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Open Letter to The Cincinnati Bengals
Published: January 7, 2010
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Dear Mike, Marvin, and Our Bengals;
In 1988, behind exuberance and determination, the Bengals broke through the barrier rising above Warren Moon’s Oilers, Bernie Kosar’s Cleveland Browns, and the irrelevant Pittsburgh Steelers. We battled Joe Montana, with Stanford Jennings returned a kickoff for a touchdown, and Tim Krumrie refused to leave the stadium despite a severely fractured leg to stay with his team. The 1988 Bengals battled, bled, and lost with pride.
The 2009 season has been a grinding trial by slow, blunt force trauma – on and off the field. The cardiac cats squeezed through the first few weeks of the season, pulling out multiple last second wins. Vicki Zimmer – beloved wife of defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer – suddenly passed away, but you battled back. Chris Henry went down with a broken wrist in his turn around season, and then lost his life just as it was turning around – yet you went on.
This impassioned plea asks you to dig deep again and know that Bengal nation is behind you, in front of you, and all around you. You make Cincinnati a better, happy place when you win. In our times of financial trouble you are the inspiring source of comfort of the underdog, dismissed time and again battling back to win – win for our city and ourselves.
This week is your week and our week – do not feel the pressure to win but the thirst to succeed.
Good luck, God bless.
With Love, Respect, and Admiration;
Your Fans
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Recap: Bengals Bungle First Meeting With Jets
Published: January 4, 2010
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There—on a blustery night in the Meadowlands—the Jets closed a tripping, bumbling trip into the playoffs with a convincing romp over the suprisingly anemic Cincinnati Bengals.
In the frigid night air—with windchill the temperature easily below zero—the Bengal’s first team offense had a total of nine yards at the half. Carson Palmer was even more off balance—between one drive alone where three passes were dropped (including two by Chad Ocho Cinco). By halftime Carson Palmer was 1 for 11 with zero yards and a 1.7 passer’s rating. The running game was even more abismal, with Larry Johnson leading the way with nine yards. The net total yardage for the Bengals for the first half: seven yards.
In a more suprising letdown, the first team defense was run over through the first half, surrendering 196 yards on the ground and 54 through the air as the Jets entered the locker room with 250 net yards and 27 total points.
The second half saw the return of the Bengals’ first team starters for almost half of the third quarter—which seemed overtly risky considering the game was likely over with the large deficit already established.
In the end, Jets 37—Bengals 0. Embarassing, and even though this game was somewhat of a write off, the first team did little to assuage Bengal Nation’s fears that next week could very well be a continuing saga of the same.
The glimmer of hope comes from the anticipated returns of Domata Peko, Robert Geathers, and Chris Crocker to the defense along with Cedric Benson and J.P. Foschi to the offense.
In any event, injuries sustained of unknown severity to Tom Nelson and Chad Ocho Cinco should make this short week a very trying and challenging one heading into Saturday’s rematch in Cincinnati against the New York Jets.
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Bengals Become Cincinnati’s Last Hope as Bearcats Fall
Published: January 2, 2010
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As the Florida Gators celebrated victory in the face of adversity, the Bearcats miserable conclusion to a perfect season was complete in its “so close but yet so far” conclusion.
Yet as much as there were coaching questions with Brian Kelly’s departure to Notre Dame and the suffering play calling that followed on the Bearcat’s offense, the Bengals are suffering from either magnificent subterfuge on offense or facing a similar fate with the post season dawning on the horizon.
Let’s face it, Bob Bratkowski is no Bruce Coslet (Offensive Coordinator from 1986-89, 1993-95, Head Coach 1996-2000) as an offensive coordinator. Sure, Bengals’ fans still remember him in his later stint as a inept coach of an inept franchise—but the franchise was long inept before Coslet had a chance to right the ship—and with little or no resources.
Yet in 1988—the last Super Bowl season for the Bengals—Coslet put together a dynamic offensive scheme that ran hard with two productive running backs (James Brooks and Ickey Woods) and a wide receiving group that clearly was more open ended than the current limitations (Eddie Brown, Tim McGhee, and Chris Collinsworth).
While some may argue that the addition of a consistent tight end in the 1988 Bengals (Rodney Holman) along with the three consistent wide receivers, they would be mistaken to say that 1988 had more advantages than this year’s 2009 Bengals.
Why? For one, lets look at what the Bengals brought to the table this season. By all appearances, the trio for this year’s team was Chad Ocho Cinco, Chris Henry, and Laverneus Coles.
Yet when Henry went down, the depth that the 1988 team lacked in the wide receiving corps were ready to fill the void—and yet: nothing. Andre Caldwell has been inconsistent and inconsistently used. Quan Cosby—a very productive college athlete who has shown promise—has not yet been established as the “Chris Henry replacement” though by all signs from the San Diego game—he should be.
This leaves Ocho Cinco and Coles. Ocho Cinco has worked harder than ever—and opposing defenses have adjusted their coverage packages accordingly. Yet with Palmer’s favorite target blanketed there has also been inconsistent signs from Coles—a veteran with a pedigree that Bengal Nation was hoping to see more utilization.
At the tight end position, one that took a tremendous amount of damage in the preseason—with the early loses of veteran stalwart Reggie Kelley and acquisition (now free agent) Ben Utecht—no single replacement has emerged in either J.P. Foschi or Ben Coats.
It would seem—from this analysis—that 1988 had the advantages at tight end but that is far from the case. The depth enjoyed this year was not seen in ’88 and yet a spectacular run was had.
This leaves the question if the aforementioned is at least some what accurate—what is wrong or rather what are the Bengals doing and—more specifically—what is Bratkowski doing?
All fans applaud touting a strong running game and exploiting those teams that cannot stop the run—but where is the pass? Where is it being developed? Is there a plan b? Why are the the passing schemes seemingly only developed for Caldwell and Foschi on the between the hash marks and Ocho Cinco outside of the hashes? Where is Cosby after a spectacular game against San Diego?
The real question, though: Is Bratkowski saving the best for last—holding his cards—in a veritable chess match that leads to the Super Bowl?
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