"Enjoy this Reds fans, you are watching a legend grow up before your very eyes" ... DoogMinAmo on Adam Dunn
I'll never forget this...
Steelers-Bengals game on Monday night, Oct. 10, 1983. Keith Gary, a wild rookie defensive end for the Steelers, put a rush on All-Pro QB Ken Anderson, grabbed him by the face mask and buggy-whipped him, injuring him so severely that Anderson missed the next three games.
Gary grabbed Anderson's face mask and almost turned Anderson's head around 180 degrees. Pretty vicious and definitley cheap. Later in that same game Gary tried to hurt backup QB Turk Schonert.
Different times, but the same crap we see from that team a lot today. Two personal fouls in yesterday's game for cheap shots (one on Carson Palmer and one on Chad Johnson). I can deal with a late hit out-of-bounds (momentum thing) and other types of personal fouls, but the two I saw yesterday were cheap and malicious. Caleb Miller's was cheap too, but nowhere near risking an injury to a player like the two from the other side.
Not sure if I favor fighting fire with fire. However, the NFL needs to level suspensions for blatant personal fouls that can hurt a player. Fine them too like they normally do, but a suspension hurts rich people more than fines. Very rarely do you see suspensions like the Titans' Haynesworth got for his blatant thuggery against Dallas. It needs to happen more IMO.
I'd just like to point out that no Bengals were arrested last night. (as far as we know)
Baby steps.
from the Enquirer ... as were the earlier quotes
Selfishness gets the blame
The 2006 Bengals: What went wrong?
BY MARK CURNUTTE | MCURNUTTE@ENQUIRER.COM
Bengals players echoed their coach, as they often do, after the season-ending loss Sunday to the Steelers.
In Paul Brown Stadium's home locker room, selfishness was cited repeatedly as the reason the Bengals under-achieved in 2006.
"Small, every gap is small in football," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. "There are not wide gaps in the NFL, very small. But it takes people that are selfless."
Said right tackle Willie Anderson: "We all know it is selfishness. We as a team will never get over the hump with the selfishness."
Lewis and his players stopped short of defining selfishness, but examples were on display all year.
Players who get into trouble off the field are viewed as selfish by their teammates, though no one would mention names.
Talented players such as wide receiver Chris Henry and linebacker Odell Thurman - examples 1a and 1b of the bad-boy Bengals - might come to work and work hard. But they're not at home getting rest, studying film or their playbooks when they're out into the wee hours of the morning and getting into trouble.
It's not a stretch to say the Bengals' defense missed Thurman's big-play ability at middle linebacker, where his consistency and knowledge of assignments as a second-year player would have had to improve over his rookie season.
When a bit player like rookie wide receiver Reggie McNeal got into trouble outside a Houston nightclub, Lewis defended him publicly, saying he was the victim of a bad arrest. Why didn't Lewis make an example of McNeal in some way? Instead, there was an air of "anything goes" in the locker room.
If they come to work and work hard, their personal life is just that. Now, obviously breaking the law is wrong, but to put up that false dichotomy, it sounds like some expectations need to be established and enforced.Talented players such as wide receiver Chris Henry and linebacker Odell Thurman - examples 1a and 1b of the bad-boy Bengals - might come to work and work hard. But they're not at home getting rest, studying film or their playbooks when they're out into the wee hours of the morning and getting into trouble.
Could the Bengals have possibly won one or two more games with Thurman and/or Henry in there? I think so.
Listening to WLW every morning while driving home, the biggest topic, since the Pitt loss is that there is a character problem on this team that needs to be deeply addressed in the off-season.
"In my day you had musicians who experimented with drugs. Now it's druggies experimenting with music" - Alfred G Clark (circa 1972)
Please, correct me if this has not already been mentioned since I have not read all the responses to the final Steelers game, but I personally feel if the Bengals are to truly find that missing link to their defense they need to do one or possibly two of these two things. First, they need to fire Breshnean. Throughout the year, it has become ever so apparent to me that this guy is simply not smart enough to run a competent scheme in Cincinnati. I know it is somewhat irrational of me as a fan to call a defensive coordinator in the NFL incompetent, but I truly feel he is. Reasons and evident for this is as follows:
First, Marvin and Mike Brown paid for experience this year in Sam Adams who was undeniably a force that made the run defense far better than it was last year. It's arguable that Adams is on the wane as far as his prime goes but he showed some serious heart and hustle when it came time in big game situtations. He and other d lineman held Larry Johnson in check, held J Lewis in check, beat New Orleans with their two big rushers Bush and McAllister. Not to mention, they made Manning throw the ball in Indy despite one big run by Indy's rookie running back. However, Breshnean failed to realize that this was the strength of the Bengals defense the entire year and practically invited Manning to throw all over them in Indy and did the same against Cutler in Denver. This is a lack of brains on his part. I'm no sage when it comes to football, but in anything it is obvious to me that you need to exploit your strengths in football and less expose your weakneses. Chuck failed to do this many times this year. His lack of adjustments at halftime are sure evidence of this. The San Diego game being one of the many examples of this. I don't know if it's been reported here on Redszone, but an ESPN writer flat out said that he had viable advice from a NFL guru that anyone with half a brain could out smart Breshnean when it came to defense. This tells me that this guy needs to go. He was given a shot with better players to make the defense better and he didn't. So, ggggggeeeeeet ouuttttt.
My second point is ever the more controversial and is probably prime to raise a few rebuttles by Bengals fans. That is, the most expendable person big name on the Bengals offense is Chad Johnson. Don't get me wrong, I love the energy and the news coverage he brings to this team, but he hasn't shown me that he has any more talent then Henry or Housh. Henry has proven when his head his straight to be the next Randy Moss. Moss, Minnesota, not Oakland. Housh has shown he can run better routes, go across the middle, and make big catches in big games to make this team really tick. I think Housh has proven himself to be the best wide receiver on over half of any other NFL teams. That being said, I would reccomend that Ocho Cinco be traded to a team with more of a dire need for offense in exhange for a defensive playmaker especially at linebacker or defensive end, both areas that I feel where the Bengals are lacking. This team is not very far away from a Super Bowl run and I think that an intimidating force on defense is what this team needs to put them over the hump. Now, I don't know if this trade is even legal in Chad's contract or even feasible but I tend to think that he would catch a far bigger fish on defense than would a Henry or a Housh. Henry, wouldnt command as much because of his obvious off the field problems and Housh for his lack of experience as being the number one guy. Chad as shown me time and time again, that he freezes up or even chokes in big games. It's almost as if he talks big to make up for his lack of confidence in his game in these situtations. The dropped passes and fumbles in the Denver and Indy game are sure evidence of this. Don't get me wrong I love OCHO Cinco but stellar games against the Browns, Saints, and Panthers are mute when compared to his lack of show against the Broncos, Indy, and the Steelers. Some may say that this was because of the cornerbacks he faces being the top wide receiver or the double team coverage, but I think his drops against Indy and Denver plus his fumble there assures me the right to make this argument. I think we have a bonafide Hall of Famer in Palmer who will only get better, but with a lackluster defense we need to understand this offense needs to be willing to give up some of its integral pieces for defense to truly become a Super Bowl caliber team.
Finally, I understand there are other issues at stake. Obviously, Marvin's on the field decisions, the time out in Indy in the first quarter, the allowing of the letdown in Tampa after the bye week, and the debacle that happened before the Graham field goal attempt this past week are obvious evidence that he needs to do "his job" in Cincinnati. But, I feel he has stretched himself so thin with incompetent coaches espcecially Breshnean and to a lesser extent Bratatowski. If he starts to employ former coaches ALA Jim Mora and Romeo Crennel (if fired) I think the surrounding effects will improve this team. Let's hope these improvements are made and we look forward to that Super Bowl year we have all been patiently waiting for. Who Dey!
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