SCHEDULE OUT WEDNESDAY:

[LesterLyles]

yep. who cares when the games are as long as we win. that schedule is DEFINATELY winable. tough road test early...need to get off to a quick start.

It still amazes me how Baltimore gets so much national exposure. That Super bowl was 5 years ago, for gods sake. Also, is it me or does KC still have that aura of an elite team even though they have made the playoffs once in 7 years.

Pretty happy about the Jets national games. I thought they desrved 2 MNFs and one Sunday.

Bengals should get off to a solid startl

[HoosierCat]

Initial thoughts...

First 4 games @ Cleveland, Minny, @ Chicago, Houston...well, we ought to get a good read on whether this team is for real early. If we don't come out of that stretch at least 3-1 you can cash in your chips and go home.

Second 4, @ Jax, @ Tenn, Pitt, GB...another not-so-tough stretch, need to take 2 minimum, 3+ if we're for real.

Third quartet, @ Baltimore, bye, Indy, Baltimore...OUCH. At least the bye's in a good spot, but that's a tall order. Gotta take one from Baltimore.

Final five: @ Pitt, Cleveland, @ Detroit, Buffalo, @ KC...all depends. If this team finally puts it together we could run the table...otherwise we still might take Cleveland and Detroit.

Overall not a killer sked...bye is nicely placed...seems pretty conducive to a fast start but November will be the real test...

[turningpoint]

NO reason why we can;t be 5-1 coming intothe steelers game in week 7.

I will be unhappy if this doesn;t happen, we have a bunch of crap in fron of use the 1st 6 weeks.

With the jags and vikings being somewhat decent, but i still think the vikings are going to play like crap with culpepper adjusting to life with out Moss in the the 1st coupl of games.

And the jags are very beatable on Sunday night,but i can take a loss to them.

we can beat the titans and steelers with ease also IMO, i seriously see us 7-1 by week 8.

Anyways I'm really not displeased not getting a Monday Night game no 3rd place team deserves one, unless ur the redskins or Cowboys cause they're the most money grossing teams in the NFL.

[HoTbOy]

That is Bulls**t that we did not get a Monday night game, at least 1 Monday and 1 Sunday like last year. Who the hell wants to see Bledsoe on his back for Monday night. I hate Dallas and B-lo We do get some of the lesser teams on the road.(How could they not want to showcase Carson Palmer on Monday night)sorry I lost my thought for a second, schedule is much more favorable than past 2 years. I can see 11-5, 10-6 they have to beat the teams that they think they should beat. And play their A game against B-more, Indy, Pitt.

[BengalsDieHard1]

OK-Im back online. Had to do a total re-install of windows because of the viruses. All I can say is that Norton AV SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, our schedule also sucks. One nationally televised game??? Someone mentioned earlier that until we make the playoffs, we better get used to it.....I think he is right.

And more bad news....I got a call from a Bengals ticket rep this morning about buying season tickets. I wasn't interested but asked him about the 2 game ticket packs. He said the season ticket sales are going so well that there probably wont be any good 2 game packs available......maybe top 5-10 rows on the upper level, if any. I guess thats good news for the Brown family!!!!! and bad for the rest of us.....I'll be keeping a close watch on E-bay...............................GO BENGALS!!!

[bengalboomer7]

I agree Shula, but I can't complain too much about the schedule. We have a lot of home games at the end of the year and our road games are at the beginning against some weaker competition. It could be worse. One thing that gets me is that our primetime game isn't at home. That generates a lot of money for the team and especially the city, and I think we've made enough strides after two 8-8 seasons to have a primetime home game to showcase our city and our team to the rest of the world

[BengalsOwn]

Squeelers 3 monday night games Falcons 3 monday night home games Green Bay and Philly 3 appearances each Sometimes the NFL really annoys me with this crap. The Steelers in their wildest dreams will not win 11 games this year. Non clutchisberger will cost the steelers a least five games this year. Those two playoff games have damaged him permanently. Watch for the steelers to fall flat on their faces

Pittsburgh, Philladelphia, and Green Bay earned their Monday night appearances by making it to the playoffs.

Our beef should be about the fact that the Cowboys and Deadskins got a MNF game, and we didn't.

[San Antonio Bengal]

It all goes back to money. The Cowboys and Deadskins bring in many more viewers even if they're awful teams. I thought that the game vs. Green Bay would have been perfect for MNF, but Baltimore at Pittsburgh instead?

[jjakq27]

How did we not get a Monday Nighter!!!! I would of thought that we would of got one because of our huge ratings last year on Monday night.   We got SCREWED.

Small market, 8-8 again, etc.. oh well, they'll have egg on their face when the Bengals win the 2005 Super Bowl!

I feel the same way Kirk.

I do think we should have gotten at least one home Sunday nighter.

I also believe that the NFL tries to prop up the same teams over and over again during the season. By the end of the year I am sick of seeing teams like GB (even though I like them) and the Cowboys. I know they have the star player (Farve) and the star coach and owner (Dallas) but mix it up a little bit more so we can see everyone. Not all of us have the Ticket yet.

Anyway, I believe that if the Bengals can be 6-3 before the bye, they will make the playoffs, even if they go 3-4. But as ML has mentioned and statistics prove out, it is important that they get it done in September this time around.

And I am certain that Coach Lewis is happy with the schedule. He would prefer to stick to the same schedule every week. WHo knows, maybe he asked the league not to give them the Monday games. He said once that he hopes they don't ever get a Thanksgiving Day game because is screws up about three weeks of the season. The week before, the week of and the week after.

[Kirkendall]

I do think we should have gotten at least one home Sunday nighter.

Put this in perspective.

Dates = MNF or SNF games.

Washington (6-10) got 2 dates.

Dallas (6-10) got 3 dates.

Kansas City (7-9) got 3 dates.

New Orleans (8-8) got 2 dates.

Oakland (5-11) got 2 dates -- including a home game.

*and a SF vs. Arizona game? WTF is that?

Bengals = s**t on.

[Indycat]

If we want more nationally televised games, then win 12 or 13 games and get home field for the playoffs.

[jjakq27]

Hopefully this will motivate some guys to show the league they made a mistake.

http://bengals.com/press/news.asp?iCurPage=0&news_id=2840

Players note prime snub

4/14/2005 - 4-14-05, 6:55 a.m.

BY GEOFF HOBSON

The Bengals feel like the NFL sent them a 17-week memo Wednesday and it didn’t go unread on what they think is a prime snub.

“Talk of the locker room today,’ said running back Rudi Johnson after seeing a schedule that has the Bengals playing just one prime-time game this season. “They didn’t show much for us there. Guys weren’t happy about it. That’s what we were talking about today.”

Pro Bowl right tackle Willie Anderson, who had waited 130 or so games to make a Monday night appearance, also got the message. After the Bengals had whipped the Broncos, 23-10, last year in their first Monday night game in 12 years, many were surprised the league gave them just one prime spot this year, and that in a Sunday night affair in Jacksonville Oct. 9.

Even usually taciturn head coach Marvin Lewis in one of his by-the-book press releases referred to the “disappointment,” of not getting a night game at Paul Brown Stadium after they went 2-0 at home last season in front of the nation.

“Man, that’s surprising,” Anderson said. “It just goes to show you that we still have a lot of things to accomplish. We still don’t have respect out there. If guys think we’ve made it just because we’re not going 2-14 and have gone 8-8 two years in a row, this shows them that we still have a lot of things to prove to people. We’ve got a long way to go.

“You do want to be thankful for everything you get, and they did give us a Sunday night game and that’s good,” Anderson said. “It’s nice to get back on again after being off for so long, but I’m sure guys are disappointed.”

Mark Mandell, an ABC spokesperson for the Monday night network, said the matchups come right from the NFL.

“We have a little dialogue, but they make it clear that the games that are assigned are coming from the league,” Mandell said Wednesday.

Then there are guys like defensive tackle John Thornton, who love playing at 1 p.m. Sunday. He got a glimpse of the schedule and is loving the consistency. Except for the 8:30 p.m. game against the Jaguars, a 4:15 p.m. game in Detroit, and a Saturday game against the Bills, it’s all 1 p.m. Sunday.

“Like I told you last year, I don’t like playing at night. It takes you out of your routine,” Thornton said. “I like playing at the same time all the time. I think the league is so even, that it just doesn’t matter who is playing who when.”

But Thornton and Anderson agree on Lewis cutting back the training camp schedule so the Bengals get a fresh start, which begins Sept. 11 in Cleveland. The Bengals are going to spend less than three weeks at Georgetown College, from July 28-Aug. 17 with practice starting July 29.

“One of my favorite sayings is that we play and practice in Cincinnati, not in Kentucky,” Anderson said. “I think last year we came out camp banged up and our depth was hurt on the offensive line. It hurt us early in the year, but I agree with this all the way. The fresher, the better, and we’re going to get into the routine of the season a week earlier, the stuff we’re going to be doing every day.”

Thornton again points to the parity in the league, and isn’t intimidated with four of the first six games coming on the road.

“With all the camps we have in the spring now, you don’t need a long training camp,” Thornton said. “We don’t need to be pounding on each other for five weeks. . .I don’t think it matters when and where you play. At the end of it, you’re going to have to play eight games on the road and eight at home, so when does it matter. All the teams are pretty much the same, you just have to beat them.”

But it does look like some Bengals have a little more incentive after the league memo.

“Oh yeah, the guys were talking about it,” Johnson said of the prime snub. “But don’t worry. We’ll take care of it.”

[LesterLyles]

GB didn't deserve what they got...a wildcard team gets 3 MNF games? Are you kidding me? When will this Favre obsession end? eh is at the point where he is hurting his team more than helping. This legend of all legends ahs won the same # of Bowls as Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson and Mark Rypien....enough already!

Bengals got hosed, that is the bottom line. Really strange b/c last year's MNF appearance was one of the few bright spots of Monday Night. I realize that a game this year would not have had the same juice but still, thought that given they were an up and coming team, they'd get an appearance.

[jjakq27]

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art.../504140395/1066

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Bengals miss on Mondays

Not scheduled for marquee day

By Mark Curnutte

Enquirer staff writer

Though the Bengals were impressive in winning on Monday night last season, there is no repeat appearance for the team this season.

The NFL schedule, released Wednesday by the league, has the Bengals playing a prime-time game on a Sunday night, Oct. 9, at Jacksonville.

"I'm disappointed for our fans that we don't have a national television game at home," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. "We had two great nights at home last year, winning on Sunday and Monday night. But this schedule provides us our opportunities to earn those spots again next year."

The Bengals defeated Denver at home last Oct. 25 in their first Monday night game since 1992 and won their home opener on Sunday night, Sept. 19 against Miami.

The Bengals' 2005 schedule has four of the first six games on the road. Their season will open with the 64th "Battle of Ohio" rivalry, at Cleveland Sept. 11. The Bengals will play four teams that made the playoffs in 2004.

Lewis has made a point, beginning with the current offseason strength and conditioning program, to have the Bengals start stronger in 2005. A pair of 1-4 starts in 2003 and 2004 doomed fragile playoff hopes.

The 2005 home opener at Paul Brown Stadium is Sept. 18 vs. Minnesota at 1 p.m. The home finale is Dec. 24 against Buffalo at 1 p.m.

"Your schedule always presents its own set of challenges, and we'll have to be ready to meet them early on the road," Lewis said. "The good news is that by meeting that challenge, we gain an edge down the stretch with home-field advantage."

The preseason schedule will open Aug. 12, at home against New England.