Tank: Bengals Wilted in Spotlight

[HoosierCat]

JT relays a Sirius interview with Tank Johnson. Worth a read. Some highlights:

-- Tank agrees with Benson that bringing Carson back now is a bad idea.

-- Says Chad and TO weren't problems themselves but the spotlight they brought to the team screwed with other players' heads.

-- He thinks the D can rebound and carry the load while the O figures out which way is up.

[COB]

Good read. Unfortunately, Mike Brown is uniquely tone deaf when it comes to matters of team chemistry.

[jjakq27]

When I read comments like "in 2009 we played for each other" and then see the results from last year, I really get pissed. And blame Chad for it all or not, he needs to go. His presence no longer helps the team in any form. He's not a mentor, he's not a role model, he's no longer a "franchise" player, he doesn't scare the other defense, he doesn't sell you any more tickets and he can't be giving his best effort with all of the outside distractions.

So adios Ocho. I hope the Chemistry class starts with that lesson.

[volcom69]

When I read comments like "in 2009 we played for each other" and then see the results from last year, I really get pissed. And blame Chad for it all or not, he needs to go. His presence no longer helps the team in any form. He's not a mentor, he's not a role model, he's no longer a "franchise" player, he doesn't scare the other defense, he doesn't sell you any more tickets and he can't be giving his best effort with all of the outside distractions.

So adios Ocho. I hope the Chemistry class starts with that lesson.

You could tell last yeat that was the problem. They forgot how to play like a team, and started playing for themselves.

[BengalszoneBilly]

I strongly feel that playoff worthy teams can't wilt under ANY spotlight.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

When can Chad be officially released, do they need a CBA for that? Alternately, can somebody go Tanya Harding on his knees just in case?

I'm assuming there's no possibility of "the player" coming back.

[HairOnFire]

When I read comments like "in 2009 we played for each other" and then see the results from last year, I really get pissed. And blame Chad for it all or not, he needs to go. His presence no longer helps the team in any form. He's not a mentor, he's not a role model, he's no longer a "franchise" player, he doesn't scare the other defense, he doesn't sell you any more tickets and he can't be giving his best effort with all of the outside distractions.

So adios Ocho. I hope the Chemistry class starts with that lesson.

In short, Tank blames bad chemistry but insists the chemicals themselves weren't to blame.

If you ask me it's yet another example of an underperforming Bengal player placing the blame within the lockerroom, with the players themselves, but like all of the underperforming Bengal players who came before him Tank still refuses to accept the players collective and individual responsibility for the failure. Instead of calling players out for being unprofessional clowns Tank takes the easy way out that players always take, by saying the rest of the team failed the clowns by being unable to adjust to the circus.

IMHO Bengal players have spent decades doing just enough to get by, rarely giving more effort than absolutely mandatory, all the while blaming their failures on impossible to quantify distractions like team chemistry, bad ownership, bus rides to practice facilities, or even the size of the towels they use to cover their collective asses.

Cash the check, Tank. You're a Bengal player, and we're on to you. Nobody expects you to care....especially those of us who watch you closely.

[HoosierCat]

IMHO Bengal players have spent decades doing just enough to get by, rarely giving more effort than absolutely mandatory, all the while blaming their failures on impossible to quantify distractions like team chemistry, bad ownership, bus rides to practice facilities, or even the size of the towels they use to cover their collective asses.

All too true, but the sad addenda is that the organization never demands any better. Players mail in performances, badmouth the front office, skip workouts, get in trouble with the law...and Mike keeps signing their checks. Until the organization discovers accountability -- not only in the locker room, but in coaching and the front office as well -- nothing will change.

[HairOnFire]

IMHO Bengal players have spent decades doing just enough to get by, rarely giving more effort than absolutely mandatory, all the while blaming their failures on impossible to quantify distractions like team chemistry, bad ownership, bus rides to practice facilities, or even the size of the towels they use to cover their collective asses.

All too true, but the sad addenda is that the organization never demands any better. Players mail in performances, badmouth the front office, skip workouts, get in trouble with the law...and Mike keeps signing their checks. Until the organization discovers accountability -- not only in the locker room, but in coaching and the front office as well -- nothing will change.

It's funny, but you talk about accountibility within the lockerroom yet never demand more of the players. But that's no suprise. As a fanbase, I think we Bengal fans are guilty of enabling the players to wallow about in the culture of losing that they created and nurtured.

I hereby remind the assembled masses of something Marvin Lewis once said a long time ago. Back in the sunnier days when Marvin Lewis still remembered where he kept his nuts.

"It's your football team. Find a way to fix it."

Here's a question. What pops into the minds of Bengal fans when they read Andrew Whitworth's concerns that Bengal players won't train and get fat as a result? Or how about when players from teams like the Steelers go to new teams and promptly conclude their new franchise doesn't take winning seriously? What do you think they'd say if they were traded to the Bengals? How seriously do you think winning is to most of the players on this team?

They're all just cashing a check, right? Granted, everybody is busting ass to a point, but how many Bengal players go beyond? How many step forward as leaders? How many seem more concerned with promoting their own brand rather than sacrificing in the name of the team? Name me a Bengal player willing to take full accountability for their own failures?

Just look at the long line of star players who have not only attempted to get the hell out of here the moment the bonus check cleared, but immediately after their own personal failures. Remember how each of this teams best players choked and choked again during it's failed stretch drive in 2006? Palmer choked. TJ choked. Chad choked. Opie choked. And since that failure what has each of them done in the seasons since? Palmer choked, choked again, and then choked on his wallet. TJ, last seen dropping a critical pass in a playoff game, has choked for 2 other teams since leaving the Bengals. And Chad has not only choked since 2006....he's tanked an entire season. As for Opie, the worst that can be said about him is he stuck around long enough to choke away an actual playoff game.

Huzzah!

In Cincy, anyone can be a star, but nobody has to be a leader. And while I can't prove it I believe it's gotten so bad that Bengal players no longer hunger for championships, but rather...for individual stardom. Thus, whenever a Bengal player thinks of success he dreams of the type of stat based superstardom that pays big, and sometimes leads to a bigger stage elsewhere. Exit, stage right.

For the Bengals the perfect poster child to depict player leadership is Carson Palmer, a now exposed passive-agrressive blob of vanilla flavored pudding currently threatening to end his own career rather than fight for it. There's your player leadership. A player coming off a season where his own play was substandard, uninspired, and almost devoid of leadership. In other words, the perfect time for a Bengal player to make excuses AND demands.

Or consider the claim of the Tanker, how the Bengals wilted in the spotlight? How the chemistry was lacking? Well, isn't that all nothing more than a prettier way to admit you're weaker than your competition? Mentally weaker. Weaker in matters of maturity. Weaker in overall character. Self-defeating.

In other words, a bunch of straight-up losers willing to settle for less than anyone else would because it still pays well.

NADS

[ArmyBengal]

Well, coming off the 2009 AFCN championship, the Bengals drew one of the harder schedules in the league for 2010. Right along with the Ravens and Steelers if I remember correctly. I can remember making many posts saying this is exactly what this team needed. An opportunity to show that 2009 wasn't a fluke, that they are worthy of being considered a contender season in and season out, and most importantly, the harder schedule gave them the opportunity to shed the "soft" label this team has been saddled with for quite some time.

How did that work out ?? Easy, they folded up shop, played undisciplined football, and at times just giving up.

They got their asses handed to them again and again and again.

Soft ?? Weak ?? Undisciplined ??

Well, there's a saying i've always heard in the military:

"If the shoe fits, wear that motherf*cker !!"

Sadly enough, the Bengals will be wearing that shoe for the forseeable future.

Even worse ?? Soft, weak, and undiscipline could also be used to describe the coaching and front office.

That being said, WHODEY !!!

Jesus........