General Disarray

They were supposed to be contenders. They were supposed to be somebody. That is the story of the 2006 Cincinnati Bengals. Coming off of a first round playoff loss in 2005, the '06 Bengals were one of the favorites to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. It appeared that they were only a few small pieces away from completing the puzzle that would help them get over the hump this season. They signed Sam Adams and Dexter Jackson to shore up a beaten down defense, and they extended the contracts of Levi Jones and Willie Anderson to secure the offensive line and Carson Palmer for the future. Now the Bengals are coming off of their third 8-8 season in four years, and they are left in a state of disarray as the calendar turns to another year. There seems to be more holes to fill this season than there were last season, and the question is where on Earth should Marvin Lewis start?? Before looking to next season, there were several factors that helped to seal the Bengals' '06 fate:




Welcome to the squad Mr. Berryman. You should fit right in.


Character Counts: I am not a big believer in a team's off-the-field problems affecting their on-the-field performance, but it can become an issue when there are numerous incidents which can distract from the focus of the team. Chris Henry missed three games because of his numerous legal problems. Odell Thurman was suspended for the season because if his lack of intelligence, and Deltha O'Neal was forced to miss a game because of an early Saturday morning DUI during a game weekend. In all there were eight Bengals players arrested in the '06 off-season/season. This is unacceptable, and Coach Lewis addressed the need for discipline in his end of season press conference, " They long for that from me -- to be, I guess, the hard-ass all the time in certain areas. So we'll make sure I give them what they want. It's important. " This is a strong quote from a man who is known league wide as being a "player's coach." The problem is that on the same day as this press conference Lewis inked Jason Berryman to the practice squad. Who is Jason Berryman, you ask? Well, he played for Iowa State, but he was dismissed from the team following several altercations with the law, one of which landed him in jail for 258 days. Click here for the bio on Berryman: http://www.nfldraftscout.com/supdraft06free.php.

Is this really the type of player Lewis wants when he is stressing change and discipline in '07???

Choke, Choke, Choke: It is easy to point to Brad St. Louis's botched snap in Denver or Shayne Graham's missed field goal against Pittsburgh as examples of the Bengals' problems when they are under pressure. The problem is much wider spread, however. The Bengals as a team have problems playing in big games when there is something important on the line. Even Carson Palmer looked uptight in the season's final three games as he routinely sailed passes over the heads of his wide open receivers. This was most apparent on the opening drive of the Denver game when he threw one well over the head of a wide open TJ Houshmandzadeh resulting in a Bronco interception. Palmer is the least of the Bengals' problems is this area, though, because the team's "mouthpiece", Chad Johnson, constantly disappears when the team needs him most. He missed two third quarter series against Indy due to his "cramping" problems, and he followed that up with a three drop, lost fumble game against Denver. Johnson is a constant distraction for the team, and some are begninning to wonder if the Bengals might be better off without him (namely me). In looking at the final three games of this season combined with the wild card loss to Pittsburgh last year, Johnson's totaled 14 catched for 171 yards. This is pathetic for an alleged All-Pro receiver. Cincinnati also had four or five false start penalties against Pittsburgh, and the defense allowed their second 99-yard drive in as many weeks (Willie Parker's butterfingers prevented it from being another TD). These are just more examples of a team not ready for the spotlight.

"Let's see.......How many timeouts do we get again??????"

Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock........: The honeymoon has officialy ended for Marvin Lewis. He has done a terrific job of resurrecting a dead franchise, but his game management ability is below average at best. Lewis seems to have no idea on how to manage his timeouts and the clock. He burns up timeouts too early, leaving him with none when it matters most. A couple of situations stick out: first, Lewis used a timeout against Denver following an on-side kick in which Ahmad Brooks was off-side. Why is there a need for a timeout when everyone knows you are doing another on-side kick? He made it so that even if the Bengals recovered the kick, they would have no timeouts to work with, and little chance of being able to do anything. Next, Lewis decided to "ice" Steelers' kicker Jeff Reed with 1:10 left. Reed was attempting a chip-shot 35 yard field goal to tie the game. In doing this, Lewis left Carson Palmer and the offense with only one timeout and just over a minute on the clock. Someone needs to tell Marvin that this is not college. The clock does not stop after a first down. It is very difficult to move the ball the length of the field in one minute, with only one timeout, when the opposing defense will be playing to take away the deep ball. Somehow Palmer hooked up with Chris Henry for a big game that put the team in field goal range. Then, they rushed up to the line and spiked the ball. Everything seemed ok at this point, but then they burned their final timeout because the play-clock was going to expire. How the hell does this happen??? Does the team not work on a two-minute offense?? This of course was followed by a Palmer kneel down and another spike. They failed to gain any more yards, leaving Graham with a 39 yard attempt which he would push wide to the right. Maybe if they had that second timeout they would not have been rushed, and they could have moved the ball a little closer for Graham. Unfortunately, Lewis would rather "ice" the opposing kicker with over a minute left than give his offense a timeout to work with to win the game.

The other problem Lewis had in 2006 involves making in-game adjustments. A telling, scary stat is the third quarter scoring differential between Cincinnati and their opponents. The Bengals were outscored 85-58 in the third quarter of games this year, making it the only quarter in which they were outscored. This is a direct reflection upon a team's ability to make halftime adjustments. It seems as though Cincinnati was unable to keep up with the adjustments their opponents made, and in doing so, they often let teams get back into games which the Bengals should have easily won. Lewis needs to improve these areas in 2007, or his seat might just get a little warmer next offseason.

Part 2 coming tomorrow......