When the NFL owners locked out the players last spring, what seemed like the end was just the beginning for the Cincinnati Bengals.

With no offseason workouts, a shortened training camp and a roster depleted of former stars like quarterback Carson Palmer and receivers Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco, the Bengals appeared headed for another 4-12 season, or possibly worse.

But on Sunday afternoon in Paul Brown Stadium, where the Bengals (9-6) host the Ravens (11-4), Cincinnati is one win away from becoming the No. 6 seed in the AFC playoffs.

If the Ravens win, they can at least secure a No. 2 seed, a first-round bye and host a divisional semifinal. If the Bengals win, they would travel to No. 3 Houston for a first-round game.

“We’ve got an opportunity to do something that almost nobody in the business thought we could do,” said Bengals offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth.

According to Bengals coach and former Ravens defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis, the seeds for Cincinnati’s turnaround were planted during the lockout. That’s when some of the veterans started organizing team drills, practices and workouts.

Gone were the prima donnas like Ochocinco and Owens who would have complained. Instead, the grunt guys like Whitworth and nose tackle Domata Peko took over, and the rest followed.

“The lockout helped create a new atmosphere around here,” Lewis said. “The big, tough guys started running the show, they took over the team. There are no more clique-ish groups in football than the offensive and defensive lines, and they stepped up and everyone else just rallied behind them. They have become the fiber of the team.”

But it’s just not that simple.

Cincinnati is winning with two rookies — quarterback Andy Dalton and receiver A.J. Green — playing prominent roles. Green, a first-round pick out of Georgia, was expected to contribute right away, and the kid has been the total package with 63 catches for 1,031 yards and seven touchdowns.

“He was good early — so unassuming, so talented — from the very first time he stepped on the field,” Lewis said. “Usually you get to see these guys in minicamp and the various offseason camps, but there were no opportunities. But from the first day in training camp, you could tell he was special.”

Dalton has been even more impressive. Quarterback might be the hardest position to learn in all of sports. Few rookies challenge for a playoff spot in their first season. Few rookies taken with the No. 35 overall pick have looked as poised or thrown for 3,166 yards and 20 touchdowns.

He doesn’t play like a rookie.

“He’s so far ahead of me when I was a rookie, it’s not even funny,” former Bengals quarterback and CBS analyst Boomer Esiason said earlier this year. “After my rookie year [general manager] Paul Brown and [coach] Sam Wyche were going into the offseason looking at each other cross-eyed.”

Dalton had Lewis’ head spinning about a month or so before the draft.

“I watched the way our coaches worked with him at TCU and how he threw to his receivers and backs,” Lewis said. “He stood firm, like these guys had been coaching him for years. I could see it was a good match. He understood what we were trying to teach. He could recite and then execute it.”

Dalton will give the Ravens problems. The Ravens don’t have anyone who can match up with Green and Cincinnati has another talented receiver in Jerome Simpson and tight end Jermaine Gresham. The Ravens won the first meeting between the two teams this season, 31-24, as Cincinnati was minus-two in turnover differential and Dalton threw three interceptions.

“It has been a big year for me and for this team, and it’s our job to find a way to get this last step,” said Dalton, who has been sacked 24 times this season, third fewest in the NFL.

Another major difference has been the Bengals defense. Lewis noted that there are five former first-round draft picks starting. The Bengals get pressure with their front four of Robert Geathers, Frostee Rucker, Geno Atkins and Peko. Cincinnati has 44 sacks this season, third best in the league.

They use a 4-3 scheme and play a lot of two-deep coverage, which has given the Ravens problems. Plus, the Bengals know that anytime they play Baltimore, it’s a big game for Lewis, who won a Super Bowl here with the Ravens in 2000.

“If they lose, they know they don’t want to be around me,” Lewis said with a laugh.

Lewis still has a fondness for Baltimore. He often comes back during the offseason as a guest speaker for companies or colleges. He likes what the Ravens have done by adding rookie cornerback Jimmy Smith and using tight ends Ed Dickson and Dennis Pitta. He says the Ravens’ front seven on defense is one of the best in the NFL.

But the Bengals have only one goal now. They’ve won six of their past nine meetings against the Ravens.

“I think it would be huge,” said Bengals running back Cedric Benson. “You can only imagine what [a win Sunday] would do to some egos around here. But I think as far as the young guys, the team as a whole, the momentum and the bonding that it will actually do for the guys, for the team, is hard to even put in words. This is a team that has had a lot of adversity, wasn’t expected to do much this year. It would just be kind of a good capper, a great building block to the future.”

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The Brown Family is about to purchase the 30% of the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals they do not own for $200 million from the Knowlton estate. Austin Knowlton, a founder of the team, died in 2003.

Minority stakes of this size typically sell at 15% discounts because limited partners have little to say about how the team is run. Assuming that 15% discount, and the team’s $100 million of debt, the deal gives the Bengals an enterprise value of around $870 million. We valued the Bengals, which are run by team president Mike Brown, at $875 million recently, 25th out of the league’s 32 teams.

Despite their dismal play on the gridiron in recent years, the Bengals are highly profitable because of the very favorable lease they have at Paul Brown Stadium. The Brown family is paying cash for the stake and the deal is expected to be finalized next week. The profitability of the Bengals should increase even further due to the NFL’s new collective bargaining agreement, and the new television deals the league has recently struck with ESPN and the broadcast networks.

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TORONTO - 

Ain’t love grand. The Cincinnati Bengals have come out of nowhere to post a 6-2 record.

They’ve done it with a quarterback who looks like he spends all his off hours playing video games in his mother’s basement. And, a city known for its sports miscreants, is taking a walk on the mild side.

Who could ever have seen this coming?

This is a franchise that has had more players at the top of police blotters than on the NFL leader boards. The only thing they’ve led the league in for most of the past decade is trouble.

When they had little talent, they played down to their level. When they did have good players the only thing they led the league in was ego.

Through it all they had one saving grace, quarterback Carson Palmer, and this year he gave the team, its owner, and ultimately the city itself, the finger — and not the one signifying “We’re No. 1” either.

From those ashes has emerged Andy Dalton, quarterback of small renown. This week he was mobbed at an autograph session at Paul Brown Stadium.

He has taken a team few thought could go anywhere and put them in a position to challenge the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers, dreaded behemoths of the AFC North.

This weekend the Steelers come to town. “Everybody’s excited,” Dalton told the team’s official site. “Especially this week because we’re playing Pittsburgh.”

And the Steelers will not arrive in good humour having blown a fourth-quarter lead when it allowed a 92-yard drive to the Ravens. The Steelers also have further motivation in that this game has crucial division tie-breaker implications, considering they’ve already been swept by Baltimore. A loss to the upstart Bengals could be devastating to the defending champions.

On the other hand, a Cincinnati win marks then as legitimate contenders in the AFC North. And the Steelers’ seem to be paying at least grudging respect to Dalton. “He has great moxie for a young quarterback and he’s doing an extremely good job for those guys,” Steelers safety Ryan Clark, told reporters this week.

Dalton never had the profile of Blaine Gabbert and Cam Newton. He didn’t get surprisingly mega million deals unproven backup Kevin Kolb and in the lead-up to last April’s draft, all over the NFL there were doubts about the TCU quarterback.

He didn’t have the talent.

His arm was too weak.

But where the rest of the NFL saw issues; the Bengals saw and answer, turning the team over to him in the wake of Palmer’s desertion. He has proven unflappable completing 158 passes for 257 yards and 12 touchdowns. He has developed a trust with his receivers Tim Tebow could only pray for, plus he has Cedric Benson running the ball for 536 yards to take the pressure off the passing game.

So, this could be closer than the Steelers’ faithful might suspect. Pittsburgh’s defence will be without linebacker LaMarr Woodley and safety Troy Polamalu is playing hurt. On top of which, Dalton has been superb picking apart the blitz, completing 63% of his passes, with three touchdowns, a 95.4 rating, that includes no interceptions. And, while the Steelers’ defence hasn’t played poorly, it hasn’t been getting their signature “big” plays. They are last in the league in takeaways, tied with the Dolphins.

Still, Dick LeBeau’s defence’s habitually turn rookie QBs into puddles of quivering jello.

Since LeBeau returned to the Steelers as defensive coordinator in 2004, rookies are 1-9 when facing Pittsburgh for the first time, including Joe Flacco, Colt McCoy, Jimmy Clausen and Gabbert. The only rookie to come away with a win was Troy Smith, in the last game of the 2007 season. “We’ll find out what we’re made of,” offensive coordinator Jay Gruden said. “We’ve played some very good defences already but Pittsburgh is in their own category. The physicality they bring will be a great challenge.”

This will be Dalton’s, and the Bengals, moment of truth. Beating Tennessee was nice; beating the Steelers would be a defining moment.

QUICK HITS

St. Louis Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo said Friday that Sam Bradford’s ankle is much better and he’ll start Sunday … Tony Romo’s ribs have finally healed completely for the first time since Sept. 18 and he is debating whether to wear the protective vest and taking a painkilling injection this week against Buffalo. Romo said he felt better last week than he had since the season opener and he had two touchdown passes to go with 279 yards. Of course not getting sacked in a game for the first time this year probably helped, too … Texans’ Andre Johnson will miss his sixth straight game Sunday because of a slow-healing hamstring. Houston does get back defensive end Antonio Smith and tackles Eric Winston and Earl Mitchell … Browns’ top-ranked pass defence will be without safety T.J. Ward (foot fracture) 4-6 weeks and Peyton Hillis hamstring is reportedly still black and blue … Rams’ Brandon Gibson, with five catches last week, starts again for receiver Danario Alexander (hamstring) … Saints’ receiver Lance Moore missed practice and is questionable … Cardinals’ running back Beanie Wells (knee) returned to full practice and said Friday his knee feels the best it has in a month.

Happy again

It took three seasons but Albert Haynesworth is back home again.

In a true 4-3 defence. “It feels great, it feels unbelievable. Just to get off the ball and wreak havoc, that’s awesome,” Haynesworth said of the Buccaneers’ 4-3 defensive scheme, one similar to that in which he excelled for seven seasons with Tennessee.

The Bucs plucked him off waivers after a season-ending injury to Gerald McCoy this week. Haynesworth said he should’ve signed with the Bucs three years ago when he instead took a $100-million US deal in Washington. This year in New England’s 4-3, he had little impact before being released.

“Everybody can say, ‘Oh, you’re in a 4-3 defence.’ But just because you’re in a 4-3 defence doesn’t mean (it is) what I did in Tennessee and I had to learn that the hard way (in New England),” he said. “This is where I should’ve been three years ago. But I think all good things come to somebody that waits.”

 

 

 

It’s hard to find the Cincinnati Bengals on television these days, and I’m not talking about primetime games. Wait, you’re telling me there are no Bengals starring on a dating show or any other reality series?

“Unless you want to watch people sit in a room and never speak,” Bengals offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth said. “I think most guys on the team will tell you they’ve probably heard A.J. [Green] speak three words and Andy [Dalton] tops him with five. That’s only when he has to call a game.”

The Bengals’ turnaround season — going from the second-fewest wins in the NFL last season to the most in the AFC at the midway point of the season — started when the team turned over the roster. The focus is no longer on divas (receivers Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens). It’s on division titles.

Dalton, the even-keeled leader with a will stronger than his arm, has made the Who Dey Nation forget about Carson Palmer, the franchise quarterback who no longer wanted to be with the franchise. Green, a promising touchdown machine, is more concerned about reaching the end zone than how to celebrate after he gets there. Big names such as Tank Johnson and Roy Williams were shed from the defense, which began the season with six new starters.

Fewer egos in the locker room has resulted in more wins on the field. Cincinnati (6-2) has matched its best start since 1988, when the team advanced to the Super Bowl, and has put together its longest winning streak (five) since that same season. In fact, the Bengals have as many fourth-quarter comebacks this season (four) as total wins last season as they head into Sunday’s showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-3).

“We felt like we made the best decision for our team, and moved on from guys that didn’t want to be here,” Whitworth said. “The guys that are still here are the guys that have acutally played the last three or four years we’ve been together and have really been the true nucleus of the team, not the media’s nucleus.”

The preseason perception was the Bengals were going to be the NFL’s worst team. In ESPN’s first power rankings, Cincinnati was last at No. 32. Nine weeks into the season, the Bengals are No. 10 and ahead of the Patriots.

If the regular season ended today, the Bengals would be the AFC’s top seed.

Are these Bengals for real?

“I won’t say if we’re for real or not. But at this point of the season, you’re are what you are,” Bengals safety Chris Crocker said. “Your record should speak for itself.”

Skeptics will point to the fact that the Bengals’ first-half opponents have a combined record of 16-33. But Cincinnati beat Buffalo a week after the Bills defeated New England, and the Bengals have won at two places (Jacksonville and Tennessee) where the Ravens have lost this season.

The road ahead for the Bengals will be much tougher with four games against Pittsburgh and Baltimore along with a meeting with the AFC South-leading Houston Texans. The combined record of the Bengals’ remaining opponents are 36-31.

The Bengals have plenty of opportunities to prove themselves. That is, if they felt like they had something to prove.

“We don’t pay that much attention to it,” Whitworth said. “We have a young football team that doesn’t worry about that stuff too much because they don’t understand it. That works out in our favor.”

Head coach Marvin Lewis isn’t concerned the season will become too big for his young players.

“We’re still the same team, nothing has changed,” he said. “For all of our internal things, we still have the same things in front of us that we had at the start of the year. … They have some confidence [now], but they know they have to go out and make more plays than the other team, regardless of where they are in other people’s minds.”

The maturity of this young team has been tested, and it goes beyond come-from-behind fourth-quarter victories over Cleveland, Buffalo, Jacksonville and Tennessee (three of which came on the road). There has been off-the-field drama from Palmer not reporting to the team (to demand a trade) to Cedric Benson serving jail time before the season and a one-game suspension during it to starting wide receiver Jerome Simpson having a drug bust at his home.

Whitworth said the Bengals have handed these potential distractions in-house as a team.

“I don’t think we have individuals. That’s why we didn’t name captains because I think we have a lot of guys that deserve to be captains,” Whitworth said. “I think that’s the mark of a good football team. When we lead the team and we police the team and Marvin [Lewis] gets to kind of direct practice that makes things a whole lot easier on a head coach. That’s the kind of team we have and like I said I think we have started over.”

The Bengals’ surprising run has been very un-Bengal like. The offense is efficient and rarely makes unforced errors.

In the red zone, Dalton has thrown 10 touchdowns and no interceptions. His 12 total touchdowns is the most by a rookie in the team’s first eight games of the season since the 1970 merger.

“He’s never rattled and he sees the big picture,” Whitworth said. “Good play or bad play, the next play is the only play that matters. He takes care of the football. He doesn’t make the stupid play by having the ego to think he can make that play. He plays thinking what’s the best decision for my football team. It’s very impressive.”

The Bengals defense, which has been in the top 5 for most of the season, has been aggressive whether it’s press coverage by the cornerbacks or the front seven squashing the run game. Cincinnati’s mentality led to defensive touchdowns in three straight games, the first time that has happened since 1983.

“We want to attack teams,” Crocker said. “We really want to dictate what game it’s going to be. If you look the second half of games and fourth quarters, we’ve been very, very smart.”

The Bengals’ next big challenge is to win back the fans. Their string of seven straight blackouts ends Sunday, but that might be an indication of the number of Steelers fans showing up.

The players hope continued success will cause their own fans to fill up Paul Brown Stadium again.

“You’re entitled to any opinion that you have,” Crocker said. “If you don’t feel like your team is competitive, then you shouldn’t go to the games. I can understsand that. In that sense, we have to earn the fans back. We have to go out there, win ball games and then they’ll show up.”

David Kohl/Associated Press

The Steelers will take the field Sunday and the best record in the AFC will take it with them again, only this time it belongs to the Cincinnati Bengals.

One of the surprise stories in the NFL resides in Cincinnati, where coach Marvin Lewis’ team has won five consecutive games and is tied with Baltimore at 6-2 for both first place in the AFC North Division and for the best record in the conference. The Steelers, who held the conference’s best record before their loss Sunday night to Baltimore, are 6-3.

The Bengals already have surpassed their victory total from last season when they were 4-12. They have done so behind rookie quarterback Andy Dalton in a lockout season in which he could have no contact with the team that drafted him until the labor issue was settled a week before training camp opened.

What was supposed to be the start of the soft underbelly of the Steelers 2011 schedule has turned to stone.

“We acknowledge that if we are going to make a run here in the second half, it has to start now,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “It has to start on the road, as it should.”

Paul Brown Stadium has been a second home for the Steelers recently. They have won nine out of their past 10 in Cincinnati. The Bengals are not far removed from competing for a playoff spot. Before they hit rock bottom last season, they won the AFC North in 2009 when they swept the Steelers in both games.

This is a different Bengals offense, too, without Carson Palmer, Chad Ochocinco and T.J. Houshmandzadeh. They rely on a new generation, led by the rookie duo of Dalton to wide receiver A.J. Green, who leads the team with 40 catches for 599 yards to go with the power of Cedric Benson, who has rushed for 536 yards.

“Offensively, the story is their young talent, no question,” Tomlin said. “Andy Dalton is doing an awesome job for these guys. When you talk about a young guy, I think you start [with] first and foremost he’s doing a nice job of taking care of the football. He’s not turning the ball over. He’s doing a nice job of making quick decisions. That can be measured simply by the fact that he’s only been sacked 12 times so far this season.”

Dalton has completed 61.5 percent of his passes with 12 touchdowns, seven interceptions and an 85.0 passer rating. As a comparison, Baltimore’s Joe Flacco picked apart the Steelers Sunday night, and he came into the game completing just 53.9 percent of his passes and a 75.4 rating.

But it is on defense where the Bengals are winning games. Their veteran defense, coached by Mike Zimmer, ranks fourth overall in the NFL, second against the run.

“Coach Marvin Lewis and coach Mike Zimmer have done an awesome job with that group, developing them over the last number of years,” Tomlin said. “They are No. 2 in the league defending the run. They have what you would consider a run front.”

Surgery for Sanders

Steelers wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders had arthroscopic surgery on an injured knee Monday and will miss a “couple weeks,” according to Tomlin.

Linebacker LaMarr Woodley, however, could miss his second game with a hamstring injury, and linebacker James Farrior could miss his third with a calf injury. Tomlin said they will have to see how/if they participate in practice to determine their status.

The coach said Hines Ward, who has “concussion-like symptoms,” should be good to go this week and will not be slowed by the injury that knocked him from the game Sunday. Ward did not have a catch for the second game since the middle of his rookie season in 1998.

Another receiver, Jerricho Cotchery, and linebacker Stevenson Sylvester, have swollen knees and will be limited in practice, at least today.

Punter Daniel Sepulveda, placed on injured reserve Saturday, had surgery on his right knee to repair his meniscus.

Big Ben rising among passers

Ben Roethlisberger, in the midst of his most prolific season as a passer, became the second fastest to reach 25,000 yards in terms of attempts. Roethlisberger got there in 3,109 passes and now has 25,134 yards in 3,121 attempts. Only Kurt Warner got there faster(3,076 attempts). No. 3? Pittsburgh native Johnny Unitas in 3,117 attempts.

Roethlisberger became the first quarterback in franchise history to pass for 300 yards in three consecutive games and has 2,632 yards passing this season, on pace to break his team record of 4,328 in 2009.

First published on November 9, 2011 at 12:00 am