The Toeaina factor
Chicago rookie defensive tackle Matt Toeaina was credited with two solo tackles in the Bears' loss Monday night at Minnesota.
Toeaina was the Bengals' sixth-round draft pick and spent the entire season on the practice squad in Cincinnati. He was signed to the Bears' active roster last week.
Toeaina existed in anonymity in Cincinnati but became a cause last week after he was signed by the Bears.
All of a sudden, Toeaina represents everything that is wrong with the 2007 Bengals; heck, even the entire organization.
If he were so good, why wasn't he on the active roster here? Don't you think coaches, some of whom on the defensive side of the ball for the Bengals probably are worrying about whether they will get another contract here, would have played Toeaina if he had shown anything during the season? Is there a guarantee that when the Bears injury-ravaged defensive line gets healthy in the offseason that Toeaina will even survive training camp?
-- If I were a Bengals fan, I would be more upset about the likes of Frostee Rucker, the third round pick in 2006. Why has this second-year defensive end been active only four times this season?
-- Where's the righteous indignation about letting Eric Steinbach leave in free agency and failing to re-sign him before March 2007? He's probably going to the Pro Bowl and the playoffs. The Bengals classified Steinbach as a guard, and they went ahead of re-signed tackles Willie Anderson and Levi Jones. Anderson had not had injury problems until this season, when knee and heel problems issues have forced him to miss nine games. And Jones, after a slow start, has played better. But Jones has a history of knee problems. You could see in training camp 2006 that Steinbach was going to be the odd-man out. The Bengals place a premium on tackles over guards, even a rare talent such as Steinbach, and on cornerbacks over safeties.
-- And, again, with the benefit of history, what about drafting Chris Perry instead of Steven Jackson?
It's the first-day drafts, not the second-day picks, as well as some questionable decisions in free agency, that are a bigger reasons that the Bengals are 5-9 right now. Not Matt Toeaina.
posted by Mark at 10:09 AM
15 Comments:
at 12/18/2007 10:43 AM 
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at 12/18/2007 10:59 AM 
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at 12/18/2007 11:33 AM 
oldtimer said...
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at 12/18/2007 11:42 AM 
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at 12/18/2007 11:46 AM 
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at 12/18/2007 11:54 AM 
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at 12/18/2007 12:29 PM 
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at 12/18/2007 12:43 PM 
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at 12/18/2007 3:13 PM 
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at 12/18/2007 6:53 PM 
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at 12/18/2007 10:53 PM 
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at 12/19/2007 12:09 AM 
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at 12/19/2007 11:26 AM 
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at 12/19/2007 12:59 PM 
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at 12/21/2007 10:49 AM 
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Post a Comment*The Bears have four defensive linemen on injured reserve, in addition to another two defensive linemen that were rule out for Monday's game. That is how an obscure sixth round pick is able to start for another team.
Case closed.
According to ESPN St. Louis drafted Jackson 24th while the Bungals drafted Perry 26th. It would have been nice to have Jackson though.
Mark, I've been p-oed about Steinbach since before last season ended. All he did was shift positions constantly last year and play exceptionally well at each one. It was clear, or should have been clear, that he was a special talent headed to the pro bowl eventually; and he was the kind of guy to build arond. Who in hades decided he was expendable? The running game has suffered with his loss, particularly Rudi. Passing game, too.
The Bengals have a history of horrible player personel management, going back to the Max Montoya fiasco, which broke up a very good O-line and was the beginning of Boomer's downfall here. Mike Brown made Max's filing for free agency personal, and he was the last owner to start signing free agents, another of his 'slow on the uptake' moves. The Bengals got lucky when Steinbach fell to the second round. You do not go and just p(ss away such good fortune. Anderson's health was an issue lst year, and Jone got hurt while Steinbach was still here. It's both bizarre and ignorant they way they manage personnel. And I'd say the results speak for themselves the last 18 years.
Another example, starting two very young corners and expecting to win (we wnt through this once before with A. Hawkins), letting quality team guys like Kaeshviharn go to save a few bucks, dropping experienced special teamers every year and replacing them with rookies, not developing or signing a good tight end, continually going with less rather than more on the depth chart. This is the deeply disturbing pattern that has existed since M. Brown took over from his dad. They continually look disorganized and in dissaray on the field, as too many new guys try to learn the NFL on the job.
The 'Toe' looked pretty good throughout the game last night, deflecting runners' paths right into Urlacher, who had a huge game. How he never even got a chance here is one more glaring example of how badly the Bengals recognize and develop talent. Even Palmer shows signs of going backwards, and he is as good a quaarterback as this franchise will ever see.
It's dysfunction junction, with stupid antics on the field, and stupid management off. Ol Mikey boy sets the tone, and his legacy will be as one of the all time dumbest and losingest owners in NFL history. I'd love it if at least one sports writer in town would latch onto that piece of legacy alone, and lampoon him into ignomy, like writers in SF are doing to both Nolan and York.
I had to laugh when all these fans bought so much orange crap the last few years. I was at the freezer bowl in 81 against San Diego, and many games before and after, and when this organization was run right, fans didn't get caught up in clothes, they got caught up in plain old no-nonsense good football. The Bengals stood for old time, in your face, nose to nose football for a long time. Been gone for a long time too.
They said Paul Brown sometimes had trouble giving up authority, which is why he hired Johnson over Walsh, and then Homer Rice. But he hated losing, and his next two hires were dead on, Gregg and Wyche. Too bad his son doesn't hate losing as bad as the Great One did.
You are absolutely right. The Bengals have been possibly the worst drafting team since Marvin Lewis became head coach. They got it right, we think, with Palmer. Virtually everyone since has been a bust. Where is Ratliff? Could Madieu's season be anymore disappointing? Two first round picks on CBs and it looks like we may not have a shut-down guy between them. All of the key players on this team, aside from Palmer, were drafted before Marvin got here. Marvin compared the Bengals to the Titans earlier this year, but there couldn't be a worse comparison. The Titans spent themselves into oblivion on free agents and are now trying to draft themselves into a competitive football team again. The Bengals have spent nothing on free agents and are drafting themselves into oblivion.
A guy makes 2 tackles on MNF and now he's suddenly "represents everything that is wrong with the 2007 Bengals"????
I think the rubes running this franchise are beginning to rub off on the local media.
Another example is last night, I had the painful privilege of listening to dockerty and lapham on the radio. Sounded like there were about 5 people in the restaurant audience.,,
They have arrived at the brilliant conclusion that all the bengals problems can be traced back to chad and TJ not being thankful and happy of their situation.
Only in this town, can we have 2 all world receivers blamed for yet another 28th ranked defense, which reverted back to usual selves.
Maybe if the defense EVER got off the field in the 3rd quarter Saturday night, Chad and TJ could have done something. But all they could do (like the rest of us) is sit there and watch watch watch.
Lap, you have improved from pathetic to mediocre in your announcing skills, please do us a favor and stick with your day job...
Wow! I mean wow! You just don't get it - just like Marvin and Mike Brown.
No one is demanding accountability for dumb decisions.
And letting go a DT who looked good in the preseason, a DT who wanted to stay, who tried to stay, who Marvin had glowing praise for, a DT with some decent size when it is obvious to a child (but not Bengals management) that the D-line is undersized,when they obviously need to draft a DT next year, is just plain dumb.
And we as Bengal fans have the right to be upset at yet another dumb move by this organization.
As for Steinbach, read your own message boards once in a while. There were many fans critical of letting Steiny go and signing Willie to a ridiculously long contract when the smart Bengal fans knew Willie only had a year or two left in his worn out body.
And most Bengal fans who consider themselves draftniks, including me, howled at the Frostee pick the moment it was made. He was worth a late round pick at the most. No way on Earth he was worth a first day pick. The person who made it should be fired. Because he is clueless. And that's what I and many others said the day he was drafted.
Where was Gabe Watson or Ko Simpson, two guys I was screaming for the Bengals to take at Frostee's spot? Well what do you know. Both became starters for other teams and played quite well.
Mike Brown, if you want someone to advise you on personnel decisions, someone who is not a yes man, someone who only wants the team to win and is not just looking to keep his job, contact me please!
-Halftime
Mark,
Bengal fans only have so much righteous indignation to spread around given the futility of the team.
I think it is fair to say that Toeaina is emblematic of the Bengals problems. They have been chronically in need of DT in the Lewis era and did not think he could help? Between the draft and free agency with guys like Askew, Allen and Adams not one has panned out. And when there is a servicable DT they think David Jones is more valuable.
Since when did this become the fans fault? I haven't been working for a football franchise all my adult life. I work all week so I can spend a few bucks on Bengals merchandise and watch the games on TV. I don't run the team the Brown family does, badly.
Toeaina projects to be a tackle as part of a rotation in a 4-3 alignment. Is it a huge loss for the Bengals, no. But it does suggest they don't care if the team improves or not. That should rightfully bother fans.
I thought about that when we resigned Willie and let Steinbach go, as well. I looked at the Willie contract like when the Reds signed Larkin to his last contract. You hate to see someone go who has given so much to the team and city, but you get the feeling you're going to be wasting A LOT of money on someone who is quickly going to go downhill from their prime. And we could have used the money for Steinbach who could play guard, tackle, or center, and play them all well.
You made great points! And the need for a GM is obvious to any and everyone with the apparent exception of Mike Brown- the poster child for inept, there is no other word for it. How he can come to the conclusion that he doesn't need a strong GM is unbelievable. How long til Carson Palmer asks out of this striped circus?
Mark, we as Bengals fans should not make a big deal about losing Matt Toenia , hmmmmmmmmm Kelly Gregg anyone!
Oh yeah, like the Bengals have a BETTER defense than the injured Bears? How stupid can you Toeaina bashers be? Toeaina started on Monday Night Football for a team that has a more talented bunch of reserves subbing for their injured starters. More talented BY FAR than our starters, and the Browngals just let Toeaina go, basically just gave up not only on him but on the guys who drafted him...didn't they know what they were doing? If not, why are they still employed by the Bengals?
This organization is absolutely the worst. Mike Brown has no talent and no brains for anything other than making excuses and doing precisely the wrong things.
Toeaina has more talent than the guys who played in front of him on the Bengals.
Wake the hell up!
It all goes back to Mike Brown being greedy and utterly incompetent. Marvin Lewis is mediocre and the rest of the coaching staff is horrible. The Bengals haven't got many scouts and the ones they have don't know talent. This franchise is doomed until the Brown family is gone. Which cannot happen short of a miracle from God.
Cincy swapped the 24th pick with StL, got the 26th, and picked up an extra 4th round pick which ended up being Stacey Andrews...still rather have Jackson
Mark, let me get this straight. You want us to explain why the Bengals do what they do regarding the roster? Your argument about Toeina holds no water. How would I or anyone else know what these coaches are thinking? Based on what we see on the field, you CANNOT make an argument for them. Bad play calling, inept play, poor personnel decisions, but they get the benefit of the doubt? Do you honestly believe they know what they're doing? What have you seen that makes you believe that? Are you on the payroll now or something? This team desrves every bad thing said about it.
Simple...this entire organization, owner, daughter & son-in law, coaches (head & assistants), about half of the players, are just simply a cluster _____.
I'm a long time season ticket holder, and face it, nothing is ever gonna change. I'm tired of reading & watching it. People thought it was going to change in '05. Look at the '05 season...only the 1, 7pt. win over Pitt was a win vs. an AFC team with a winning record. Their opponents win % overall was below .450.
They are the same as they were 17 years ago and nothing is ever going to change, stop moaning and enjoy the comedy show.
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