Whoa. This is pretty rough

[walzav29]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/paul_daugherty/08/15/bengals.decade/index.html?sct=nfl_t11_a1

I don't mind though. Anything that can apply pressure to do better I suppose. I mean prove the guy wrong. Still. Pretty rough.

[HoosierCat]

If you replace "rough" with "lazy" then I'd agree.

No need to start jabbering on about a return of the Lost Decade. That wasn't what we saw Friday night. What we saw Friday night was a return to last year.

Defense can't stop anyone or create any big plays? Check.

O-line can't pass protect to save their QB's life? Check.

O-line can run block successfully? Check.

Coach still can't manage the clock (see botched FG attempt)? Check.

OC panics once the team gets down and tries to get it all back on one big pass play that backfires? Check.

Overall team effort appears minimal (with a few individual exceptions)? Check.

The bottom line? For all the "FU Palmer's" thrown out in the last six or eight months, does anyone think Friday's result would have been any different if Carson were still the starter? The Bengals were down 14 points before their QB so much as stepped on the field and when he did Suh and Williams were getting to him before the ball did.

Welcome to last year.

[ArmyBengal]

Same old same old from him.

Nothing to see here.

Seriously, I wish he would go somewhere else and write about another team.

Again, it's like he has some enlightened vision of all things Bengals that fans never knew about.

Like he's telling us something we don't already know.

He's not trying to relate, he's being a dick.

[cincyhokie]

I think it's pretty well known the situation we have had going on here for the last 20 plus years. No need to keep embelishing it. Funny how one year ago we we're looking at national publications predicting the Bengals to repeat in the AFCN and possibly make it to the SB. Now we're back to the days of Akili Smith and Frerotte? Ehh...I don't think it's that bad.

[derekshank]

If you replace "rough" with "lazy" then I'd agree.

Yep. When the Bengals look bad, make a reference to the 90's. It's an rant that amateur writers have been banging out on their keyboards across Bengal forums for years.

It's probably our own little form of Godwin's Law.

[HairOnFire]

If you replace "rough" with "lazy" then I'd agree.

No need to start jabbering on about a return of the Lost Decade. That wasn't what we saw Friday night. What we saw Friday night was a return to last year.

True, but without the "Lost Decade" trappings a small town hack like Paul Daugherty wouldn't be able to sell yet another recap of his greatest hits to a national media outlet.

All things considered, Paul Daugherty might be the Mike Brown of sportswriters.

[ArmyBengal]

It's just what he has become and what a certain percentage of the Cincinnati population identifies with.

I mean, it's just easier to bash away and talk about how incompetent the organization is and how much of an embarrassment they are.

How would those who identify with all that self loathing react if he were to right something else outside of his niche ??

He's locked into his own pile of sh*t. Sadly, there are many who are buying what he's about.

[HairOnFire]

It's one thing for all of us to agree Paul Daugherty sucks as a sportswriter and as a human being. It's something more to understand why Paul Daugherty sucks as a sportswriter and as a human being.

Point blank, I'm guessing the reason Paul Daugherty eats so many dick-shaped crackers is because he's painfully aware of his shortcomings, and resents the fact that he couldn't write an article as good as the one that follows on his best day.

Bengals were bad, but Palmergate sent them reeling

By Mike Freeman

CBSSports.com National Columnist

Aug. 17, 2011

GEORGETOWN, Ky. -- One day in late January, the Cincinnati Bengals died. Again. Sometimes it seems as if God himself has decided the Bengals are due to look at the world through astounded, disappointed eyes. And many times, as on this day, the wounds are self-inflicted.

In the weeks before that day quarterback Carson Palmer, according to several Bengals players, began to have private conversations with a handful of teammates about his future in Cincinnati. His bitterness, he told players, had reached an all-time high. It had become unmanageable.

Then, suddenly, Palmer stopped complaining, and it was around that time players believe Palmer decided he never would be a Bengal again.

The daily transaction of NFL life continued, and for the Bengals this meant losing. Then things would get worse. Palmer spoke with Mike Brown and eventually coach Marvin Lewis. Palmer demanded a trade.

"Can we talk you out of this?" Lewis asked, according to a person close to Palmer.

The Bengals asked Palmer if he would reconsider but Palmer had clearly already made his decision. There would be no changing of his mind.

"This is Carson's way," Lewis says now. "This wasn't a grandstand. He had to do what he had to and so did we. We can't let the inmates run the asylum."

Palmer made his trade request in late January after Cincinnati finished the season 4-12. Brown declined the request, Palmer effectively retired and that is the moment the Bengals died. Again. Palmer hasn't been seen around the team since. He'll likely never be a Bengal again.

Full article: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/15448061/bengals-were-bad-but-palmergate-sent-them-reeling

[membengal]

Good lord that is a good read.

[cincyhokie]

Good article.

I don't doubt the Bengals can rebound in the near future, what I question is can they sustain a winning culture? Does every 11-5, 12-4 year have to be followed by 3 or 4 years of terrible to mediocre football?

[Sea Ray]

That article, like Doc's, doesn't tell us anything new. In fact I still have two questions I'd like to see addressed:

Would Carson have left if Marvin was replaced? I find it curious that he waited until after Marvin was retained as head coach to disappear

If this was brewing for awhile and especially after Carson stormed out of the locker room with "no comment" the day of the January presser where MB and Marvin annouced staus quo, why didn't anyone in our local media give us a clue this was coming? In this age of blogs, tweets and everything else, I never saw anyone get ahead of this story and they've been chasing it ever since. Doesn't say much for our local Cincinnati press.

[ArmyBengal]

At first glance, I thought what Hair had posted was the majority of the article. I also thought it wasn't real telling.

I went and read the entire article and yes, it's very well done. I enjoyed the read and agree with most of the points made.

People ask why Bengals fans stick with the team and I think it's to a point where it's almost a badge to root for and stick with them.

If and when the day comes when the Bengals win a Super Bowl, it will be a sweet day for those who stuck with them.

I've put thought to what that day would be like and it would certainly being tears to the eyes.

[damiancasey]

At first glance, I thought what Hair had posted was the majority of the article. I also thought it wasn't real telling.

I went and read the entire article and yes, it's very well done. I enjoyed the read and agree with most of the points made.

People ask why Bengals fans stick with the team and I think it's to a point where it's almost a badge to root for and stick with them.

If and when the day comes when the Bengals win a Super Bowl, it will be a sweet day for those who stuck with them.

I've put thought to what that day would be like and it would certainly being tears to the eyes.

Great point. I moved back to Cincinnati about 3 years ago from New England. It always struck me how easy it was to be a Patriots fan. It takes no effort and it requires only a mild appreciation and love of football as a whole. It would drive me nuts to hear colleagues gloating over a victory when I knew they couldn't name one person on the team. To be a Bengals fan on the other hand...emotional agony...effort.

But just like you said...it makes the few times we approach the playoffs that much sweeter and when the day comes that we when the Super Bowl it will be a sweet sweet day.

[Sea Ray]

Great point. I moved back to Cincinnati about 3 years ago from New England. It always struck me how easy it was to be a Patriots fan. It takes no effort and it requires only a mild appreciation and love of football as a whole. It would drive me nuts to hear colleagues gloating over a victory when I knew they couldn't name one person on the team. To be a Bengals fan on the other hand...emotional agony...effort.

But just like you said...it makes the few times we approach the playoffs that much sweeter and when the day comes that we when the Super Bowl it will be a sweet sweet day.

Funny you bring that up as I have a distant relative who lives in Boston and often talks glowingly about Tom Brady and Patriots football. Upon hearing of the Chad trade, I asked him what he thought and he smiled and said he didn't know who Ochocinco is. Goes to show that being a Patriots fan does not require you to be an NFL fan

[COB]

I think it's to a point where it's almost a badge to root for and stick with them.

If and when the day comes when the Bengals win a Super Bowl, it will be a sweet day for those who stuck with them.

As Rev. Zevon put it, "I Was In the House When the House Burned Down." Having gone through everything we've gone through, a Super Bowl win would be infinitely more sweet for us than for, say, Steeler fans.

[HairOnFire]

At first glance, I thought what Hair had posted was the majority of the article. I also thought it wasn't real telling.

I went and read the entire article and yes, it's very well done. I enjoyed the read and agree with most of the points made.

People ask why Bengals fans stick with the team and I think it's to a point where it's almost a badge to root for and stick with them.

Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!

Several weeks/months ago I stumbled upon an article written by a Miami sportswriter who stated flatly three things that I believe with all of my heart would never appear in print in any Cincy newspaper. First, how Carson Palmer's actions were not only stupid and doomed to fail, but undefendable. Second, how Mike Brown response to Palmer's actions were not only logical and correct, but admirable. And third, how being forced to watch Chad Henne start for the Dolphins wasn't enough justification for fans or sportswriters in Miami to ignore points one and two. Rather, the writer suggested fans everywhere, from Miami to Seattle, should ask themselves why anyone would want Palmer now that we all have a better grasp of who he really is.

[Sea Ray]

Several weeks/months ago I stumbled upon an article written by a Miami sportswriter who stated flatly three things that I believe with all of my heart would never appear in print in any Cincy newspaper. First, how Carson Palmer's actions were not only stupid and doomed to fail, but undefendable. Second, how Mike Brown response to Palmer's actions were not only logical and correct, but admirable. And third, how being forced to watch Chad Henne start for the Dolphins wasn't enough justification for fans or sportswriters in Miami to ignore points one and two. Rather, the writer suggested fans everywhere, from Miami to Seattle, should ask themselves why anyone would want Palmer now that we all have a better grasp of who he really is.

If you stumble upon that article again I'm sure we'd all love to see it.

[TJJackson]

Tooo rough?

He wasn't rough enough, actually -- I am fairly certain that at one point in this article he said the Bengals looked like a 4-12 team.

I think that was far too generous.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

Yep. When the Bengals look bad, make a reference to the 90's. It's an rant that amateur writers have been banging out on their keyboards across Bengal forums for years.

More like they never left. Oh sure, with some luck in a couple of drafts and the first hire outside the organization in decades, things changed. Briefly. But once the luster wore off and those couple of decent draft classes passed, we're left with business as usual.

It's probably our own little form of Godwin's Law.

Stop trying to censor the discussion, you Nazi.