It's the Embarrassment Factor

[InsultComicDog]

T.O. is an attention magnet. Anything he does, good or bad, is going to be the story wherever he appears.

Even when he doesn't do anything, he's a top story on SportsCenter and every other show. In previous Eagles preseason games where he hasn't appeared at all, he was still the story. When he showed up to watch the Atlanta Falcons play a Monday Night game, he was a big story just sitting in the crowd. Heck, he's had helicopters filming him shooting hoops and doing sit-ups in the driveway of his home.

[Bobcat Bengal]

Time to bring that shovel back out of the broom closet, coach. :player:

Can I use this as my signature?

I'm asking for copyright infringement protection.

[HoosierCat]

All yours, BB!

[membengal]

Geez, somewhere Joisey mentioned the quotes from the fellas not named ML were giving him pause, and I have to wholeheartedly agree. The one from TJ in Hobson's latest has my blood pressure boiling again:

“I can’t really pinpoint it,” said Houshmandzadeh, who also lined up illegally for a penalty. “You just hope we can clean it up and when Sept. 11 comes, things click.”

WTF?????

Funny, I saw that quote and the first thing I thought of was...

...Bruce Coslet.

Wasn't that what he, and later LeBeau, were reduced to saying, words to the effect that "we don't know what's wrong. If we did, we'd fix it"?

Aye-yi-freakin'-yi...

What I would like to say to TJ is this: based on previous experience (see above) with this kind of issue, we know what the problem is. The problem is that you are sucking right now. That does not (necessarily) mean you suck, we know from last year you are capable of playing at a high level, but this is not last year. This is now, and right now you suck.

In short, you are the problem (or, at least, one of the problems). You need to take control of the situation and dedicate yourself to improving your game, the same way that Chad did last year after the Pepto fiasco in Cleveland. (And it looks like Chad needs a bit o' rededication himself.)

Don't wait for things to "click." Things don't click when you do that, they just lie there in the same sad state. You have to make them click.

Damn...I thought Marvin had got this team past all this kind of s**t. Time to bring that shovel back out of the broom closet, coach. :player:

100% ageement.

The parallels between debacles in the before time and the weird "it'll all be cool when it matters" quotes afterward are terrifying. I am just glad that ML isn't the one with the bad quotes.

[BengalsFanForever]

I always thought pre-season games were for fine tuning and getting the timing down. The basics like catching the ball and covering receivers should not be a problem. The players' quotes seem to be lackadaisical. I wouldn't be worried if the team had at least one strong performance in the pre-season, but they haven't looked solid in any of them. I guess we'll have to see what happens against Indy.

[jbx182]

it shows our defense is still a year and a player (ss) away

[Bobcat Bengal]

it shows our defense is still a year and a player (ss) away

Please stop saying that.

[HoosierCat]

The parallels between debacles in the before time and the weird "it'll all be cool when it matters" quotes afterward are terrifying. I am just glad that ML isn't the one with the bad quotes.

Me, too. And I doubt it will take Marvin much time this coming week to disabuse them of any notion that "waiting for things to click" is a viable option.

In the quotes-that-make-you-bang-your-head-against-a-wall department, here's another I found in today's Post from Deltha...

"He got behind the coverage, that's all," said cornerback Deltha O'Neal. "We really weren't taking much for granted but I guess we were all just out there and they were playing."

"...we were all just out there and they were playing."

[CBin2k7]

Living out of the Cincy area, I got to watch the first part of the game on the NFL network's no huddle. It was embarrasing for Kim Herring and D. O' Neal on that first play but Jaworski said that the Bengals had the right D called, O'Neal just didn't get a bump at the line and Herring didn't get deep enough in the Cover 2.

But it was all TO all the time, had it been Greg Lewis instead of TO, I wouldn't have been able to see the game. It will be fixed, I am positive it will be. I do think the Bengals are in dire need of a SS.

[derekshank]

"...we were all just out there and they were playing."

That's the first quote that doesn't make me bang my head against the wall. It wasn't some vague figure of speech about how things will work themselves out. He flat out admitted that they just didn't show up. He's taking some responsibility for it. I like that.

[HoosierCat]

"...we were all just out there and they were playing."

That's the first quote that doesn't make me bang my head against the wall. It wasn't some vague figure of speech about how things will work themselves out. He flat out admitted that they just didn't show up. He's taking some responsibility for it. I like that.

Oh, I agree, it's good to see him taking responsibility.

What p*sses me off is the admission that they didn't show up in the first place.

It reminds me of a game in preseason a few years back in Chicago. It was just the first or second game, and the bears 1st team D ate the offense alive. And after the game, the Bengals o-line whined about how the bears were bringing blitzes and stunts even though it was early in the preseason...basically "no fair <sniffle> we weren't really expecting to have to play <sniffle> mean old bearses" stuff.

Deltha's admission is more of the same. Philly came to play, the Bengals didn't. The good thing I see is that, after the bears game, bengals coaches made excuses for their players' poor play, talking about how they hadn't installed this or that protection package yet, etc. This year, Marvin is having none of that.

[oldschooler]

The Eagles wanted to make a statement

at their first home game that was also

T.O.`s first game since the offseason

debacle.

They were going to kick whoever`s ass they

played. It just happen to be our ass.

Of course we didn`t help ourselves much though...

but I don`t think it is as bad as it looked.

That`s my "Homer" post of the day...

[badassBENGAL]

The one silver lining I can find is that, while the Bengals played like ca-ca last night, none of our division opponents looked all that great, either.

Pitt lost to DC, Cheeslisburger had something like 51 yards total and has yet to lead the Steelers into the red zone.

The Ravens won vs. the Saints because Chester Taylor ran for about a million yards. Boller did get a TD on something like a 38 yard pass and other than that had about 12 more passing yards.

Dilfer threw for like 168 yards but no TDs and 1 pick in Cleveland's loss.

The whole AFCN looks pretty embarassing right now. Wasn't this supposed to be one of the toughest divisions this year? Sheesh...

Dude, Chester Taylor's a f**king beast. Dude could start for many teams out there right now, IMO...

[HoosierCat]

Dude, Chester Taylor's a f**king beast. Dude could start for many teams out there right now, IMO...

Oh, no doubt. Taylor carved the Bengals up pretty good last year. And I belive the Browns tried to steal him away this offseason, forcing Baltimore to match their offer. Balti will be tough on the ground this year, no matter who is carryinh the rock. Fortunately, Boller still doesn't seem to have a clue.

[membengal]

From Peter King's MMQB this morning...and you just know he is itching to lead the charge to pile on should this team stumble out of the gate:

"2. I think if I'm a Bengals fan, I have been teased again. This team is going to break my heart one more time. First off, was that Kim Herring covering Terrell Owens on the first play of Friday night's exhibition game in Philly? Herring, a safety, covering T.O., only the best wideout on the planet, with no cornerback help -- at least none after the first few yards past the line of scrimmage. Ridiculous. Stupid. Idiotic. They deserved to get burned for a 64-yard touchdown. It just reinforces the problems I believed Marvin Lewis had fixed. I thought these weren't the same old Bengals. And then, on the Eagles' second offensive snap, Owens catches a ball for 31. Jam him! Double him! Hit him in the mouth! Do something! In all, Owens had five catches for 131 yards in the first 26 minutes of the game. And it would be nice if this offense that is supposed to make fans forget about Esiason and Collinsworth could manage one touchdown pass between Carson and his two millionaire wideouts, Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh. There's no question the schedule should prevent Cincinnati from falling into a huge hole early; the Bengals open with Cleveland and have only one returning playoff team, Minnesota, among their first six 2005 games. But it won't matter if they play like they did on Friday night when their first-teamers got totally embarrassed by Philadelphia's first-teams, 27-3, in the first half."

Ah yeah, nice time to show up all lethargic Bengals. Simply superb. Hey, at least no one across the league had their eyes on that game...

[membengal]

I see my putting the King thing here didn't head off a whole seperate thread on it. Oh well, so much for economy of threads.

By the way, whover in this thread mentioned the Bengals are on a short leash with the national media...much props to you. They certainly are.

[schweinhart]

After watching the 1st half of the game, I'd have to say there's 2 main points of embrassment.

Neither has anything to do w/ the national media because quite frankly who would care at this point what they publish after the past 15 years.

1. ML and staff for decisions on personnel at safety. Relying on the 2 old Ratbirds at SS ain't gonna cut it. Maybe the inadequacies of Herring and Mitchell won't be as glaring or costly vs. lesser receiver comp. K2 is much better than either of these 2 in coverage and should start ahead of both. Neither Herring nor Mitchell adds enough vs. run to make up for what they give up vs. pass.

2. Receivers. They should have had their collective a$$ reamed. Henry drop, Chad drop on 3rd down play that had 1st, Housh drop w/ nothing but field in fron of him, Chad caught by a 260-pound short of 1st, Schobel breaking off route to short for 1st on 3rd down, and another Chad drop that put CP at 8 for 15 late in 2nd Q when he should have been 12 for 15 at the very least.

Brez might wanna do some crunches while he's at it before he winds up with a Rex Ryan rack.

[Jet23]

It is only preseason, but it is obvious that:

Kevin K. & Kim H. can not hang.

TJ better wake the hell up or Henry will have the #2 job

Odell & Pollack are the real deal

AND WE REALLY MISS BIG WILLIE!

That being said, there is nothing wrong with admitting that they have a ways to go. I still think they are above average right now and have a tremendous amount of up-side.