The Sports Guru

Projected Record

9-7, 2nd Place AFC North

Projected Schedule W/L
@Kansas City (L)
Cleveland (W)
@Pittsburgh (L)
New England (W)
@Tampa Bay (L)
Carolina (W)
Atlanta (W)
@Baltimore (L)
San Diego (W)
@New Orleans (W)
@Cleveland (L)
Baltimore (W)
Oakland (W)
@Indianapolis (L)
@Denver (L)
Pittsburgh (W)

After over a decade of futility in Cincinnati, the Bengals finally gave the Queen City something to get excited about. An 11-5 record, a division title, a home playoff game. All that excitement ended on the first play from scrimmage in the Wild Card Playoff game against the Steelers. After a 66 yard completion from his own endzone, Palmer was hit in his left knee by Kimo Von Olhauffen. The result? Two torn knee ligaments for Palmer and the dreaded “What If?” for everyone else. THe Steelers went on to win the Super Bowl. The Bengals feel that things would have been a little different had Palmer not been hurt. As we head into the 2006 season Palmer seems to be on the road to recovery, expected to be ready for Week 1 against the Chiefs. The Bengals will look to answer those questions, and assuredly will be awaiting a re-match with the Steelers. I’d watch out if I were Big Ben….

Team Strengths – The Bengals have speed and talent all over the field. Head Coach Marvin Lewis has done a great job of infusing the defense with talent to go along with an incredibly talented offense. Carson Palmer has become one of the best in the game, and how he returns from the knee injury will be the biggest question early on. Chad Johnson is electric, and Rudi Johnson is a 1500 yard rusher. Wille Anderson and Levi Jones anchor on of the best O-Lines in the game. Coach Lewis has managed to scrub the franchise clean of the losing culture and has created a cocky confidence, a constant with all great teams. David Pollack is a stud and compliments linemate Justin Smith.

Team Weaknesses - How the Bengals defense improves this year will be the big question. The Bengals were lit up by high powered offenses last season, losing big to the Colts and Chiefs. Giving up 37 points at home to the Bills while fighting for a Bye in the playoffs also did not bode well for the way this team hanldes pressure. They are a year older and wiser for it, but the schedule is alot tougher, with trips to Kansas City, Indianapolis and Denver on the slate. Discipline is a huge concern as well, with no fewer than 6 Bengals having run-ins with the law in the past 8 months. WR Chris Perry has been arrested 3 times himself, and the Bengals went out on a limb to draft LB Ahmad Brooks in the supplemental draft. Brooks has a ton of ability, but was booted from the Virginia Football program for behavioral issues. Depth at quarterback is also a concern with Anthony Wright slated to begin the season as Carson Palmer’s backup.


Best Case Scenario – Palmer is healthy to start the season and stays thay way throughout. The Bengals will need him to have any chance of bettering their 11-5 2005 season. Marvin Lewis will also have to make sure he keeps his players on the field and out of jail. Every team has it’s legal issues, but the Bengals have several players with questionable characters, and the rap sheet is geting long. If Johnson and Johnson and maintain their high level of output and the defense can do a much better job of stopping opposing offenses the Bengals will be extrememly hard to beat. Sam Adams was brought in to fortify a run defense that ranked near the bottom of the NFL. All the Benglas D needs to do is finish in the top half.

Worst Case Scenario – If Palmer has a set back, or is re-injured during the season, the Bengals are in deep trouble. Last season they had a legitimate back-up in Jon Kitna. Problem with legitimate back-ups, they want to be starters. Kitna went north to Detroit and the Bengals are stuck with Anthony Wright and Doug Johnson. Yikes… Persistent legal troubles could also be a distraction if multiple players miss practice time because of court dates. As good as Chad Johnson is, he is volatile to say the least. Reports of him taking a swing at Lewis during the playoff loss to the Steelers have circulated, and at the least there was certainly a heated confrontation. I’ve stated many times that winning cures all ills, but losing makes them worse.

My Opinion - If Carson Palmer was healthy the Bengals would be a Top-5 team in my book. They are a better football team than the Steelers, as proven by the 38-31 whooping the ‘gals put on the Steelers at Heinz Field last December. If Palmer doesn’t get hurt it might’ve been the Bengals hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. That said, Palmer did get hurt and without him they are very vulnerable. There is too much parody in the NFL today for a team to make up a loss like that and for the Bengals to be Super Bowl contenders they’ll need Palmer to play up to 2005. It was a serious injury, however, and there is going to be some rust and tentativeness. If a player gets hurt in a freak play, mentally, they can come back pretty easily. Palmer was hurt in the pocket, throwing a pass, something he is going to have to do 500 times this season. Alot tougher to get over mentally. If he is glancing at the rush, he isn’t looking downfield. I think Palmer will struggle at times this year against the tougher schedule. The AFC North is a tough division, and with Denver and Indianapolis on the schedule duplicating last year’s success could be tough. Win/Loss aside, if the Begals can get into the Playoffs they’ll be as dangerous as anyone, a serious Super Bowl contender.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 14th, 2006 at 1:43 pm and is filed under Broncos/NFL, 2006 NFL Preview. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.