Four years and 28 million dollars was the price the Bengals were willing to pay for a wide receiver and Antonio Bryant bit.  He's young, he's fast, he's good and he has the potential to be a great compliment for Chad Ochocinco.  He was widely regarded as the best wide receiver on free agency and there is no doubt in my mind that he is a major step up from Coles.

I am glad to see that the Bengals decided not to go with a one year deal for an older vet (even though if I said there was no part of me that wanted TO to be a Bengal this year I'd be lying) and opt for a  younger guy and a multi-year deal.  That shows me that Mike Brown and the front office are looking towards the future and not just putting a band aid on a bullet wound.  I think that Bryant has #1 receiver tallent and he should open up things for Ochocinco and Carson and make their jobs much easier next season.  I can see Ochocinco as the #1, Bryant as the #2, Caldwell as the #3 and Matt Jones as occassional help when needed (if he makes the team/stays out of trouble).  Already the Bengals passing game looks better.

For me, this changes the draft outlook for the Bengals.  Before the Bryant signing, I was convinced the Bengals would find a Coles replacement in the draft but now that is obviously not the case.  I think it is very possible for the Bengals to draft a defensive lineman or safety in the first round and maybe a tight end in the second or vise versa.  Either way, this is two years in a row that Mike Brown has impressed me with the moves that the Bengals have made in the offseason.  My unadulterated rage is fading away and being replaced by feelings of euforia and hope.  Is Mike just easing me into a false sense of security that he will bring crashing down on me when he drafts Ryan Leafs little brother (I think his name is Isuckmorethanryan Leaf) in the first round?..... I don't think so.  For the first time that I can remember, I am thinking that Mike Brown is starting to get it.

         Actually no, Jules..... not anymore he doensn't.... not anymore

In other news, the Bengals re-sign Daniel Coats..... WHAT THE F*CK MIKE!?!

Last week the bandwagon was almost full. This week I look around and see plenty of seats. What can the Bengals do to right the ship?  Well in my opinion the ship is not sinking.  This is a Bengals team that just finished a stretch of three division games in probably the toughest division in football. They won all three of these games. While I was hoping they would not let down against the Texans part of me had a gut feeling that a letdown was coming. As hard as it may be for some people to get, this loss had nothing to do with Mike Brown. Mike Brown fumbled exactly 0 times. He never got beat deep and he was called for no penalties. He didn't even have 1 bad snap.

I am not stating that I agree with every decision Mike Brown makes or even half of the decisions he makes. However, this season, Mike has made some pretty good decisions. Some point at the fact that Mike did not draft a tight end last season. They reference the Jerome Simpson pick where the Bengals could have drafted a tight end. I took a look at the 4 tight ends drafted after Jerome Simpson. Here are their stats:

As you can see, none of the available tight ends are really putting up the kind of numbers that an elite or even average tight end would be putting up. It is easy to fault the Simpson pick but the kid has amazing talent and that sometimes never matures. Hindsight is always 20/20. Most of these people are also the ones that come up with statements like: "We should trade our 7th round compensation pick for Antonio Gates!" You can not have a logical debate with these people.

Reggie Kelley was not an elite tight end. However he was someone that was solid at blocking for the run and occasionally could catch a pass. Dan Coates came into this season as the 3rd tight end and may not have even made the team. Chase Coffman is not NFL ready. People screaming for this kid are going to be angry when he fails to read the defense and causes Cedric to get blown up in the backfield. Naysayers claim it is not that hard to learn how to block. I am sure it looks simple from the safety of your couch with a cold one in your hand.

The draft this year and free agent pickups have given the Bengals one heck of a defense. This is also what these band wagon jumpers were screaming for in the offseason. Some said the Bengals should pick all defensive players in the draft. When the offense struggles these people flip flop on those statements too.

Speaking of flip flops, many of these people were ready to trade Chad Ochocinco for a bag of popcorn. He had one bad season and because he is a kind of leader on this team he got a lot of the blame. I always thought Chad should stay and am glad that Mike Brown agreed with me.

Enough about the naysayers on the net. Let's look at what the Bengals have to work with going forward.  This Sunday the Bengals play a beatable Bears team. It has been announced that Peko is not lost and his injury may not be all that serious (which given the history of the Bengal trainers makes me very nervous). Now we get to see what rookie end Michael Johnson can do, I have a feeling he will make mistakes but also has the freakish ability to be disruptive in this defense. Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall will calm down and go back to playing the solid defense they have been playing all year.  I believe the breakdown we witnessed on Sunday was partially because the Bengals were struggling and guys were trying to do too much. This can cause over pursuit and mistakes by the D.

Cedric Benson should be focused more in this offense. Contrary to popular belief, the Bengals should not "throw it deep" every play. Toss one every now and then to Chris Henry? Yes. This past Sunday the Bengals got away from pounding the ball and I believe that was a mistake. The pieces are there, the players just need to execute.

Long story short, stay on the Bandwagon. I am not going to get back into the buying tickets debate, just do what you want. However, continue to support this first place team. The Steeler fans are riding high after beating the Cleveland Browns and love to think that all their problems are fixed. The Bengals are still ruling their own destiny and that is always the position you want your team to be in. Looking back at the Beginning of the season if I was to tell you the Bengals would beat the Steelers, Ravens in Baltimore and the Packers in Green Bay you would have been ecstatic.  Well, be ecstatic. This is still a fun ride.

WhoDey

I knew before the beginning of the season, when Reggie Kelly and Ben Utecht got put on the IR, that the position of tight end would be thin.  I wasn't worried though.  There was Daniel Coats and Chase Coffman, the rookie out of Mizzou.  Coffman played in the spread offense throughout college and never really played a true tight end position, he lined up more like a slot reciever.  I figured that if he could learn to block, he would be good and could stretch the middle of the field.  Well, things didn't go the way I expected them to at all.

Instead of Coffman, who may be dead.. who knows, Daniel Coats has been getting the start and J.P. Foschi has been sharing some snaps with him.  Both of them are absolutely terrible.  Coats can't catch anything.  I don't think he has fingers.  The way he catches (or tries to catch) makes me think that instead of hands, he's got two ping-pong paddles attached to his wrists.  He almost blew the Baltimore game for dropping not one, but two touchdown passes from Palmer that were right on the money, and I hold him partially responsible for blowing the Houston game. 

Foschi isn't much better.  He may have better hands than Coats (ping-pong paddles slathered with crazy glue) but he's slow and obviously can't hold on to the ball.  Both Coats and Foschi fumbled passes in critical moments yesterday when Carson was trying to mount a comeback drive.  Reggie Kelly may not be the best pass catching tight end but God do I miss him.  At least he can catch and when he catches he doesn't hand the ball to the closest defender. 

This brings up a few good questions.  How bad does Coffman have to be to still not be getting playing time after seeing how bad Coats and Foschi are?  I know it can't be his catching ability.  The guy broke Big-12 records and Mizzou records and won the John Mackey Award (best tight end in the country).  Can he really be that bad at blocking?  If we won't be seeing Coffman in the near future, what are the Bengals going to do to fix the situation?  Are there tight ends in the free agent market?  Probably nobody better than who we have right now.  The trade deadline is tomorrow, will the Bengals trade for a better tight end?  Probably not.  All I do know is that something has to change.  Either find a new tight end or find some prosthetic hands for Coats.