Ask A Bengals Blogger: Q & A with Cincy Jungle

I dunno if there’s ever a good time to catch the Bengals this year. They’ve been hell for the opposition in the 4th quarter, be it a good team like the Broncos(??), Steelers(), Packers(??) or the abysmal Brownies. That being said, they’ve been close with teams all year, for the most part, and haven’t had to deal with massive comebacks (I don’t count 13 points) to this point. If one team happens to score early and take advantage of an untimely turnover, that might be it.

But, like you say, this shuold be a very telling game. Here are two 3-1 teams that we don’t know much about – the Ravens have beaten the Chiefs and Browns, who aren’t very good. The Chargers don’t seem very good. And we all heard about the “Brady Law” game. This should be a good matchup, and it should (could) tell us a lot about these teams.

I think the AFCN is gonna come down to the wire between the Steelers (who have the softest schedule ever for the next few weeks… Detroit, Cleveland, and KC I think), Bengals (who I’m hoping don’t fade over a stretch where we play you twice and the Steelers again), and Ravens (who everyone in the national media loves). Unfortunately, only 2 teams are gonna make it out of this division, with the other wildcard looking likely to come out out of the loser in the AFCE race between NE and NY.

Hey UMBC, thanks for the questions.

1) Kevin Huber, our 5th round punter pick, has been one of the best punters in the league this year. He’s made a huge impact for us, more often than not helping us win the field position game. Rey Maualuga has been pretty good too, but he’s lived up to his aggressive, undisciplined billing. Once he learns how to play football instead of just running around instinctively and hitting things (think of it in terms of Pitching vs. Throwing), he’ll be one of the best in the league.

Outside of those 2, late-round RB Bernard Scott and 3rd-round pick Michael Johnson have flashed extreme athleticism and promise, as expected.

Guys not making an impact include Mr. Smith, 3rd-round TE Chase Coffman, and a variety of other late round guys that didn’t make the squad.

2) Andre Smith might be ready in November. He’s out of his walking cast, and preliminary reports are that he’s in decent shape. The man simply needs to learn to condition himself. As far as expectations go, the right side of the line has been very lackluster in run blocking. He will probably be an immediate force in the running game if he cracks the lineup.

3) Chad/Esteban Johnson/Ochocinco has returned to form this season. Andre Caldwell has been a pleasant surprise as well. I think we all expected Chris Henry to be a little more involved, but I thnk that’s a coaching issue – he’s not getting very many reps in game. FA acquisition Lavaraneus Coles (talk about a hard to spell name) has been pretty… absent. He’s dropped some balls, but he’s also made some big plays. I think the offense misses TJ Houshy’s production, but not his attitude.

4) Initially, there were some calls for Marv’s head. Some people wanted to see him demoted to defensive coordinator and see current d-coordinator Mike Zimmer and his fiery yelling promoted to head coach. I think the fan base is cautious in its opinion of Lewis, who is clearly better than anything we’ve had in Cincinnati in the past 20 years, but has not taken this team to the next level. Personally, I think he’s a terrible clock manager, but he’s learning. If he leaves Cincinnati, he’ll get a job elsewhere.

I think he struggled because at first, a lot of the payroll was dedicated to offense. Now he has a decent defense, and he’s working on building his team that way.

5) I think he was being sued by some residents in the city of Cincinnati regarding stadium construction, and he was recently sued by former players. I haven’t heard anything about legal run-ins with season ticket holders. Someone else might know more about this.

6) I think it’s both. Our defensive line is probably a lot better than most people think it is, especially when Tank Johnson is healthy. We rotate 6-7 guys: DEs Antwan Odom (+30 pounds), Robert Geathers (healthy) and Michael Johnson (athletic superfreak) have been doing a pretty good job on the edge. On some passing downs, Odom has moved to a DT spot along-side pass-rush DTs Pat Sims and Tank Johnson.

Domata Peko has been extraordinary in terms of occupying blockers and demanding double teams. Offensive line coaches are clearly game planning to take him out of the game and trying to force other defenders to make plays in the running game. But really, the improvement in the passing game is a result of 1) more blitzes and 2) healthy, better defensive ends.

7) We were, and are, pretty outraged that Mike Brown has that much clout in personnel and decision making. The guy clearly has no idea what he’s doing, and has absolutely no business suggesting how different players be used. If that’s what he let the cameras shoot, we get nauseous thinking about what decisions he might make that no one is aware of.

As a fan, they only gear you up for further disappointment or undue egoism on game day. So I’ll summarily decline comment on predictions or rationale as to why a team “can” or “cannot” win a future game.

He wasn’t great after Zimmer left Dallas, but now they are reunited

He threw 1 last week against the Browns and it was intercepted. And im serious, there havent been any deep throws. So personally i wonder if he did lose some arm strength. Against the Packers in week 2, Palmer threw and out route to the TE and it was picked off by Woodson for a TD. Normally Carson throws a beautiful ball with a lot of zip. But we havent seen it this year. He flashes greatness instead of showing it all the time like he used to.
But that could also be rust. He missed 12 games last season, and 3 preseason games this year