instincts say, Get me a defensive coach, with simple schemes, a desire to crush the other team, and players that breath fire for 60 minutes. Last year the Ravens head coach fired his best friend because the results weren’t acceptable. If the season ends at 6-10 selling tickets for 2008 will be a marketing challenge because the expectations (goals) have not been meet, the results are less than anticipated and improvement invisible and lastly a new coaching staff will be on board.
Are the players innocent in this decline, no, but they do reflect the coaching they are receiving. As any parent knows, kids emulate what their environment teaches them, and it looks like there is a lack of teaching and learning happening at Paul Brown Stadium.
Before the entire painful season unfurls the very real thought of a 6-10 record for 2007 needs to be anticipated. 1-3 after Monday night leaves 12 games left. If the Bengals win 5 and lose 7 there you have it, 6-10. Look at the schedule do you see more that six wins in the last 12 games? If there is a sports God, a Bengal turnaround will be on the level of the Mets World Series win, US Olympic hockey gold medal, and the real biggie, the parting of the Red Sea. Yes there are injuries and, as the coaches lament, people not carrying out assignments, confusion, poor decisions, etc, etc, etc. The faces have changed on defense, the talent has changed, yet the results remain the same; poor inconsistent tackling, blown coverage’s, etc, etc., etc. From a management view (head coach) the constant that matches the continued unacceptable results has been defensive team coaching.
“It is one thing to identify talent; it is another to mold it. Coaches are no different than your best managers. They are responsible for developing players and forging a sense of shared mission that separates the best teams. Like all managers, coaches must massage egos, build consensus and motivate players to disregard pain, exhaustion and self-interest for the greater good”. Coaches set the organizational tone. They understand that football, like business, is not a game of statistics. It is a game of discipline, guts and tendencies. That's why they focus on repetition and habits, knowing one blown assignment or half-hearted effort can lose a game. (Jeff Schmitt, Marketing Manager, Dubuque, Iowa)
Leadership requires hard decisions and after 5 years of defensive inconsistencies, unacceptable results, and the same excuses, (Marvin must have them written somewhere) self preservation instincts say, Get me a defensive coach, with simple schemes, a desire to crush the other team, and players that breath fire for 60 minutes. Last year the Ravens head coach fired his best friend because the results weren’t acceptable. If the season ends at 6-10 selling tickets for 2008 will be a marketing challenge because the expectations (goals) have not been meet, the results are less than anticipated and improvement invisible and lastly a new coaching staff will be on board.
Are the players innocent in this decline, no, but they do reflect the coaching they are receiving. As any parent knows, kids emulate what their environment teaches them, and it looks like there is a lack of teaching and learning happening at Paul Brown Stadium.
I have to say I am very disconcerted about the defense Marvin Lewis has unveiled this year. I dont know if he is responsible or if it is the fault of our defensive coordinator, but either way, leadership is a from the top issue. These guys need to start kicking some butts and benching or cutting others until we get the right talent on defense.
Same thing goes for special teams. Right now these guys look more like "special needs" teams.
I dont understand some of the comments people have. If we went 1-3, look at what we have coming up
Jets (W)
KC (W)
Pittsburg (W/L)
Buffalo (W)
AZ (W)
Baltimore (W/L)
Tennessee (W/L)
Pittsburg (W/L)
STL (W)
SF (W)
Cleveland (W)
Miami (W)
I see at least 8 more wins and i'm sure we can pull off a couple more with Henry and Perry back and a number of other starters back to make it 11 and 5 season (or 10-6).
Sure maybe we make the playoffs and go 1 and out but that's at least a step in the right direction.
Curent Vegas line Pats -8 and Line up from 52 total combined score to 53 or 54 in some places. Seems Vegas is expecting a high scorer,but if Bengals to have any chance they need to slow it down. Dont know if possible mising Rudi ...
Vegas WInners CRAZYDADDY.net
The BEST the Bengals can hope for this season is 7-9, and that's assuming the rematches with the Browns and Ravens are won (big assumption there).
We're still going to have the same clock-dumb coach and the same lousy play calling even when Henry gets back, and 7-9 is assuming that Rudi Johnson gets healthy for the second half of the season.
Suddenly Pittsburgh is looking beatable, while the Browns are looking like a force on both offense and defense, and the Ravens appear to have no offense worthy of making the playoffs.
Right now, it looks like the division should finish:
PITTSBURGH 10-6
CLEVELAND 9-7
CINCINNATI 7-9
BALTIMORE 6-10
This assumes that Pittsburgh will beat the Browns again and sweep Baltimore, and that the Ravens lose the rematch to Cincy, and that Cincy beats the Browns in their rematch too.
The Bengals' players probably now are convinced that, during a game, their coaching staff will be outfoxed by the other team's coaches, and that no matter how hard they play, the Bengals' coaching staff will blow a timeout, or a challenge, or mismanage the clock, or call really stupid plays in crucial situations. That's what most games feature, year in and year out, during the Lewis era. Why would they believe differently?
Obviously, things are very wrong on the Bengals' sidelines--the Browns game showed that the Emperor has no clothes--that Lewis can only hide behind one of the NFL's best offenses for so long even when that offense has a big game.
The Bengals defense obviously looked good against Baltimore because Baltimore has a lame offense and had an off-night early in the opener. After that reality set in.
Typically, Lewis teams almost never play hard or smart for more than 2 out of 4 quarters.
After tonight's Boston Massacre, a foregone conclusion unless the NFL is rigged like pro-wrestling, this team could easily be 0-4.
In contrast to Lewis Ltd., is what happens week-in and week-out in NE, a team that drafts better, trades better, prepares better, executes better, and coaches far better than the Lewis Bengals, and all but perhaps 1 or 2 other teams in the entire NFL.
Maybe it's unfair to compare Lewis's teams to the Patriots but frankly, Lewis has had enough time to show additional upside. There is none coming. His tenure has shown that there's no genius, very little creativity, and not enough fire in Lewis.
Last year's late-season collapse, full of coaching errors, illustrates Lewis's severe limitations. That was the real Lewis then and the soon to be 1-3 Bengals reflect the real Lewis now.
What Cincinnati needs is Bill Cowher. Too bad that's like hoping for good clock management from Lewis. Too bad Cowher is happy in Raleigh, N.C. and in the broadcast booth. With Cowher running the Bengals, a Cincy Super Bowl appearance before 2011 would be a near-certainty.
But back to reality:
We're probably stuck with Lewis Ltd. for awhile, Cowher is probably going to return to Pittsburgh someday soon (especially if Pittsburgh keeps blowing easy wins such as yesterday's desert bungle)
NE by 24 points. At least.
30 should be no surprise.
But even if the Bengals win tonight and bring the season back from the brink at 2-2, Lewis teams show an uncanny knack for losing 2 games that they're supposed to win, and have "in the bag" during the game, for every one game they win against a superior opponent.
So all a win tonight does is "guarantee" that the Bengals lose to Kansas City and the Jets (or Buffalo) right after the BYE week...probably after taking comfortable leads in one or both games.
Win or lose tonight, Lewis needs to be fired ASAP. Lewis and "Super Bowl" and "Cincinnati" don't belong together. The big wins and big offense are illusions. We don't have a great team. We don't have a great head coach. Instead we have a spectacularly inconsistent and sometimes "good" team led by a very limited, mediocre coach who is showing no signs of improvement recently.
That's not enough, Lewis needs to go.
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