WhoDeyRevolution

Carson and Chad in NFL Top 50

Pete Prisco of CBS Sportsline ranked the top 50 players in the NFL.  Not surprisingly, both Carson Palmer and Chad Johnson were on the list.  What may be a little surprising is how high Carson Palmer was according to a member of the national media.  According to the list, Palmer is the eighth best player in the NFL and the third best quarterback behind Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.  WDR is glad to see that the Bengals' woes have not completely overshadowed everyone's assessment of Palmer.  To Bengal fans, there is little doubt that Palmer has better skills than Roethlisberger, Romo, Eli Manning, etcetera...but often times, nationally, more attention is understandably given to the QBs consistently making the playoffs.  If only we could get the same production out of the running game as the Steelers, Cowboys and Giants...and have defenses like those teams. 

Chad also ranked 28th on the list and the three sentence summary in the article is pretty much on target: "He isn't nearly as good as he thinks he is. But he's still pretty damn good. He does have a tendency to disappear in big games."

Not surprisingly, there were zero Bengals defensive players on the list.  In fact, other than maybe Takeo Spikes a couple of seasons, can anyone think of another in the past 18 years?  Come to think of it, before the arrival of Carson and Chad, did we have any players (offensive or defensive) aside from Spikes, Corey Dillon and Carl Pickens who were in the top 50 for one season during this time?

One final point...T.J. Houshmandzadeh was not on the list, which is probably accurate, however, he didn't make the "Just missed" list at the bottom and he probably should have considering Wes Welker was the last ranked receiver in the Top 50.  Welker had 112 catches for 1175 yards and 8 touchdowns last year while TJ had 112 for 1143 yards and 12 touchdowns. 

The 5 Worst Bengal QB's of the Mike Brown Era

Some of you might have seen this already but pro-football reference recently put out a list on the worst QB’s of all time. I’m sure everybody out there in Bengaldom will be shocked to learn that some of our very own hometown heroes made the list. Unlike the folks over at pro-football reference, I didn’t use some fancy mathematical formula to create my list of the five worst Bengal QB’s of the Mike Brown era. I just used my substantial and ever expanding gut.

For my rankings I wanted guys the Bengals played because the organization thought this player provided the team with its best chance to win. I didn’t want guys who started out of necessity because injuries ahead of them on the depth chart forced them into action. Sadly this meant I had to cut Paul Justin, (you may remember Paul for having one of the best buckstaches of all time - even though he wasn’t from the Buckeye State - he deserves an honorary exemption for that magnificent thing) Erik Wilhelm, Scott Covington, Eric Kresser, and Don Hollis from the list.

So without further ado here is the five worst starting QB’s Mike Brown ever signed a pay check for:

Acquiring Fringe Character Players Does Not Equal Commitment to Win by Ownership

It is being argued elsewhere that the startling number of arrests and character issues among the Bengals personnel cannot be blamed on ownership.  In fact, elsewhere has gone so far as to argue that the malcontents that occupy the Bengals roster space actually prove ownership's commitment to win, stating that:

"If anything, picking up players that develop "character issues" should prove that the team will acquire anyone, at any cost, to win."

Let's be clear, when ownership picks up players like Chris Henry, Odell Thurman & Frostee Rucker they are doing so because they hope to win on the cheap by acquiring first class talent at a discount due to the baggage that comes with these players.  This, quite obviously, strikes us as the opposite of a total commitment to win as the organization would rather take chances on loose cannons and keep the bottom line healthy than make the necessary expenditures on quality players with clean rap sheets. 

2008 vs. 2007 Personnel Comparison: Defensive Backs

Despite leading the league in turnovers during Marvin Lewis' tenure as head coach, any casual fan of the Bengals will tell you that our secondary has given up far too many big plays over that time frame, and that we were largely getting by with sub-par talent (Kevin Kaesveharn, Ifani Ohalete, an aging Tory James) for a long time.  However, the Bengals have invested heavily in the secondary, including two of the last three 1st round picks in the Draft, as well as 2006 4th rounder Marvin White and surprising 7th rounder Chinedum Ndukwe. 

While there will be no personnel changes at the starting corner positions, the Bengals will start at least one new safety (and eventually, probably two) in place of the departed Madieu Williams.  Although young, the secondary is probably the most talented position group in the Bengals' defense, so their attitude, commitment, and playmaking skills will go a long way in determining how this unit performs.  As always, we'll start with a review of personnel.

ESPN Bengals Checkup

ESPN.com is running a checkup on every NFL team post mini camp.  The Bengals checkup is posted here.  As expected, 433 words are devoted to a topic I swore off.  That leaves a paltry 279 words about the rest of the team.  While most of the article was just rehashed garbage, there was one sentence that got me thinking. 

James Walker writes, "(Rudi) Johnson packed on 15 pounds of muscle to increase his durability and is running like the Johnson of old in early practices. Last year he slimmed down to increase his speed, but that turned out to be a mistake because his body took a pounding."

At first glace, I thought great Rudi will get better.  Then I thought, "Do we really want Rudi 15 pounds heavier, and slower?"  I guess the Bengals want to go back to Rudi getting the ball 25 times for 95 yards.  Great.

Bengal Heroes - Ickey Woods

Number 7 on NFL.com's list of "One Shot Wonders" is none other than Elbert L. "Ickey" Woods.  Of course, Woods, who played fullback in the same backfield as James Brooks, had a brilliant rookie season in 1988 rushing for 1,066 yards and scoring 15 touchdowns all of which were followed by the infamous "Ickey Suffle" (which until now, was relatively un-findable on the Internet...at least I couldn't find it despite multiple periodic searches over the years, which is a contributing reason for this post).

The next season, Ickey tore his ACL against Pittsburgh, which seemed to begin a curse that captured the ACL of another in the 2005 playoffs against the same team (in addition to Kijana Carter...and Kenny Irons...I have to stop now or I will cry).  Woods mounted a brief comeback attempt in 1991 but he wasn't the same.  He has not played in the NFL since and was out of the league at the age of 26.  According to his Wikipedia profile, since then, Woods has sold steaks door to door, made appearances as a boxer on television and is currently the football coach of the Cincinnati Sizzle, a women's football team. 

But today and always, we remember Ickey Woods, for his contributions in the 1988-89 season.  We can only hope someone will surprise us as much as the rookie out of UNLV did that year.  Here's to you Ickey.

StripeHype (+50) vs. Who Dey Revolution

Please remind us to take our friends at StripeHype to Las Vegas for a crash course in Sports Betting 101...as they report the Bengals are very early one point favorites against the Ravens in Week 1.  Here is their post:

The Bengals are 1-point road favorites against Baltimore in week 1.

Stripe Hype references this article from profootballweekly.com, where the line is listed as:

Cincinnati (+1 / 42) at Baltimore

Revisiting the Bogus Stadium Deal

While most people in Bengaldom have either forgotten or come to peace with the bogus stadium deal the Bengals were able to "negotiate," we here at WDR would like to do our small part to keep reminding Bengals fans the absurdity of the whole situation. So when Mike Brown claims that the "small market" Bengals can't afford free agents, medical facilities and a front office, you can remember how your taxpayer money (if you live in Hamilton Country) is basically going right into Mike Brown's pocket.

The whole story is much too long to rehash in one post, so we will focus on one aspect of the deal each post.

Today's topic: the Bengals' blatant deception.  As described in the opinion of the 6th District Court of Appeals from the lawsuit brought by Hamilton County against the Bengals and the NFL, Mike Brown demanded a new stadium in 1995 because Riverfront did not have enough luxury boxes (luxury box revenue goes right to the team and is not shared with other NFL teams as part of the NFL revenue sharing agreement), causing the team's revenues and profits to be among the lowest in the NFL.  This, Brown claimed, put the team at a competitive disadvantage vis a vis other NFL teams.

Yeah, what he said

Questions for Curnutte

We here at WDR are not full time journalists by any means - fostering the Revolution is only what we do between our real (paying) jobs and drinking away the pain of the last 17 Bengals seasons.  So, unlike Mark Curnutte, the Bengals' less-than-intrepid beat writer for the Enquirer, we do not have the time or access to Bengals players/coaches/management to delve deeper into stories and ask the tough question that inquiring Bengals fans want to know.

So, we are proud today at WDR to launch "Questions for Curnutte" - a feature that will ask questions that we would ask the Bengals if we were a full-time paid journalist covering the Bengals.

1.  What are the details of Domata Peko's new contract?

With the exception of this blurb, we have not learned the details of Peko's new contract extension.  We at WDR feel that this is much more important news than the Chad Johnson soap opera.  Depending on the yet unreported details of the contract, the Bengals could have just tied up potential free agent dollars for Plan B at DT.  After spending all offseason going after DTs, the team decides to lock down the current DT that they had worked all offseason to replace.  What's going on?

So, what are the details of the contact?  How much is guaranteed?  What are the details of the bonuses?  How likely are these bonuses to be met?  Inquiring minds want to know.

2. Do the Bengals have access to the same level of medical and training facilities as Ohio State? 

Ohio State is testing its players to learn their potential injury risks, something the Bengals might want to look into after the team's constant injury woes.  Is Mike Brown willing to provide the same technology to his professional team that Ohio State is providing for its team?  Or is Mike Brown instead going for the "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" style (Windex on everything) or the "Chris Rock ("better put some 'tussin on it")?  Inquiring minds want to know.