Carson Palmer is still an elite quarterback and leads a team with several top tier fantasy options. See how we rank them in this fantasy depth chart summary.

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Training Camp Eve always brings out the win-loss predictors. From what I can gather the Bengals’ tallies range anywhere from 4-12 to 12-4, depending on a particular prognosticator’s football knowledge or homer quotient. Me, personally, I’m not a numbers guy. I don’t predict actual digits; way too many variables ... way too many factors. Plus, there are much better numbers guys than me here and at other blogs who can crunch numbers, do all the math—and make since of players added via the Draft, free agency or trade. But sometimes you gotta look beneath the surface. That’s why Bengals success in ’08 won’t come from what’s been added; it’ll instead come from what’s been subtracted—basically addition by subtraction.

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Holy cow! 

Henry Charges Dropped.

Wonder what happens next?  Clearly the Bengals would seem to be done with him, but once he's reinstated, which you'd think might come soon, I'm sure someone will take a flyer on him.  I'd love to see him back in orange and black if you could trust him, but I don't believe you can.  Just hope we don't find him lined up somewhere else in the AFC North...

 

I sat down to watch the NFL Replay of the 1992 Bengals-Packers game (mainly because I enjoy reliving painful moments in my life).  This was actually said by Ahmad Rashad during the game, about a minute before Favre leads the Packers to victory.

"Dave Shula is an excellent head coach, a much better head coach than he was an assistant coach, because of his organizational facilities."

Wow - Shula must have been a REALLY bad assistant coach.

On a separate note, the Bengals had no business losing that game.  Harold Green was a monster (though Rashad kept talking about how much he loved Derrick Fenner and Brian Brennan).  It was also funny to see Carl Pickens before he became a team cancer and an announcer actually being serious when discussing "multi-milion dollar rookie David Klingler." 

Imagine what would have been had the Bengals won this game.  The announcers had already talked about how much Holmgren loved Ty Detmer.  If Favre had lost (he had a bad game), could Detmer have gotten the nod?  If the Bengals had won, would they have maintained momentum and had a good season (they were in a lot of close games in 1992)? 

Oh well.  If only Tim Krumrie had not hurt Don Majkowski.

What next, a Character Combine? Did you hear the tackle from Cal scored a 900 on the Most-Likely-To-Knock-Over-A-Gas-Station drill? And What’s-His-Face from Michigan did pretty well on the Won’t-Slap-His-Girlfriend-Around course.

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The Bengals are talking NOW. That’s GOOD. I HOPE it works. But what about THEN? The releasing of Odell Thurman back into the wild had blogsters resurrecting the Police Blotter Draft of 2005. But my faded Memory Lane doesn’t include that 11-3 start, Palmer's emergence as a top-tier QB or the promise of a young, versatile Chris Perry.

My rewind to '05 brings back Palmer's knee—and Marvin Lewis' eyes. The moment it was obvious Palmer was lost that day, Lewis sadly seemed to be, too. Yeah, okay, our QB is down ... but hello, we're still in a playoff game here, guys!

When leadership was most needed, it was then back-up QB John Kitna rallying the troops, full of fire—while the head coach stood stunned, as if his house was on fire. (Is it possible Kitna’s fiery leadership was more responsible than Lewis’ coaching for getting the team so quickly from 2-14 to 8-8?)

Lewis’ failed leadership then seemed obvious to me, and upon sharing that observation via blog posts, well, one would have thought I’d spat on Mother Teresa, or worse, had asked Obama a legitimate political question (those were the hardcore “In Marvin We Trust” days).

But this isn’t an anti-Lewis post. It’s a ‘who is the real Bengals’ leader today?’ post.

These Gen Y Bengals seem to be latch key kids with no one in charge. Okay, it can be argued Palmer fills that role and I’ll concede to a point, but he’s the quiet Gary Cooper type ... the “cool guy” ... the “real nice guy” ... “who’s laid back”. As players, Palmer is Hall of Fame talent while Kitna was Hall of Fire temperament, a quality still sorely missed on this team. Another obvious pick is Big Willie, but can an aging OT with eroding skills really be that guy?

So who is “the” team leader? Chad Johnson? No-cho. Not at all-cho. NFL rules state one must be emotionally older than age 10 to lead an NFL team. Chad’s leadership skills go about as far as his yards after catch—pretty much nowhere.

TJ? Maybe, but Houshmandzadeh too often complains publicly about front office moves, and when discussing the team speaks in “they” tense, not “us”. Hugely talented, but “the” leader? Plus, missing all the OTAs takes him out of running. Rudi? Too quiet. How about good guys John Thornton, Reggie Kelly and Kenny Watson? They’re all talented, high-character guys, but the on-field production doesn’t measure up to “the” leader status.  

So, where’s our current-day Boomer? Anthony Munoz? Paul Brown? Forrest Gregg? Anyone recalling the 1988 Super Bowl team knows what I mean.  

If there’s really such a thing as team chemistry, today’s Bengals are 53 different lab beakers—and no one seems to be mixing the brew. When Kitna moved north, the team’s heart and soul went south. But Lewis’ recent moves are encouraging. Jettisoning the Capone Bros—Chris Henry and Thurman—is a positive step; so after 5 years maybe Lewis is ready for a breakout coaching year, and dare say “the” leadership role.

The Bengals no doubt have enough physical talent, but until someone runs a 4.2 in leadership, the team risks wasting a QB with Hall of Fame skills. Question is, though, who’s the ‘fire’ to Palmer’s ‘ice’. We can only HOPE someone emerges. NOW.

In past years we have had some terrible draft picks such as: -David Klingler -Akili Smith -Kijana Carter -Dan Wilkinson Need I say more? I feel that we have finally made some substantial draft picks this year. Everybody we picked in the first three rounds will play a lot this year. Keith Rivers will be a BEAST, Simpson has incredible talent and Caldwell is just as compleate footbal player as him. He has speed, toughness, and nice hands. The most important pick of this draft is DT Pat Sims. He is also another tough kid that played last season with a cast on his hand. I believe he could be the difference maker in the interior of the line that we have been looking for since Krumrie. Hopefully Zimmer and Lewis will take this talent and make us a playoff contender this year. WHODEY!

On Thursday afternoon, the biggest area sports news took place that may not be so big for most Cincinnatians/Kentuckians. Jerry Carroll and his partners choose to sell Kentucky Speedway to Speedway Motorsports Inc., all but assuring a Cup race by 2010 and as early as 2009.

Not that many people are likely excited about this in the football blogosphere, but me, I'm stoked. Watching a race on television is one thing. Watching it at the track is a totally different experience. The smell of tire smoke, the rumbling of engines, the beer and the speed are perfect combinations. Like some dreadful Neal McCoy song.

Here are my 2008 projected lineups if you think of anything different just post a comment about it.

Offense

QB: Carson Palmer  Backups: Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jordan Palmer

HB: Rudi Johnson Backups: Chris Perry, Kenny Watson

FB: Jermi Johnson

WR1: Chad Johnson Backups: Andre Caldwell, Mario Urrutia

WR2: T.J. Houshmandzadeh Backups: Jerome Simpson, Antonio Chatman

TE: Ben Utecht Backups: Reggie Kelly Matt Shirley

LT: Levi Jones Backup:Anthony Collins

LG: Andrew Whitworth Backup: Justin Britt (really like him since he can also move over to center)

C: Eric Ghiaciuc Backup: Dan Santucci

RG: Bobbie Williams Backup: Stacy Andrews

RT: Willie Anderson Backup: Stacy Andrews

Defense

LE: Antwan Odom Backup: Frostee Rucker

DT: John Thornton, Pat Sims Backups: Domata Peko, Jason Shirley

RE: Robert Geathers Backup:  Angelo Craig

SLB: Keith Rivers Backup: Rashad Jeanty Daryl Blackstock

MLB: Dhani Jones Backup: Dan Howell

WLB: Ahmad Brooks Backup: Brandon Johnson Erin Henderson

CB1: Johnathan Joseph Backups: Simeon Castille Blue Adams

SS: Marvin White Backup: Corey Lynch

FS: Dexter Jackson Backup: Chinedum Ndukwe

CB2: Leon Hall Backups: Deltha O'Neal

Special Teams

K: Shayne Graham

P: Kyle Larson

LS: Tim Bugg

KR: Andre Caldwell, Antonio Chatman

PR: Antonio Chatman

I no maybe all of our draft picks making the team might be unrealistic but I think they will develop for the future.

The recent Odell Thurman controversy demonstrates that the Bengals can't win in the public mind, or even with their own fans.  If the Bengals hold on to Odell, it is proof that they coddle "thugs"--and God forbid if their had been another incident--proof that the Bengals are "out of control."  Of course, when the Bengals released Thurman, it makes the Bengals look hard hearted because Thurman had been reinstated and was "back on track"—and, of course, his grandma died.

There is no doubt that the Bengals are partially responsible.  The team has had its share of off the field problems (mainly Chris Henry).  But other teams have had just as many problems and more severe ones---the difference is that they aren't blamed as an organization for the problem---where the Bengals typically are.  The media has made the Bengals stand for everything that is wrong with professional football--we are the Barry Bonds of the NFL.

This seems to make Bengals fans hyper sensitive to so called "character concerns." I live in Pittsburgh, and you can imagine the kind of abuse I take, having to be the official Bengals spokesman, accounting for every piece of bad press.  There has been a lot of criticism by Bengals fans about some of our draft picks and FA signings because these guys got in fights, had DUIs, etc.  My attitude has become "So what?"  Every team signs guys with problems, but its only the Bengals that catch hell, and only Bengals fans which  seem to have a complex about it.

The bigger problem the Bengals have is not winning in the public mind, but winning on the field.  A lot of Bengals fans are upset with the Thurman release because they had made Thurman the "feel good story of 2008-2009."  Not only was he going to make the team, he was going to be back in  2005 form and be the savior of the defense.  He was "hope."

Well, reality is a harsh mistress. If the Bengals had a winning season last year, I don't think anyone would really care all that much. But for a fan base desperate to grasp at anything, even if it is the unlikely prospect that Odell Thurman can make a comeback, his release seems much more devastating than it actually is.

We may never know exactly why he was released, but I suspect that he still hadn't learned to play by the rules and Lewis had had enough.  Marvin Lewis said  two years ago  that  Thurman  "wasn't on the team" and I think he meant it.  Last year, he also said that  he only wanted players who wanted to play football.  I don't think this was particularly targeted at Odell, but it suggests that there were guys in the lock room who didn't want to play football. In other words, if you don't play by the rules, you're gone. I am sure Odell knew this and he got burned. 

A lot of this will go away if the Bengals simply put together a couple of winning seasons with a nice playoff run.  But until then, they will be damned if they do, and damned if they don't.