Report an error

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.”

 

 

 

Report an error

TORONTO - 

On the list of people in the NFL who have made the greatest strides in the current season, no one comes close to Cincinnati Bengals president and owner Mike Brown.

Brown is a man who knows what it is like to be despised.

His penny-pinching ways and control issues have all but made him an outcast in his own city.

But 2011 has been very, very good for Mike Brown.

So good that we would put him ahead of the likes of San Francisco’s Jim Harbaugh, Carolina’s Cam Newton, Buffalo’s Buddy Nix and anyone else enjoying an unexpectedly good start to the 2011 season as the man whose reputation has made the biggest rebound.

Of course the argument could also be easily made that Brown’s reputation had further to rebound than the others as well.

The turnaround for Brown and the Bengals began on draft day when the team not only scored wideout A.J. Green with their fourth overall selection but picked up the guy who would help make Green look so good on Sunday afternoons. That would be quarterback Andy Dalton who slipped all the way to the second round where the Bengals snapped him up with the 35th pick.

Now stellar pass-and-catch combinations — the likes of which Dalton and Green are slowly starting to resemble — rarely come around and it’s even rarer still that they both come from the same draft class.

Whether it was Brown, who has had more than his fair share of busts on draft day, or as has been suggested by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the coaching staff that talked Brown off Ryan Mallett and onto Andy Dalton, only Brown and his staff know for sure.

If you believe Marvin Lewis inherited the unofficial title of GM when he signed his extension last January and is quietly behind this new successful draft strategy so be it. For long-suffering Bengals fans, the circumstances are really irrelevant.

But draft day, it turned out, was just the beginning.

Brown, who took plenty of heat for his reluctance to deal an unhappy Carson Palmer for something the team could use because he didn’t feel like rewarding a player he felt had quit on his team, eventually relented. When he did he hit the mother lode.

In exchange for Palmer, Brown landed the Raiders’ first-round choice this year and at least a second, and possibly another first the year after depending on how successful the Raiders are with Palmer.

Brown has been getting the majority of the credit for this one too although there remains a faction of fans and some in the media who believe Lewis was pulling the strings on this deal.

So now, not only do the Bengals see hope for the future on the field, they have stockpiled picks to add to that depth.

For Brown, again whether it’s his doing or him finally ceding some control to the football people he employs, it’s the kind of season that can do a lot to make up for what has been 20 years of futility.

Normally Brown’s teams come into November reeling. In fact eight times in the 20 years since Brown took over the team from his father, the Bengals have been winless throughout October.

Not so this year. The Bengals were a prefect 4-0 in the month of October thanks largely to a smothering defence and some unexpected stellar play from their fine young rookies on offence.

The team sits at 5-2 and while there are still plenty of games to play and plenty of people anticipating a drop-off owner Mike Brown can at least enjoy the fact the outcry for him to sell his team and turn it over to someone who wants to win has at least been quieted to a dull roar.

It was only two years ago that Brown was named the second worst owner in the NFL, trailing only the legendary Al Davis of the Oakland Raiders. Davis, since deceased, is out of the running, but it would be very interesting to see where Brown is on that list at the end of this season.

He’ll always have his detractors in Cincy but who knows what a playoff year and possibly the first playoff win in Brown’s tenure could do for the man.

mike.ganter@sunmedia.ca

CINCINNATI – They know what fans think of them, and it’s not very much. There’s talk of an 0-16 season in Cincinnati, another year of setting new franchise lows with the same owner and coach presiding over a new cast of players.

How could the Bengals’ ignore it?

Better yet, how do they stop it?

Win one in Cleveland.

The Bengals could prove — for one week, anyway — that they’re not the worst team in Ohio, let alone the worst in the league. The intrastate rivalry on Sunday provides a chance to end all the talk about being No. 32 in the NFL.

“We haven’t really talked about that,” left tackle Andrew Whitworth said. “It hasn’t really been our focus. But I would hope every competitor in here knows that and realizes that’s how people think about them, and that’s the way we have to fight.

“It’s no different than any other year. The teams that go out fighting the hardest and want it the most are going to win, and we’ve got to be one of those teams.”

The Bengals put up a good fight last season, but kept self-destructing with turnovers and penalties and botched plays during a 4-12 season that wasn’t the league’s worst. Carolina got that honour, going 2-14 while the Bengals finished with the same mark as Denver and Buffalo.

Much of the pessimism comes from the off-season.

Coach Marvin Lewis played out his contract, looking for signs that the front office was committed to doing what is needed to win. Then, he agreed to stay even though owner Mike Brown said there would be no significant change in how the team operates.

A week later, franchise quarterback Carson Palmer threw in the towel, saying he’d rather retire than finish his contract with the Bengals. Disgruntled receiver Terrell Owens left as a free agent, and receiver Chad Ochocinco was traded to New England.

The Bengals are left with one of their greenest offences ever for a season opener. Second-round pick Andy Dalton will become the first Bengals rookie quarterback to start an opener since 1969, the team’s second year. First-round pick A.J. Green is the top receiver. Fourth-round pick Clint Boling starts at right guard in place of suspended Bobbie Williams. Tight end Jermaine Gresham and slot receiver Jordan Shipley are starting their second seasons.

That’s a lot of inexperience.

“We have a lot of young players,” running back Cedric Benson said. “But we’re strong in the offensive line. We’ve got one adjustment there (Boling). We’re strong in the backfield. But we’re still growing. It’s a great opportunity for us to come together.”

The Browns weren’t much better last year, going 5-11 to finish one spot ahead in the AFC North. The teams split their series, each winning at home. The Browns took the first game 23-20 in October, while the Bengals broke a 10-game losing streak with their 19-17 win at Paul Brown Stadium in December.

The newcomers will get their first experience with the Dawg Pound and the rivalry on Sunday afternoon.

“I know a little bit about it,” Dalton said. “We are definitely going to know when we are on the Dawg Pound side of the field. We’ll have to know when we can use silent counts and different things like that. It will be fun to get to know a lot more about it and be a part of it.”

Ochocinco loved to taunt the Browns and the Dawg Pound. He sent Pepto-Bismol to some Browns players one year, and did a leap into the Dawg Pound after a touchdown, only to get doused with beer and jeers. None of the current receivers is inclined to take on the Pound.

“I don’t think so, but we’re hoping our guys are spending plenty of time in their end zone,” Whitworth said. “That’s what we hope.”

The first half of the season provides the best chance for Cincinnati to show it’s not the worst. The Bengals’ first four opponents — Cleveland, Denver, San Francisco and Buffalo — were a combined 19-45 last season. Only one of the first eight opponents had a winning record last season — Indianapolis, which has problems after losing quarterback Peyton Manning.

The chance is there.”We’ve got a lot to prove, there’s no doubt about it,” Whitworth said. “So I think guys are more worried about what we have to prove than what people think about them.”

By Jay Morrison,

Staff Writer

10:45 PM Thursday, August 18, 2011

FAIRFIELD TWP. — Former Cincinnati Bengals All-Pro safety David Fulcher takes over as head coach of a program that has struggled to win more than one game per year, and he has a message for the opponents on this year’s schedule:

“If you’re coming thinking you’re just going to beat us because you’ve done it in the past, you better think again,” Fulcher said. “Cincinnati Christian is not going to be everybody’s homecoming game this year.

“Cincinnati Christian is going to surprise a lot of people this year,” Fulcher continued. “We’re not going to be favored in any of our games, but we’re going to surprise some people. We’re going to be competitive, we’re going to chase the ball on defense and we’re going to make some things happen on offense.”

Fulcher has just 30 players on the squad, many of whom are freshmen, so his focus during the preseason has been keeping things simple.

The key will be to have a promising enough season to make all of thoese freshmen want to play again as sophomores, something past coaches have struggled to do at CCS.

Offense

The Cougars will run a lot of Power-I and some split-back formations with the intent of running the ball, running the ball and running the ball some more.

“We know that’s what we have to do,” Fulcher said. “Because we have a limited number of kids, we have to control the football and keep the other team off the field and shorten the game.”

Fulcher said he has five backs who can carry the ball, but most of workload will belong to senior Luke Hill.

Junior quarterback Mitchell Moon has a strong arm, but he also can tuck the ball and run when needed.

And David Jeffries proved last year as a freshman he can have a big impact.

“We’ve got some kids in certain places that can make plays, but it has to be an all-around effort,” Fulcher said. “The O line has to make way in order for us to run the ball.”

Defense

They say teams often mirror the personality of the coach, and if that’s the case at CCS, opponents better make sure their chin straps are tight.

Fulcher made his living as a big-time hitter in the NFL, and he expects the same type of aggressive, physical play from the Cougars.

“We’re not that big, but we’re going to be a fast team that’s flying around the football,” Fulcher said. “When you look at last year’s film, you see a guy hit a runner and no one else is there. If that guy breaks the tackle, he’s gone. We need to have 11 guys pursuing and hitting and tackling. If we do that, we’ll be OK.”

The Cougars’ primary defense will be a 4-3, but Fulcher said he won’t hesitate to switch to a 5-2 “if the other team is running the ball down our throats.”

CCS does have the luxury of seven starters back on defense, but with the installation of the next system, they’re not that much further ahead than the others.

— Jay Morrison, Staff Writer

Sept. 2 Cedarville

Sept. 9 at Dayton Christian

Sept. 16 CHCA

Sept. 23 at Clark Montessori

Sept. 30 at Lockland

Oct. 7 Summit Country Day

Oct. 21 at North College Hill

Oct. 28 at Cincinnati Country Day

NOTE: All games start at 7:30 p.m. unless noted.

2010 results

Troy Christian L, 35-7

Cedarville L, 48-6

Summit 
Country Day L, 53-7

Dayton Christian L, 48-0

New Miami L,49-18

ClarkMontessori L, 35-0

Grove City 
Christian L, 45-0

Middletown 
Christian L, 35-27

Williamsburg L, 56-0

Oyler W, 40-26

Overall: 1-9

Past 5 years

* Number of wins each season.

GEORGETOWN, Ky. — During training camp in 2010, Michael Johnson didn’t know what role he would have in the Bengals defense. This year, he knows what is expected from him.

After Antwan Odom was released, Johnson has moved to first-string right defensive end. That was made official Monday as the depth chart was released for Friday’s preseason opener at Detroit.

Because of injuries to Odom, Jonathan Fanene and Frostee Rucker, Johnson started 10 games in 2010, including the final eight despite dealing with a couple nagging injuries. Johnson, who was playing linebacker during the 2010 OTAs and training camp, said he didn’t feel comfortable on the line until the final six games of the year.

“From then on I felt pretty good about everything I was doing. Once I pushed through that, I was starting to do good things,” Johnson said.

During the final six games, Johnson had two sacks and 13 quarterback pressures. He ended up leading the team in tackles for loss (eight) and tied for first on the front seven in passes defended with four. He ended up playing the second-most snaps of Cincinnati’s defensive linemen.

Combining with Carlos Dunlap and Geno Atkins, the self-named Fisher-Price Package helped upgrade the pass rush from abysmal to respectable. If all three can pick up where they left off, it might be pretty good.

“I’ve got to pick up my end of it.,” Johnson said. “(Dunlap and Atkins) have shown and they’re going to get the attention, so I’m probably going to end up getting the matchups. I’ve got to win those.”

While Johnson’s biggest strength has been as a pass rusher, he was pretty solid against the run, too. According to Pro Football Focus, Johnson had the second-best run defense grade of Bengals’ linemen in 2010. In the Week 16 win against San Diego, he had a three tackles for loss including a stop of Ryan Matthews for a one-yard loss on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line.

With Johnson having a home on the line, defensive line coach Jay Hayes has had more time to work with Johnson. Among the things Hayes has been stressing is more attention to fundamentals. Johnson traditionally starts the season slow, but Hayes said he has gotten better the past two seasons as they’ve gone along.

“In a four-man front, this is probably the best position for him because he’s so athletic and potentially you want to maximize a guy,” Hayes said.

“He has a certain skill level when it comes to play defensive line and he knows fundamentally what to do. There were flashes last year where he looked really good. Hopefully, we can have those happen on a consistent basis and he can make those types of plays throughout the year.”

During player-held workouts in June, Johnson got two weeks of work in and got a feel for what it would be like to be on a line with Domata Peko, Tank Johnson and Robert Geathers. Besides working on fundamentals, Johnson is hoping to be healthy once the season starts Sept. 11 in Cleveland.

“I just want to strike a match and pick up where I left off last year,” Johnson said. “We’re going to have a lot of fun. If we do that, we’re going to be trouble.”