Thornton inactive today

[Ickey44]

According to C.Trent at thelotd.com, our favorite DT is out today. Maybe we'll win after all......

[ArmyBengal]

Well, I can honestly say I'm happy even IF they do nothing, because sadly enough, NOTHING would be about the same we get out of Thornton...

[cincy9275]

kinda funny thorton don't play and we hold the other team to under a hundred yards rushing! then add that sims had 5 tackles and peko had 8 tackles and we had 2 sacks by our d/e's. hmmm go figure.

[Ickey44]

Yeah, I noticed that, too. I just didn't feel like pointing out anything positive from that game.

[ArmyBengal]

Thornton = NO IMPACT ON THE D-LINE !!!

This should have been the first place the Bengals should have looked to cut money. I can't believe he's getting paid so much money for NOTHING !!!

[jjakq27]

You know when they got him, he was to be a stop-gap along with Tory James, Kevin Hardy and Reggie Kelly among others. How he has managed to hang around this long just amazes me.

[HoosierCat]

You know when they got him, he was to be a stop-gap along with Tory James, Kevin Hardy and Reggie Kelly among others. How he has managed to hang around this long just amazes me.

Had the Shaun Rogers trade gone through, I think it's almost certain Thornton would have been cut. As for why he's hung on so long despite lackluster play, well, we're talking about a team that historically does not have a high regard the DT position. At best, they sign b-listers like JT. More usual, though, is throwing a day 2 pick at the spot (Peko, Shirley, Askew, Toeina, Moore, etc.) and hoping they get lucky. Sims' selection is the first time since Big Daddy that they spent anything resembling a valuable pick on the spot.

I've come to expect this out of the Bengals. But what puzzles me is why the habit of disregarding the interior of the d-line has continued under Marvin, whose 2000 Raves D was built around a pair of top-tier DTs, Adams and Siragusa. I took the interest in Rogers and the selection of Sims this past offseason to be signs that, finally, they figured this out. We'll see.

[icehole3]

now if they replace the center maybe the OL will improve

[TJJackson]

I didn't watch most of the game (decided to spend my time doing housework - better use of my time) but I see Sims had 4 tackles and a assist.....how did he look overall?

[HoosierCat]

now if they replace the center maybe the OL will improve

If I was in charge, I would be kicking both Bluto and Levi to the curb right now. Put Bobbie and C, shift Whit to LT, bring up Livings from the PS and put him at LG, move Andrews to RG and stuff Koo or Collins in at RT.

Yeah, it'd probably be a disaster. Making over your entire o-line mid-season usually is. But what we have out there now is just garbage.

In short, the Bengals have nothing to lose.

[TJJackson]

now if they replace the center maybe the OL will improve

If I was in charge, I would be kicking both Bluto and Levi to the curb right now. Put Bobbie and C, shift Whit to LT, bring up Livings from the PS and put him at LG, move Andrews to RG and stuff Koo or Collins in at RT.

Yeah, it'd probably be a disaster.

LT - Levi to the bench, Collins (his heir apparent) in

LG - Whitworth moved to RT, Kooistra in

C - Ghiaciuc to the bench, Bobbie in

RG - Bobbie goes to C, Livings (activate from PS) in

RT - "Franchise" to the bench, Whitworth (more naturally suited to RT than LT) in

and

sign another OL to the practice squad, probably Uperesa

I still maintain you sit "Franchise" Andrews because he has no intention of being here next year, so you give his game snaps to someone who WANTS to be here. He may be a slightly better player than Koo or Livings, but with this season lost I see the remainder of the games as a tuneup for next year.

[TJJackson]

How did Sims look?

[HoosierCat]

Promising. He made some tackles, got some push, basically looked like he belonged there.

For comparison purposes, consider this: In four games, the draft day gem everyone (inculding me) wanted, Sedrick Ellis, has 9 tackles (6 solo) and a sack. Sims, in one game, has 5 tackles (4 solo).

JT needs to stay on the bench.

[GapControl]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=At1o...p&type=lgns

I think this article fits in well on our board.

Also, I didn't realize Thornton wasn't playing until after I got home from the bar. But I knew something was going on with our d line because I saw Fanane, Geathers, and Odom all in the backfield a lot.

At the time, I was thinking the were rotating Rucker into the DT position more. I saw him making plays in the backfield. I was very surprised to see Sims in the game and want to say now that the Bengals have no reason to keep playing Thornton.

It was by far their best defensive effort of the year and maybe since the 2005 season.

Any one disagree?

3 Picks

Sack/Fumble Return for TD

3 sacks

Hold RB to less than 100 yards

If you take away the avg. 46 yard starting for the Jets, (and our retarded oline) we win.

[icehole3]

I also feel that Sims push up the middle caused the Ends some relief as they were making Farve move around and he threw great passes off his back foot as someone was grabbing him. My dream would be to see a rotation of Sims, Peko and Big Shirley against Pittsburgh, thats my dream.

[volcom69]

They need to shake things up from here on out marvin needs to get ticked and start benching players that arnt doing anything for this team. Sims i thought looked great he got great push and made some big plays even the anoucer said something about it. With him and Pecko in there they did great, Harris not so much. I would like to see more of Fanane, Rucker and Odom, Geathers is ok but still they give him all this money for what he dosnt do much of anything besides that one year. I still would like to see Shirly, but hes red shirted this year as they said, but i thought this was the best the d-line looked all year getting more pressure in this game then any other. Once again Marvin is blind and will play the guys that have been there before and who are getting paid more, and what will really tick me off is if D Jak. comes back and they take Duke out for him. You win with Character not Characters which this team has to many of.

[cincyhokie]

They need to shake things up from here on out marvin needs to get ticked and start benching players that arnt doing anything for this team. Sims i thought looked great he got great push and made some big plays even the anoucer said something about it. With him and Pecko in there they did great, Harris not so much. I would like to see more of Fanane, Rucker and Odom, Geathers is ok but still they give him all this money for what he dosnt do much of anything besides that one year. I still would like to see Shirly, but hes red shirted this year as they said, but i thought this was the best the d-line looked all year getting more pressure in this game then any other. Once again Marvin is blind and will play the guys that have been there before and who are getting paid more, and what will really tick me off is if D Jak. comes back and they take Duke out for him. You win with Character not Characters which this team has to many of.

There is very little accountability in this organiation from the top down. First and foremost you start with the owner/gm who won't fire himself. Then on down to the head coach who's job is safe until at least 2010.

Why would Marvin get ticked off? Why would he bench players who don't perform? I think we've seen that reasoning applied each time Thornton is put in the starting lineup.

What I'm getting at is a simple military philosophy. When the battalion commander was pissed off, we ALL felt it. Sh*t runs downhill. His sh*tty week was our sh*tty week.

[jjakq27]

You know when they got him, he was to be a stop-gap along with Tory James, Kevin Hardy and Reggie Kelly among others. How he has managed to hang around this long just amazes me.

Had the Shaun Rogers trade gone through, I think it's almost certain Thornton would have been cut. ........

Can anyone explain what really happened in that trade/non-trade? How is it that we have picks that we are not able to trade or don't even have supposedly and the Browns (by some coincidence) are able to make it go through immediately after ours fell through? Did we not know the rules? Were we given faulty info about our additional picks? Did we not have time for a clarification? Did we not want to give up anything beyond what we offered to begin with?

Rogers may not have been the answer to all of our problems but I commend the team for going after him. I just don't understand how we were unable to close the deal (also a metaphor for this season). This whole thing just kinda went away quietly. I am sure that Jerry Jones or Ozie Newsome or Parcells would have had the ability or been given the latitude to consumate this trade. Alas we are not on that list.

[HoosierCat]

Can anyone explain what really happened in that trade/non-trade?

As far as I could piece together from what dribbled out in the days after the deal went south, it went something like this:

Matt Millen and Phil Savage had been talking about a trade for Rogers for months. But Millen wanted CB Leigh Bodden and a pick, not just two picks. Savage balked. As the deadline for the Lions to pay Rogers a $1 million roster bonus (which they said that, if they had to do, they would keep him) approached, the Bengals entered the picture. They and the Lions struck a deal at the 11th hour. News of the deal leaked out of Detroit, and Savage sent a text to Millen congratulating him for the deal and to keep him updated.

Since the deal was so late in arriving, it couldn't be approved by the league until after the deadline for the Lions to pay the bonus had passed. So the two teams had worked out a deal under which the Lions would pay the $1 million, then trade Rogers to the Bengals, who would refund the $1 million to Detroit, and the cap hit would transfer from the Lions to the Bengals.

That was apparently what was vetoed by the league, since the CBA didn't contain any mechanism for such a refund/transfer deal. The league front office would reverse itself the next day and say the deal could go through. But in between, while the deal was 'dead,' Millen called Savage back and this time Savage agreed to send Bodden to Detroit. So Millen got his preferred deal, and the Bengals got egg on their face.

[jjakq27]

Since the deal was so late in arriving, it couldn't be approved by the league until after the deadline for the Lions to pay the bonus had passed. So the two teams had worked out a deal under which the Lions would pay the $1 million, then trade Rogers to the Bengals, who would refund the $1 million to Detroit, and the cap hit would transfer from the Lions to the Bengals.

You would think, as well staffed and organized as the NFL is, that they might actually have someone available to deal with trades, etc. on the day or night (June 1?) that these roster bonuses/potential trades might occur. For the Bengals to be aced out because the NFL wasn't preparred is a damn shame.

Somewhere I read that the Bengals offered one or two of their extra picks and the league said they were not allowed to do that which is what nixed the deal. Your story seems a little more realistic.