Tag: Cincinnati Bengals (Page 15 of 47)

      Antwan Odom’s lawyer blames PED suspension on wife

      October 15, 2010 /
      CINCINNATI, OH - OCTOBER 18: Defensive end Antwan Odem #98 of the Cincinnati Bengals is taken off the field on a cart after an injury against the Houston Texans at Paul Brown Stadium on October 18, 2009 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Scott Boehm/Getty Images)

      Listen to the crock that is coming out of Antwan’s Odom’s lawyer after the NFL suspended the defensive end for four games after he violated the league’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs.

      From ESPN.com:

      “Antwan did not take a steroid or any other performance enhancing substance,” Cornwell said in a statement. “While driving after midnight from Alabama to Cincinnati to report to training camp, Antwan’s wife mistakenly opened her prescription pill bottle instead of Antwan’s and gave him one of her prescription weight-loss pills instead of Antwan’s medicine. Naturally, Antwan’s preseason urine test was positive for his wife’s medicine.”

      Are you serious? This is the best that Odom and his lawyer could come up with? His wife accidentally gave him one of her prescription weight loss pills instead of his medicine? Come on.

      I could only imagine how that conversation must have gone between Odom and his wife.

      “Sit down, honey. Listen, I tested positive today for PEDs.”

      “Oh no, Antwan – what’s going to happen?”

      “Well, I’m going to get suspended four games, but I’m going to appeal the test and maybe I can avoid a suspension.”

      “Well that’s good!”

      “Yeah, that is good – real good. But I’m going to need you to take the fall here.”

      “What?”

      “Yeah, I’m going to need you to tell everyone that you accidentally gave me some weight loss pills that were yours. My lawyer and I even figured out a date and a time when you could have done this.”

      “Are you crazy?”

      “Crazy in love…with you. And if you’re crazy in love with me, you’ll do this one little thing.”

      “You and your lawyer are both idiots.”

      “No doubt. You in?”

      Although hey, maybe the story is true.

      External Sports, NFL

      “The T.Ocho Show” is so bad it’s bad

      October 13, 2010 /

      I decided to check out Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco’s new Versus show last night and while it’s true that T.O. and Ocho have good chemistry (in spurts) and seem to genuinely like each other, I’m not sure there’s a show here.

      Here’s the format: Former “SportsCenter” anchor and “Entertainment Tonight” host Kevin Frazier is in a Versus studio while T.O. and Ocho sit side-by-side at a studio somewhere in Cincinnati. Frazier asks the guys questions and they take turns responding. Of course, there’s the typical satellite delay awkwardness and at times one guy talks over the other, but for the most part it goes pretty smoothly.

      Topics ranged from the Brett Favre rumors — Owens says that if it were one of them, they’d already be presumed “guilty” by the media…boo-hoo…everybody thinks Favre is guilty, guys — to Ochocinco calling himself out for his poor play this season. The low point of the show was a segment where the duo don doctor’s jackets and discuss the love lives of Jennifer Aniston, Kim Kardashian and Lindsay Lohan. The prescription for each was to start dating T.O. (who mentioned twice that he will be in Los Angeles this week) or Ochocinco, or both. Ugh.

      They also struggled reading the prompter when they had to highlights for a few of the show’s segments, but they’ll probably improve in that area as time goes on.

      In the end, “The T.Ocho Show” is probably only for the duo’s fans, though there’s plenty of room for improvement.

      External Sports, Fantasy Football, NFL, Television

      Bengals not concerned about Carson Palmer, although they should be

      September 29, 2010 /
      CHARLOTTE, NC - SEPTEMBER 26: Carson Palmer of the Cincinnati Bengals falls to the ground after a hard hit against the Carolina Panthers during their game at Bank of America Stadium on September 26, 2010 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

      It seems like yesterday that Bengal fans were excited that their team finally found a quarterback after they drafted Carson Palmer in 2004. They had lived through hell (also known as the Akili Smith era) and they finally had a quarterback to which they could call their own.

      Too bad it didn’t last long.

      Following the Bengals’ lackluster 20-7 win over the Panthers on Sunday, head coach Marvin Lewis said that he’s not concerned with the poor play of his quarterback. But that’s only because he has Jordan Palmer sitting on his bench.

      The Bengals won’t say it, but Palmer (Carson, not Jordan) has been sub par at best this year. In completing 19-of-37 passes for 195 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions last weekend, he managed to make rookie Jimmy Clausen look somewhat productive. His decision-making hasn’t been stellar, his accuracy has been off, his arm strength is painstakingly average and he looks goofy in his helmet. (I know it’s supposed to be safer, but it looks like the Great Gazoo in that thing.)

      In other words, he’s become a more expensive version of Shaun Hill without the okay-for-a-white-quarterback wheels.

      It’s not a stretch to say that Palmer isn’t the same player he was earlier in his career and if the Bengals are expecting a turnaround, they may be waiting a while. The team tried to upgrade its passing attack in the offseason with the acquisitions of rookie draft picks Jermaine Gresham and Jordan Shipley, as well as free agent Terrell Owens. But if Palmer can’t get them the ball then those new additions will obviously go to waste.

      Unless Palmer finds the fountain of youth, the Bengals will have to continue to rely on their running game and defense to win games. That’s fine in the regular season, but what if Cincinnati makes the playoffs again? They ran into a buzz saw last year in the Jets and if they wind up facing another opponent who can stop the run, then Palmer will likely be exposed.

      That said, it’s a long season and maybe Palmer will develop a rhythm in the passing game. There’s still plenty of time to figure it out and the good thing for the Bengals is that they have a hard worker under center.

      But man, he has not looked good in the first three games. And it’s not like he faced a hybrid collection of the best players from the ’85 Bears and ’00 Ravens last Sunday in Carolina either.

      External Sports, NFL

      Cedric Benson already complaining about Bengals’ offense

      September 24, 2010 /
      Aug 8, 2010; Canton, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bengals running back Cedric Benson (32) during the preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys at Fawcett Stadium. Photo by Image of Sport Photo via Newscom

      With as much trouble as Cedric Benson has gotten into over the course of his NFL career, one would think he would be happy to fall in line and allow his situation in Cincinnati to play out (on the field and off it, for that matter).

      But one would be wrong.

      While recently appearing on SIRIUS NFL Radio, Benson took the time to voice his displeasure about the Bengals’ offense and how the team has gotten away from running the football.

      From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

      Said Benson about the offense’s direction right now: “I don’t know. With all those players and names you brought up (Terrell Owens, Jordan Shipley, Jermaine Gresham) they’re all, except for one, directly involved in the passing game. So, I mean, if I had to guess, it seems that that’s kind of the route that we’re trying to go, which can be a bit frustrating because we were successful running the football last year and being a power team. Being that type of team got us where we ultimately wanted to be, which was in the playoffs. I don’t know what would be the reason the team would want to change their identity, unless in the past season it didn’t work. But that’s not the case here. And, I mean, I don’t know. I guess whoever’s making those shots, or calling those shots, you got to kind of roll with the punches.”

      In the first two games, the Bengals have called 85 pass plays to just 56 run plays. But they also trailed New England 31-3 early in the third quarter in Week 1 and were inconsistent running the ball against Baltimore last Sunday. So what is Benson looking for here?

      The Bengals were successful running the ball last year, but they also desperately needed to upgrade their passing game, which they did this offseason with the selections of Jermaine Gresham and Jordan Shipley via the draft, and Terrell Owens in free agency. They lost to the Jets last year in the Wild Card round partly because they were too one-dimensional. And despite Benson’s claims, the goal isn’t to reach the playoffs – it’s to win in the playoffs.

      The teams that win in the NFL do so because every player accepts his role and executes the plays that are called. If one guy doesn’t accept his role and fails to execute, then the rest of the 10 players usually suffer.

      With that in mind, Benson should stop worrying about the distribution of run and pass plays and just concern himself with what he’s doing to help the team win. Going on SIRIUS radio and bitching about the offense isn’t helping his team win and doesn’t help the Bengals’ reach their ultimate goal.

      External Sports, NFL

      Joe Flacco does his best Jake Delhomme impression in loss to Bengals

      September 19, 2010 /
      CINCINNATI - SEPTEMBER 19: Michael Johnson and Geno Atkins of the Cincinatti Bengals sack quarterback Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens at Paul Brown Stadium on September 19, 2010 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

      There are bad days in football and then there’s whatever Joe Flacco just did in Cincinnati today.

      In a putrid display of football on Sunday, Joe Flacco was intercepted four times and completed just 17-of-39 passes for 154 yards in a 15-10 loss to the Bengals. At the start of the third quarter, he was 5-of-17 for 23 yards and one pick…yikes.

      He did manage to lead the Ravens on an 80-yard scoring drive to start the second half, but everything went downhill again from there. He wound up throwing three of his four picks in the second half when the game was still in reach.

      Credit must be given to Bengals’ defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, who played a key role in Flacco’s horrendous outing. Following their embarrassing 38-24 loss to the Patriots last weekend, Zimmer took the blame for his defense playing so poorly. But he won’t have to do that this week, as his unit limited Baltimore to only 14 first downs and an average of 3.8 yards per pass completion (which is huge considering that most teams win when their average yards per pass is higher than their opponents’).

      That said, while the Bengals’ defense got back on track, their offense was rather stagnant. Carson Palmer finished with a QB Rating of 60.1 on 16-of-35 passing for 167 yards and no touchdowns. Cedric Benson was also limited to 3.4 yards per carry (78 yards on 23 carries), although he was going up against a solid Ravens’ front seven.

      On a positive note for the Bengals’ offense, T.O. caught three passes for 57 yards, which included a 29-yard reception. Chad Ochocinco also hauled in four passes for 44 yards and rookie Jordan Shipley got into the act with five catches for 42 yards. Palmer wasn’t very efficient overall, but he did complete passes to seven different receivers and also targeted rookie tight end Jermaine Gresham, who eventually has to get more involved in the passing game.

      While I’ll stop short of calling this a statement game for the Bengals, it was important for them to beat a division rival one week after getting smacked by the Patriots. As for Flacco and the Ravens, this certainly played out like a letdown game, which is unfortunate considering Cincinnati is a division foe.

      External Sports, NFL

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