More Arrests than Wins Now

Sunday night, Jonathan Joseph became the 9th Bengal arrested in 14 months for possession of marijuana in Boone County, Kentucky. He was riding in a car with a woman who had a suspended license and when she was pulled over, policed demanded to search his Super Bowl logo bag which contained the illegal substance. Joseph will not be suspended by the league because this is his first offense, but will it be his last?

Here's the list of Bengals that bungled the law:

Chris Henry
Eric Steinbach
Deltha O'Neal
Odell Thurman
Matthias Askew
A.J. Nicholson
Reggie McNeal
Frostee Rucker
Jonathan Joseph

Everyone around Cincinnati who calls themselves Bengals faithful want to know why this has happened and when is it going to stop. I have looked at all of these players and compared them to each other and one thing remained constant. It's not that they are all young players who don't know how to handle the fame that comes with being a professional football player. O'Neal and Steinbach are veterans, they should know better right? What remains constant is that they are all players that have been brought to Cincinnati under Marvin Lewis as head coach, drafted or free agents.

When he arrived in Cincinnati in 2003, he wanted to finally bring a winning team back to the city that has been starved of gridiron success for so long. He knew that the city wanted a winning team, and they wanted one so quickly that it generated a lot of pressure on the new Lewis Regime in the front office. In response to that pressure, Marvin went to players with huge potential but huge risks in order to satisfy the Bengals fans that longed for the playoffs, prime time games, and eventually the Super Bowl. That decision worked temporarily, carrying the Bengals all the way to their first playoff birth since the first Bush administration. However, the decision backfired so hard that it brought the team into a tailspin that lead to another average 8-8 season. Does all of the blame rest on Marvin? No, but half of it does. After all, wasn't there a slogan that read, "In Marvin We Trust?" That trust is dangerously close to being broken.

The other half of the blame rests squarely on the shoulders of the nine players on that list. No one else on the roster can be blamed for it. What bothers me is that none of them, I repeat, NONE of them have came forward publicly and apologized to the team, the city, and Mike Brown for the disgrace and humiliation that it has been brought on us. Another guy in the league that got in trouble recently for violating the steroids policy, Shawne Merriman of the San Diego Chargers, held a press conference to apologize to the city of San Diego and the Chargers organization for "being a distraction, especially the critical time we're going through as a team." He even dropped his appeal of the suspension so he could come back in time for their important match-up against the division rival Denver Broncos. Merriman received a lot of negative press about his steroid use, but at least he did the right thing by admitting he was wrong and I salute him for that. I will gain some confidence that the Bengals will rise from the ashes and commit themselves to winning when at least one of the nine uses Merriman as an example and tells the city that he is sorry and it won't happen again. It seems to me like none of them care enough about what it means to wear that orange and black uniform on Sundays and the traditions they are upholding. None of them care enough about representing the city and giving it an outstanding national image. Until I see some of the players start to care, I will not be convinced that this team can win no matter how much Marvin promises to make the arrests stop.

Bengals Staff Gets a New Face

The Bengals announced Tuesday Hue Jackson's heir to coach one of the most talented group of receivers in the league, Mike Sheppard. Sheppard, a 13 year coaching veteran, will arguably get his toughest test in Cincinnati managing the personalities and egos of the flamboyant Chad Johnson, tough and short tempered T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and the talented but troubled Chris Henry. Sheppard said about dealing with egos,“The biggest secret is to get all of those guys to understand that great players don’t win, great teams win. If you can convince those guys and I think they all know it … as the guys figure out they can have great individual years and be lucky enough to get voted to Hawaii (the Pro Bowl), all that doesn’t mean anything when you walk back here and you don’t have any more games to play when the regular season is over. "

I think settling down this group of receivers will pay huge dividends on the field next year. I'm not sure if they are as completely team oriented right now as they should be. T.J. wants to establish himself as one of the best receivers in the league because he felt he was ripped off by his 7th round selection in the 2001 draft. I think that he has done that by registering his first 1,000 yard seasons and being selected as a Pro-Bowl alternate in for the competitive AFC. With all his accomplishments I think its time to switch from proving himself to proving the team as one of the best in the league. The same thing applies for Johnson and Henry, but hopefully Johnson doesn't lose his fun side. It seems like if there is a man that has the ability to tame these wild receivers, its Sheppard. Geoff Hobson of bengals.com reports that he is a "Lewis Clone" with a great ability to communicate.

Early Draft Preview: First Round Projections

After the season ends and I have to cope with the fact that football isn't on every weekend anymore, I start to look forward to the draft in April. It gives the Bengals an opportunity to patch some glaring holes in the team, namely on defense. I'm going to break down the Bengals draft-day needs in the first round and show some of the rookies that could end up on the roster in August.

The biggest thing that needs to be overhauled over the off season is the defense and it starts with the secondary. The Bengals tied the Minnesota Vikings for the worst pass defense in the league last year and allowed 24 touchdown passes. Only six teams allowed more passing touchdowns. It is true that the defense tightened up during weeks 11 through 14 but it wasn't enough to change my mind about what position should be drafted first, a cornerback, because it is a possibility that both starting cornerbacks may not be there next year. Tory James's contract is up and he will most likely not be re-signed due to his age (33) and his ability to give up big plays (the Santonio Holmes touchdown in overtime against the Steelers in week 17). Deltha O'Neal had a season that he would like to forget. He was plagued by injury and on Dec. 9, 2006 he was charged with a DWI that forced him to ride the bench for the following game. Consider him in the same dog-house as Odell Thurman, but not nearly as deep. Therefore I'm looking for another cornerback to be selected with the 18th overall pick.

Possible Cornerback selections:

-Leon Hall / Height: 5-11/ Weight: 194/ College: Michigan
Leon is the projected as the best corner available in the draft and his scouting report describes him as a good cover corner with smooth hips and also excels in run support with solid tackles. He would fit in well with Marvin Lewis's defensive scheme that calls for defensive backs that cover and tackle but he struggles in man to man coverage. As it stands now he will most likely be off the draft board well before the Bengals are on the clock.

-Marcus McCauley / Height: 6-1/ Weight: 205/ College: Fresno St.
Marcus has the prototypical size and speed (4.35 forty) for an NFL corner and can excel in man or zone coverage. He is very physical and can challenge vertical type receivers and he is an asset in run support. His downside is consistency in his footwork, technique, and his hands need work. McCauley is a raw talent with huge potential but its possible he might not find his footing in the NFL.

-Darrelle Revis / Height: 6-0/ Weight: 200/ College: Pittsburgh
Darrelle has the potential to become a dominant cover corner in the league with a some fine tuning of his fundamentals. He displays a sixth sense of where the ball is when the quarterback throws it in his direction and can shadow receivers in man coverage with his 4.4 speed. He has added value in the fact that he is a special teams ace. He averaged 11.6 yards a return his sophomore season and in his senior season he blocked a kick and had a 79 yard punt return touchdown. Coach Lewis loves guys that can play special teams and that was shown in last years' draft with the Ethan Kilmer selection and there is a dire need for a good punt returner. Keiwan Ratliff is average at best and Antonio Chatman was never able to be healthy enough to get a few returns in. Saying that Revis will be on the Bengals radar come April would be an understatement.

Other possible first round positions: TE, MLB, OLB, DE, DT

DE Geathers re-signed

The Bengals made their first notable off season move Wednesday by re-signing Robert Geathers to a six year deal that will make him the highest paid player on defense. Geathers had a break-out year in 2006 by posting a team high 10.5 sacks, the first Bengals to accomplish that feat in 14 years, and he is only 23. In time he has the potential to develop into one of the league's most dominant pass rushers; which is an area where the Bengals are lacking.

The Colts game this year is a direct indication of the need for a consistent pass rusher like Geathers. Colts QB Peyton Manning was able to drop back without pressure and take underneath dump offs to backs and tight ends to move the chains. Most quarterbacks can pick apart a defense with out having to worry about the rush, especially a quarterback like the two time MVP Manning. Geather's fellow defensive linemen and potential free agent, Justin Smith has not lived up to be the sack master the Bengals drafted him to be. Smith started the season with a bang, recording 3 sacks in the regular season opener at Kansas City. Following that game he only recorded 4.5 more the rest of the season. Smith looks to be demanding money granted to an end that has reached the 10+ sack plateau all though he has never reached it. The team will look to re-sign him sometime this off season but I feel that the deal ultimately will not be reached and he ends up in another uniform next year because his price tag is too high. The Bengals will most likely look for another pass rushing end to compliment Geathers in free agency and the draft this year.

This move is encouraging to me because it shows that the Bengals are going to keep around the good players who perform well on and off the field. Geathers is a leader in the locker room and a model citizen off it and I'm glad to see the club recognizing him for being a team-first player.

I will address the other key free agents and the reason why the Bengals should look for a new backup running back in another post coming soon.
The draft post is next I swear!

The Offseason

For the second season in a row, the Bengals' season and playoff hopes skidded to a halt after a crushing defeat at the hands of the division arch rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now the Cincinnati faithful has a long offseason to endure before their beloved men in stripes return to the field. Before that can happen Marvin Lewis and his staff have a lot of decisions to make concerning several areas of the team in order for them to be playing in Arizona in February. In the coming months I will preview those offseason decisions with several different posts concerning free agency, the draft, training camp, and other events as they occur.

First and foremost what needs to happen in the offseason is for every Bengal player to stay out of trouble. It hurts the team in two ways: suspensions handed down by the league keep key players off the field during times of need and it brings a lot of negative press towards the franchise. The only thing I heard about the Bengals on ESPN's program, "Pardon the Interruption," was critcism about the arrests. Personally, I think that the Bengals can't afford to lose their positive national image following the productive 2005 season. Their image is hanging in the balance right now and if these problems don't cease soon, Cincinnati could find itself in the NFL equivalent of Siberia. That means no Prime-time games, no spots on ESPN or NFL network breaking down the offense, no national commercials featuring Bengal players. No one wants to watch a team of criminals and it would be a shame for a team as talented as this to fall into obscurity.

Next Post: The Early Draft Preview