WhoDeyRevolution

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.

Take a cue from the...Arizona Cardinals???

Uh oh.  A fellow bottom tier team might be getting its act together.  The Arizona Cardinals are apparently restructuring their scouting department and look to add as many as four additional scouts, according to The Arizona Republic.  Meanwhile, our scouting department continues to have six people in it not counting the Personal Assistant.

It's fairly common knowledge that our scouting department is significantly smaller than most NFL franchises.  The Bengals rely on their coaches to conduct some of the scouting as evidenced by the coaches' annual trips to the Senior Bowl every year after the end of the season.  Most NFL teams don't do this. 

Now, the Arizona Cardinals, another franchise that has struggled, has recognized that the way they have been doing things could be improved.  Can you imagine how huge this story would be if it were about your Cincinnati Bengals?  How big of a sign would that be to Bengals fans that ownership wants to improve the franchise from top to bottom?  Such a move would improve the organization's administration and eventually its personnel after the additional scouts contributions.  It could even improve the coaching if decreasing their role in scouting allowed them to focus more on traditional coaching duties.  WDR would be ELATED if such an article hit the local newspapers about the Bengals.  It doesn't take much to get Bengal fans excited.  This would be a clear sign to us that we are committed to winning. 

One related piece of advice for the sake of our readers' health...Don't hold your breath.

Peko and the Defensive Line

In the upcoming season, as you watch the opposing quarterback drop back in the pocket, comfortably set his feet, and scan the field for no less than a minute without feeling any pressure, you may find yourself thinking "Well, at least we spend all our money on the offense and not these terrible defensive linemen."   Sadly, you'll be thinking wrong.

It's not just Peko who has found himself sitting atop a pile of cash (5 years for 29.3 million dollars).  John Thornton will cost us roughly $4.65 million against the cap this year.  Geathers signed a contract last year that promises roughly $6.3 million a year for the next three years (with a bunch of that being front-loaded).  And, of course, Antwan Odom came from Tennessee for a cool 5 years and 29.5 million dollars (if all incentives and such are met).

Of course, the Bengals are betting on future performance from Geathers, Peko, and Odom.  Also, these players are not totally responsible (Odom obviously not at all) for the Bengals atrocious defense the past few years, so perhaps these payments will turn out to be non-retarded.  However, that is one heckuva bet to be making given the minimal evidence the past has provided that any of them will be worth the money.  Thornton, by any measure, is a complete waste of money at this point in his career and could have been cut to save cap space.

Salary data is somewhat confusing and hard to come by easily for other teams, so it is difficult to compare just how little bang for the buck we are assuming the Bengals are getting for their D-Line.  However, here at WDR, we'd be shocked if it turned out this money was somehow spent wisely compared to elite NFL franchises, or even average ones for that matter.

The point is that the handling of personnel and contracts for our defense is yet another example of the complete ineptitude of the Bengals management.  We will delve further into the contracts and statistics in future posts.  But for now, just ask yourself, if you had to decide how to spend 5 million a year on personnel for the Bengals, where would giving that all to Domata Peko have ranked on your list?   125th?  500th?  1,000,000th?

Bentley No Longer a Cadillac (More like a Pinto)

Andrew, who is this Chad guy you keep talking about? Anyways, moving along...

Well there seems to be a lot of buzz about recently released Browns center LeCharles Bentley.  At one point Bentley was considered one of the best centers in the league, and Cleveland made a big splash in free agency when they signed him a couple years ago.  Since then, he has been plagued with injuries, and a terrible staph infection (which is not uncommon for members of the Armpit of Ohio Browns...)  Long story short, he is not the same player that he was in New Orleans. Anybody who thinks that he is either has no football sense, or is related directly to Mike Brown.

A lot of this media buzz is centered around the possibilities of the Steelers or Bengals picking him up as a backup center.  There is only one problem; he wants to play guard... and he wants to START.  There is no way that any team in their right mind is going shell out big bucks for damaged goods, not to mention put him in the starting lineup. 

The thing that really boggles my mind is that some Bengals followers (namely Cincy Jungle, AKA www.RegurgitatedHobsonArticles.com) are advocating for the Bengals to sign LeCharles.  This would be a terrible decision on the Bengals part.  We have never been particularly good at signing retreads and getting any value out of them (see Sam Adams, Poindexter Jackson, Lemar Marshall, Anthony Schlegel,  Nate "Emmanuel Lewis" Webster, etc...)  Do you really trust the Bengals front office to see value in Bentley when the Browns had him buried on the depth chart behind Hank Fraley and Lennie Friedman?

If something along these lines actually materializes, I could not imagine how many flaming bags of poo are going to be set on Mike Brown's doorstep.  I just know that it is not going to be pretty in Bengaldom, or Cincitucky for that matter.

Join the revolution and let your voice be heard! And click here if you are still trying to figure out what a Pinto is...

Brown and his Bad Boys

The practice of picking up high risk/high talent football players is not uncommon in the NFL.  But nobody seems to love doing it as much as Mike Brown.  In fact he is so into it, I would say he is addicted to it.  His track record is unbelievable, especially in recent years.  The most recent disasters include Odell and Henry, both of whom were regarded as top of their class in 2005.  Off-field troubles have outshined their on-field talent (or just kept them from playing at all), and now after 2 years of bringing shame on the Bengals organization, we have finally cut ties with them.  Oh, and in the process they have created so much collateral damage that it is going to take years, maybe decades before we get a clean slate with the media, not to mention random Steelers fans (I am going to bodyslam the next person who tells a Longest Yard joke.)

Chad Johnson: A Summary of his Value as a Bengal in 2008

Okay, as of today, Chad says he is coming back June 12.  Why?  Conveniently, this is the first day he can start to lose some cash due to fines for missing mini-camp.  Mixed in with this announcement were some quotes by Chad justifying his whining by claiming that since the Bengals as an organization won't do what it takes win, he wants to leave.  While this is actually a true statement about the Bengals, and we here at WDR in a weak moment may even be tempted to make Chad an honorary member (before remembering the shot he took at Carson...CARSON!!!), it is not the main reason why he is making this fuss.  It is about money.

I won't get into the details here about how Chad appears to be underpaid going forward (not true, it is a function only of the timing of payments in his last contract) but suffice it to say that he will make $3 million next year while many of his peers will be making well over $8 million.  So, Chad is not pleased.  Probably more so now that his BFF Terrell Owens (only moments ago) just got a shiny new extension for $34 million over 4 years.  Hence, he is throwing a tantrum.  However, he is under contract and we can fine him.  Thus, he will play.  So, where does this leave the Bengals?

Well, according to Chad, his attitude for the next season is "I don't give a @#$@."  So, it looks like we may end up getting a top tier receiver who isn't really committed to playing all that hard, at a cost of around $3 million plus collateral damage to team chemistry.  That seems like bad news to me.  It'd be better for the franchise to get him away from the team.

But, Chad is a money man now, and I am not all that sure he can afford to sandbag a whole season without jeopardizing his future earnings, so perhaps we may end up with a top tier receiver who is committed to putting on a professional face on the field, at a cost of $3 million plus collateral damage to team chemistry.  Better, but still  bad.

So, yes, Chad is back and says he will play.  However, his value as a Bengal (though uncertain) is most likely a net negative on the Bengals ability to operate as a winning franchise (much less compete for a Superbowl) in 2008.

Odell Faces Suspension

The day Odell Thurman was released, and again a few weeks ago, this blog told you why no Bengals fan should be mad to see Odell go (Dear Anyone who is still mad at the Cincinnati Bengals for releasing Odell Thurman).  SI now is reporting that Odell has failed a drug test and is facing an indefinite suspension.

Even if this turns out to not be true, this unreliability is the exact reason why the Bengals had to cut Odell.  He just wasn't someone the team could count on.  Some folks in Bengaldom thought all Odell was guilty of was being irresponsible, that he was being grouped in unfairly with other NFL "evil-doers" like Pac-Man Jones (side note: the Cowboys are going to have Tank Johnson and TO mentor him so I'm guessing Pac-Man will be just fine).  While the contributions Odell made in 2005 were significant and helped the Bengals have their best season in the Mike Brown era, it had become abundantly clear the Bengals were only going to be disappointed if they continued to rely on Odell.  Season after season our linebacking corps was counting on Odell.  If Odell was still on the team, it seems that they would again be disappointed.

I'm sad to see this happen to Odell, but I'm also glad this isn't the Bengals problem anymore. 

My question is what substance did he piss this time? And how outlandish will the rumors be regarding whether he was freebasing crack, becoming one of those scary meth addicts or doing whatever else someone can come up with that's so outlandish it sounds believable (like the new rumor about R&B sensation/soon to be one hit wonder, Ray-J, lacing his joints with Boat aka pcp, I loved that rumor!!!).

Building Through the Draft - A Proven Failure

A constant Bengals refrain under the Brown Regime has been that the Bengals strategy to a Super Bowl is to build through the draft.  Shunning high priced free agents in favor of shrewd drafting, the theory goes, will lead the team to glory.  The recent Odell Thurman saga has proven this theory to be as sound as creationism.

The CW says to wait 3-4 years to judge a team's draft.  Well, ignoring the dark years from 1991-2002, Marvin's draft classes have largely proven to be tremendous busts, with the 2005 class coming in as perhaps one of the worst draft classes in Bengals history.  The Baltimore Sun has picked up on this, as well as Comrade Blog Stripe Hype, calling the 2005 draft a "Marvel of Ineptitude." 

Out of the 2005 draft, 5 of the Bengals 7 picks are no longer with the team: David Pollack, 1st round (17th); Odell Thurman, 2nd round (48th); Chris Henry, 3rd round (83rd); Adam Keift, 5th round (153rd); and Tab Perry, 6th round, (190th).  Eric Ghiacuic, the teams 4th rounder has moved into a starting role, but has impressed few.  7th rounder Jonathan Fanene has a total of 5 tackles in his three years on the team.  Talk about building a foundation for a champion!

Overall, only 21 of the Bengals' 42 picks of the Marvin Lewis Era (2003-2007) are still with the team.