Bengals FINALLY bench Dalton

[HoosierCat]

In an honest moment, what do you think Carson Palmer would give to be here now and throw to the likes of Green, Eifert, Bernard, Jones and Sanu?

Probably a great deal. But, if Carson doesn't quit, do they still blow it up in 2011? Do they still trade Chad and get Jones? Fire Brat? Or do they keep going with their attempts to resurrect 2005's rotting corpse? They don't have Gio if Carson isn't traded.

I don't think you get the team we have now if Carson had stayed. His departure, and they way he made it, was what made this current team possible. That wasn't his intention, of course. But you get no complaints from me as to the results.

[COB]

In an honest moment, what do you think Carson Palmer would give to be here now and throw to the likes of Green, Eifert, Bernard, Jones and Sanu?

Probably a great deal. But, if Carson doesn't quit, do they still blow it up in 2011? Do they still trade Chad and get Jones? Fire Brat? Or do they keep going with their attempts to resurrect 2005's rotting corpse? They don't have Gio if Carson isn't traded.

I don't think you get the team we have now if Carson had stayed. His departure, and they way he made it, was what made this current team possible. That wasn't his intention, of course. But you get no complaints from me as to the results.

Agreed, if Carson doesn't force his way out, status quo reigns and we don't get rid of Bratkowski. Who by the way is completely out of football now.

[Kazkal]

so in a way we should thank and appreciate carson.

[volcom69]

AS a general comment, it is funny to see the media cover Brady and Stafford over the last few weeks.

Brady comes down to Cincy, drops a stinkbomb compared to Dalton and not much is made of it. The following week he comes back on NO and they proclaim his excellence, yet again.

Stafford gets outgunned last week at home v Dalton, no one notices. Now, he risks the game on a QB sneak and pulls off a last second win over Dallas, is proclaimed a QB messiah-genius.

It's just media hooplah but just shows how shallow and pathetic the media truly is.

I'm happy that Scut is on a tear. Also happy Jones is getting his game on. He is fast and now with confidence could be the seriously dangerous player we've needed at 2. With Baby Hawk coming back, this team gets more potent, dare I say SB level quality....? Yes, I've said it.

YOu'll get no argument from me on this. Our team as a whole is better than other SB winning teams. Hell, this team is better than the Ratbirds team that won last year. The biggest step of course being the offense turning it on because of better play and new weapons. We have 8 players who can legitimately catch balls. If we had a better bruiser than Law Firm, I'd be predicting an AFCCG at least. Granted my illusions might all be dashed upon the rocks as the season progresses, but the team that showed up to play these last three weeks IS SB quality.

The one thing that I do worry about some is the run game. I feel at some point this team is really going to need the run game, and so far they have not been able to do it consistently. Hopefully we can see that change as the season goes on.

[volcom69]

Great video Hoosier, and that guy said it better then anyone I heard.

[ArmyBengal]

I like all the articles about how the Jets just played a really bad game.

I will give them that, but there was a reason they played a really bad game.

They finally played a team that had a top 10 offense and a better than average defense.

Watch what happens when they play the Saints. It will be a continuation of Sunday.

It's not that the Jets are a terrible team, they just aren't the team everyone made them out to be until the Bengals game.

[Sea Ray]

In an honest moment, what do you think Carson Palmer would give to be here now and throw to the likes of Green, Eifert, Bernard, Jones and Sanu?

Probably a great deal. But, if Carson doesn't quit, do they still blow it up in 2011? Do they still trade Chad and get Jones? Fire Brat? Or do they keep going with their attempts to resurrect 2005's rotting corpse? They don't have Gio if Carson isn't traded.

I don't think you get the team we have now if Carson had stayed. His departure, and they way he made it, was what made this current team possible. That wasn't his intention, of course. But you get no complaints from me as to the results.

They certainly would have fired Brat and traded Chad. They fired Brat at a time when Mike Brown still had hopes of changing Carson's mind. Gruden tried to lobby Carson into changing his mind. I don't think Carson had much love for Chad. He would not have pushed the team to retain him. In fact he might have insisted on Chad being traded in order for him to come back. OK, maybe they wouldn't have drafted Gio but they would have had an even higher pick to play with (Dalton's).

[Sea Ray]

so in a way we should thank and appreciate carson.

I'm not saying that the Bengals would be better off with Carson. The fact is that he's not the QB he was in 2005-6. I broached the question from his standpoint. He gave up what Dalton has now so he could play for the Raiders and the Cardinals. Those kinds of decisions can drive one to drink...

[COB]

I was under the impression Brat was fired in an attempt to appease Carson and convince him to stay. Does anyone remember it that way?

[HoosierCat]

I was under the impression Brat was fired in an attempt to appease Carson and convince him to stay. Does anyone remember it that way?

That was the conventional wisdom at the time, but remember Carson went out of his way to publicly say he didn't call for Brat's firing and that it didn't have any bearing on his desire to leave. Maybe it was just CYA but I don't know that Palmer ever had an issue with Sideshow Bob. Given that his whole system was built around Palmer, I would be surprised if he had. So I am far from certain that Brat goes if Carson stays, given how the organization bent over backwards on multiple occasions to keep him happy.

I think the prime mover in the Brat firing was Marvin. Recall his dinner with Childress a week or so before Bob got the axe and reports Chilly turned down an offensive consultant-type post? My guess is that was an attempt at splitting the difference; to push Bob into the background without antagonizing Carson. But the only folks who really know what the hell was going on aren't talking...

[HoosierCat]

Hell has frozen over: Peter King loves him some Andy Dalton. Key excerpt:

“It seemed like last year every three or four weeks I was trying to get used to someone new opposite A.J. But this year, I’ve got all these weapons and we’ve had all offseason to get on the same page. It’s working.”

In Cincy’s last three wins, Dalton is a 66-percent passer with 1,034 yards, 11 touchdowns and two interceptions. It’s telling that only two of the 11 touchdowns have been scored by Green. Jones has six, including four in the ridiculously small sample size of 18 plays against the Jets. Offensive coordinator Jay Gruden is shuttling every eligible pass-catcher on the roster—12 of them on Sunday—in and out of the lineup freely; all of the backs, tight ends and wide receivers played at least nine snaps. What is particularly encouraging for the Bengals is that Dalton has gotten out of the habit of simply checking down if Green isn’t open. In fact, over the past two games, Pro Football Focus calculates that Dalton has the longest depth of target among all quarterbacks in the league. That means Dalton is throwing the ball an average of 11.7 yards past the line of scrimmage on every throw. (He was averaging just 8.1 in the first six weeks.)

[Kazkal]

Still waiting for Michael Silver to eat some crow.

http://search.nfl.com/search?&query=Michael+silver