Bengals considered to be an AFC North contender

[BengalszoneBilly]

By Mark Curnutte

The Cincinnati Enquirer

PALM BEACH, Fla. - AFC North coaches consider Baltimore and Cincinnati the class of the division heading into the 2004 season.

No April fooling.

"They're defending champions and have pretty much everyone coming back," Steelers coach Bill Cowher said of the Ravens during the league's annual meeting here. "Cincinnati's much improved from a year ago, and I think Cleveland's going to rebound. And I think we will be very competitive."

Cowher, the division's coaching dean at 12 years, made special mention of the Bengals - coached by Marvin Lewis, the linebackers coach on his first Steelers staff.

"He's given them a new outlook on things," Cowher said of Lewis. "Their whole approach to things is different. It showed in how they played. They played very important games late in the season for the first time in a long time. I think he did a great job in turning around the whole mentality there."

The Ravens won the division at 10-6. The Bengals were 8-8 and were not eliminated from playoff contention until losing their last game of the season. The Steelers slumped to 6-10 and the Browns, a year after making the playoffs as a wild-card team, finished 5-11.

All four teams could have different quarterbacks than the ones who finished the season. Carson Palmer will take over for Jon Kitna with the Bengals. Jeff Garcia will be the Browns' starter, and former No. 1 overall draft pick Tim Couch is likely to be traded or released. In Pittsburgh, Charlie Batch might challenge Tommy Maddox, and the Steelers are considering N.C. State's Philip Rivers if he drops to No. 11 in the draft. Kyle Boller, returning from a leg injury, has been reinstated as the Ravens' starter ahead of Anthony Wright.

The constant in the AFC North is the desire to run first with big backs like Jamal Lewis, Jerome Bettis and Rudi Johnson.

Lewis has the distinction of having worked in all four AFC North cities. He was hired as defensive coordinator in Cleveland just weeks before the franchise completed its move to Baltimore to become the Ravens.

"Baltimore is the division champ; I think they have to be the favorite," Lewis said. "Cleveland has tried to spark its team offensively with the people they've added. Pittsburgh, adding (running back) Duce Staley, gives them another weapon (with) getting Jerome back. They're a team that's very prideful and they'll come back energized."

Lewis won Super Bowl XXXV in Baltimore as Brian Billick's defensive coordinator.

"Everybody is going to be better," Billick said. "We are in a division that was in transition last year, Marvin taking over in Cincinnati, Cleveland adjusting itself to the cap, Pittsburgh is re-identifying itself a little bit.

"Marvin's program is about to take the next step, and I can't imagine them not doing very good. Butch (Davis) is putting his footprint on (the Browns) organization and now has it to a place where he's more comfortable. So it's going to be a very competitive division."

Davis is 21-27 heading into his fourth season in Cleveland.

Asked how the division shapes up this year, he said, "I don't have any idea."

Carmen Policy, the Browns' president and CEO, said Baltimore is the division favorite.

Lewis is building his team to compete against division rivals.

"It's important to me to add people who can compete in our division," Lewis said. "For example, in our division, you have to have people at safety who can cover (mobile Ravens tight end) Todd Heap."

Then there was the brief time wide receiver Terrell Owens appeared to be a Raven.

"When there was the rumor of T.O. being in our division, my focus was on people who could line up and play against him," Lewis said.

The Bengals were 3-3 against the division in 2003, up from 0-6 the previous season.

The Bengals had problems running against division opponents. They averaged 87.3 yards a game on the ground against the AFC North and 146.3 in their 10 non-division games last season.

The acquisition of right guard Bobbie Williams should help, Lewis said, along with the return of center Rich Braham.

"Putting (Williams) in the mix with Victor (Leyva) and Scott Kooistra and to have our guys feel they can compete and physically run the football ... something we couldn't do last year against those clubs," Lewis said. "If you can't do that in your own division, how good are you?"

[Bobcat Bengal]

All I gotta say is the Bandwagon fans better jump on board now, it won't be enough room this season!

[chrishcovga]

Those guys really have to struggle coming up with things to write about the AFC NORTH division don't they..??

-- Any team in our division that finishes above .500 will probably win it !

[ntpou]

This is the start of a new begining

[SILVER N BLACK]

Those guys really have to struggle coming up with things to write about the AFC NORTH division don't they..??

-- Any team in our division that finishes above .500 will probably win it !

You`re probably right.I say 8-8 wins the division this year.

[UCANTBEATOURJOHNSONS]

Those guys really have to struggle coming up with things to write about the AFC NORTH division don't they..??

-- Any team in our division that finishes above .500 will probably win it !

You`re probably right.I say 8-8 wins the division this year.

That's good news, because we are going to go 11-5 this year!

[Barbarian]

6-10

Here's why:

1. The Bungles haven't done ANYTHING to improve that horrid defense.

2. Starting a rookie QB usually doesn't bode well in the NFL.

and 6-10 is being polite.

[The Brew Man]

6-10

Here's why:

1. The Bungles haven't done ANYTHING to improve that horrid defense.

2. Starting a rookie QB usually doesn't bode well in the NFL.

and 6-10 is being polite.

You know, thats possible. I mean, our schedule is going to be tougher as well. I think another 8-9 season is coming though, but the next year is ours to shine....

[Sox]

6-10

Here's why:

1. The Bungles haven't done ANYTHING to improve that horrid defense.

2. Starting a rookie QB usually doesn't bode well in the NFL.

and 6-10 is being polite.

Palmer isn't a rookie.

Anyone remember when the Vikings let Jeff George go after a very good year,and started second year QB Dante Culpepper?He was also a second year player who had never taken a regular season snap.

[Bobcat Bengal]

Palmer isn't a rookie.

Anyone remember when the Vikings let Jeff George go after a very good year,and started second year QB Dante Culpepper?He was also a second year player who had never taken a regular season snap.

Yeah, what about Vick, what about Pennington?

Hey Sox, do you post at Bengalsinsider as sox62 with the quote about your dog?

Im vitamin e baby

[Kirkendall]

I think 8-8 is a reasonable forecast. The more the better, but realistically, I'm not going to expect too much in 2004; there's a lot of turnover going on right now. Now 2005, that's another story, I'm expecting Super Bowl run and I've said it countless times.

BTW, as for the Palmer discussion going on right now, the QB wasn't our problem last season and we still went 8-8. It was our defense that couldn't stop teams from scoring mega-points. I'm more interested in seeing how Marvin Lewis -- a great defensive mind and motivator -- will turn this defense around than I am seeing Palmer's first season, I'm sure he'll do fine and if any indications from his coaches and stories about him are half-way true, it'll be great having Palmer.

BTW part 2 - Palmer is a rookie in terms of experience and his story into the NFL and successes will be his own. And while examples of the most successful players are being made, the same amount of failures also exist. But I'm not worried about the offense, how could we, we were 10th in the league last season; that's pretty good.

[UCANTBEATOURJOHNSONS]

6-10

Here's why:

1. The Bungles haven't done ANYTHING to improve that horrid defense.

2. Starting a rookie QB usually doesn't bode well in the NFL.

and 6-10 is being polite.

Once again, you sir, are an idiot!

We have greatly improved our defense in the off season, and we haven't even made it to draft time!

Don't believe me?

ARTRELL HAWKINS - Addition by subtraction baby!

Linebacker - Moving Hardy to the outside and getting a guy that Marvin Lewis says is the next Ray Lewis. And since he MADE Ray Lewis, he KNOWS Ray Lewis.

Safety - Once again, addition by subtraction - Herring is twice the player that Roman was.

D-line - you'll see it in the draft.

Corner - Weathersby + James = GREAT TANDEM. When we pick another guy up in the draft it will improve even more.

[Kirkendall]

6-10

Here's why:

1.  The Bungles haven't done ANYTHING to improve that horrid defense.

2.  Starting a rookie QB usually doesn't bode well in the NFL.

and 6-10 is being polite.

Once again, you sir, are an idiot!

We have greatly improved our defense in the off season, and we haven't even made it to draft time!

Don't believe me?

ARTRELL HAWKINS - Addition by subtraction baby!

Linebacker - Moving Hardy to the outside and getting a guy that Marvin Lewis says is the next Ray Lewis. And since he MADE Ray Lewis, he KNOWS Ray Lewis.

Safety - Once again, addition by subtraction - Herring is twice the player that Roman was.

D-line - you'll see it in the draft.

Corner - Weathersby + James = GREAT TANDEM. When we pick another guy up in the draft it will improve even more.

I'm not sure if we "greatly" improved, but I think there is an improvement; not one that would blow my socks off, at least not yet.

[UCANTBEATOURJOHNSONS]

6-10

Here's why:

1.  The Bungles haven't done ANYTHING to improve that horrid defense.

2.  Starting a rookie QB usually doesn't bode well in the NFL.

and 6-10 is being polite.

Once again, you sir, are an idiot!

We have greatly improved our defense in the off season, and we haven't even made it to draft time!

Don't believe me?

ARTRELL HAWKINS - Addition by subtraction baby!

Linebacker - Moving Hardy to the outside and getting a guy that Marvin Lewis says is the next Ray Lewis. And since he MADE Ray Lewis, he KNOWS Ray Lewis.

Safety - Once again, addition by subtraction - Herring is twice the player that Roman was.

D-line - you'll see it in the draft.

Corner - Weathersby + James = GREAT TANDEM. When we pick another guy up in the draft it will improve even more.

I'm not sure if we "greatly" improved, but I think there is an improvement; not one that would blow my socks off, at least not yet.

We are GREATLY improved just by getting rid of Third and Artrell Hawkins!

[Kirkendall]

The verdict is still out on whether Weathersby will be an improvement over Hawkins. While I BELIEVE it could be true, Weathersby has done nothing to prove this. So until Dennis proves to -- at least -- me that he's capable of playing CB at a better level than Hawkins, then I'll retract. Otherwise, this is just a lateral move.

Just because moving Hardy to the outside doesn't mean it's going to be an improvement. Brian Simmons was solid, but I believe, and most of you agree, he still hasn't fulfilled the prophesy of his potential greatness. Now we have to determine if Hardy is better than Ross and if Webster plays better than Hardy. Simmon's solid, but him moving outside, wasn't an improvement; it was lateral. I hope that doesn't happen again.

Roman had a solid year in 2003, at least I thought. He played much better than his previous years, but maybe that's not good enough for the Bengals style of D. I believe that Herring will come in and perform well, an improvement over the 2003 version of Roman, humm. Not sure yet.

[chrishcovga]

Weathersby *- He'll definitely play well this year, but I don't think he'll be a pro-bowler, probably just bloom into a very solid starter ala Tory James.

Defense * - The Defense should be better for a couple of reasons. 1. Marvin will have more input . 2. The draft will focus on the Defense.

Free Agency * - Personally I liked Webster , and wanted Cincy' to draft him in 2000. I doubt that he'll be a pro-bowler as well, but moving Hardy back to the strong side is enough improvement alone. I do think '04 will be Brian Simmons' best season - whether or not that means a pro bowl invite or not is one thing, but considering he was the only Bengal defender to record every defensive stat possible, He should do even better next year with an improved defensive line.

Herring should be considerably better than Roman, For one, he's used to the defense, and 2, he has better hands. He'll probably end up with 4-5 ints. Not staggering numbers, but more than enough to keep the deep ball down to a nill.

[Sox]

Palmer isn't a rookie.

Anyone remember when the Vikings let Jeff George go after a very good year,and started second year QB Dante Culpepper?He was also a second year player who had never taken a regular season snap.

Yeah, what about Vick, what about Pennington?

Hey Sox, do you post at Bengalsinsider as sox62 with the quote about your dog?

Im vitamin e baby

Yep,that's me...my avatar is her picture(Sox).She is unfortunately no longer with us as she had terminal cancer(on her spinal cord)at only four years of age,and surgery and chemo didn't stop it.I use her name wherever I post.Sorry for the one post hijack-I'll stay on topic here on out.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Yep,that's me...my avatar is her picture(Sox).She is unfortunately no longer with us

Sox...That's the most humane avatar story I've heard from here yet. Don't worry about being "off topic" in this instance. I think any pet owner can identify where you're coming from. I too have lost many dogs, cats, birds, etc...and I miss each and every one.

I know where you are coming from. I'm sorry sox is gone.