Madieu's injury was probably the 5th most costly

[The Big Orange]

In my opinion our 5 most crucial guys getting injured would have been as follows...

1. Carson

2. Levi

3. Deltha

4. Chad

5. Madieu

I can't even imagine what our team would have been with him...I know everybody has injuries and that's a part of the NFL...but one can dream can't he. I would also have to take Shayne into consideration, along with Willie and maybe Odell. But everybody that saw Madieu last year was saying probowl this year.

He really improved KK's work too which is another sign of a great player, making those around him better.

[bengalindian]

I think Richie is up there, and maybe you could put Deltha behind Madieu, but yeah, it hurts.

[Stripes]

No doubt it hurts, and even moreso because we had lost Kim Herring in the preseason. He was probably a weak link on our defense last year, but he'd have been useful right about now. KK has done as well as he can I think, so I have no slight on him. Ohalete has been the liability, but even he looked better last week. Come playoff time, we'll see what we are really missing or not missing.

[HoosierCat]

No disrespect to Madieu, but I'd bump him a few more sports down Biig O's list. Braham has already been mentioned. How about Housh or Rudi? Madieu's in the top 10, tho.

[Ripper]

No disrespect to Madieu, but I'd bump him a few more sports down Biig O's list. Braham has already been mentioned. How about Housh or Rudi? Madieu's in the top 10, tho.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/stor..._len&id=2205443

Differance between with Madieu and without.

With Madieu under 100 yards per game opposition team running

Without Madieu 161 yards per game !

[ShulaSteakhouse]

I felt Madeiu was/is the best defensive player - so on that side of the ball consider him the worst person they could lose.

After Carson, I would consider Rudi the biggest loss. Because of Palmer, I think TJ, Henry, Tab, Walter and Squirrel could still win games if Chad went down - as hard as that is to say.

[walshfan]

1. Carson

2. Madieu

3. Thurman

4. Levi

5. Chad

[CantStop85]

1. Palmer

2. Chad

3. Rudi

4. Rich Braham

5. Levi Jones

6. Willie Anderson

7. Eric Steinbach

8. Deltha O'Neal

9. Brian Simmons

10. Odell Thurman

11. TJ Houshmandzadeh

12. Shayne Graham

13. Madieu Williams

14. Justin Smith

15. Chris Perry

16. Tab Perry

[Columbusbengal]

I felt Madeiu was/is the best defensive player - so on that side of the ball consider him the worst person they could lose.

After Carson, I would consider Rudi the biggest loss.

I agree that Madieu was the defensive player the Bengals could least afford to lose. I don't think Rudi is nearly as valuable (thanks to Chris Perry) as Levi, Willie, and Richie (and maybe even Eric). The QB and the O-line are the most important players on offense unless you have a pretty bad RB. Chris isn't as good as Rudi, but he's certainly not "bad."