Yahoo's Robinson has Bengals at #7

[dave]

This is the most love I've seen from a national analyst.

7. Cincinnati Bengals – The preseason finale against the Colts' No. 2 defense was meaningless. If the Bengals' first half against Philadelphia was a truer indicator, they won't hold this spot for very long.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=cr-r...=yhoo&type=lgns

[The Big Orange]

I must say that even though they haven't earned this rating, and I actually rated them at 11 for this site, in my heart this is where I believe the Bengals are...I'm just glad that a lot of people won't see this.

[HoosierCat]

I'd say 7 is a bit high at this point. Like Marvin said, 8-8 doesn't really qualify as the team doing anything yet. IMHO, the Bengals ought to be ranked someplace in the mid-teens, at least to start the season. Win a few games...then we can talk.

As for Robinson's comment...shrug. The real question isn't whether they play like they did in preseason vs. Philly, it's whether they start off playing like they did the second half of the 2004 season. I have to think that they can't help but play better early this year than last year, if only because we don't have Braham, O'Neal and Simmons hurt to start the season this year. We won't have a rookie starting out of position at corner in game one, and hopefully we won't have starters falling like flies to IR (Warrick, Williams, Webster) in the first few weeks of the season. But we'll see.

[HairOnFire]

As for Robinson's comment...shrug. The real question isn't whether they play like they did in preseason vs. Philly, it's whether they start off playing like they did the second half of the 2004 season.

DING!!!!

The Philly game meant no more than the Indy game. The only question concerning the Bengals is how quickly they regain the level of play they were flashing before Palmer was injured.

[Stripes]

#7 seems way too high in my opinion. They very well could end up that good in the end, but as of yet haven't proven they deserve that.

It does put a smile on my face to see the respect, however.

[HoosierCat]

The only question concerning the Bengals is how quickly they regain the level of play they were flashing before Palmer was injured.

Yup...but it's precisely their preseason performance that has me concerned about exactly that question. For the bulk of the preseason we saw a lot of sloppy play on the field, and heard an equal amount of excuses off of it. Marvin called the team out on both points after the debacle in Philly...and they seem to have gotten the message. At least, they were much tighter in the final game against Indy.

Right now, I would not be surprised if they went out in Cleveland next weekend and hung 30-40 points on the Browns in an opening day blowout laugher. I would also not be surprised if they went out in Cleveland next weekend, dropped passes, blew assignments, and generally "bungled" their way to an embarassing defeat. I have to think victory is more likely, for a host of reasons including lack of injuries, experience, and the sad state of the Browns...but I've seen little in the last four weeks to give me much confidence.

[bengalindian]

Yep, this is too high right now. When they finish at #1 is the only time I care about any sort of power rankings.

Also, Touchdown, take those eggs off your sig, they make me hungry everytime I look at them!

[Sox]

Bah-who cares what this guys says.

What I want to see is an offense picking up where it left off,and a defense that shows some improvement over last year,and continues to improve game to game as the rookies gain experience.

[BlainThePain]

This guy is basing the rankings mostly on what he saw in training camp so its not so out there that he has us at number 7. The only thing I see really wrong is he should have the Chargers ahead of us.

[kingwilly]

At the very least, our D has to step up. The O may take a series or two to get rolling but with the running game weapons we have, we should be able to exploit the bad CLE D-line.

17-7 by the half

30-16 Final

[Stripes]

The only thing I see really wrong is he should have the Chargers ahead of us.

Chargers and Bengals being mentioned in top tens... Times they are a changin'!

[AMC]

Prisco on sportsline.com has them at #23!!!!!

7 and 23???? In other words, nobody knows until you play the games. Power rankings, just like preseason college football polls suck....

[Stripes]

Prisco on sportsline.com has them at #23!!!!!

7 and 23???? In other words, nobody knows until you play the games. Power rankings, just like preseason college football polls suck....

Well said. We really have been all over the place in these rankings.

So screw 'em!