1. Oakland should be embarrassed, playing football on a baseball diamond! How bush league is that? Fast-track them back to Los Angeles ahead of the Chargers, I say.
Here's an excerpt about Oakland Coliseum, rated the absolute worst NFL and MLB sports venue:

Oakland’s Coliseum is so bad, it is the worst stadium in two sports! Built to be a football and baseball stadium it became a baseball-only park in the 1980s. It was then ruined for both football and baseball when the Raiders returned from Los Angeles demanding the construction of a garish tower of suites and stands. The result looks like a new stadium someone forgot to finish.

Now it is home to strange odors. Rainwater puddles on the field and backs up in hallways. The baseball field is ruined by football even as football hates trying to run plays on the dirt of the baseball diamond. It’s too big a stadium for baseball and so the seats in the upper deck and on Mt Davis are covered in green tarps. It has become too large for football as well, especially with the constant threat that the Raiders will soon move again, leaving an empty Mt Davis to blight baseball games for eternity.


2. Pacman had a whale of a game, fisticuffs notwithstanding. Led the team in tackles, defensed a pass and forced a fumble. Plus Carr busted his hand on Pacman!

It's quickly forgotten that Pacman was such a reclamation project that he was asked to address the 2013 NFL Rookie Symposium. NFL executive vice president Troy Vincent, a five-time Pro Bowl defensive back, marveled at how impactful Jones was in speaking to rookies.

Then there was the bleacherreports article last year that spotlit Jones's community outreach:
"Given a chance, Jones doesn't gush about his volunteer efforts. He mentions the Special Olympics, but he doesn't mention Rothenberg Preparatory Academy in Cincinnati or the Georgia Wheelchair Athletic Association in Atlanta."

This guy is a leader here. Like it or lump it.


3. PFF has Clint Boling as its #1 Guard from Week One. Mikey just extended him in the offseason, and prior to the contract extension Boling was RotoWorld's #3 in free agency. Mike Zimmer tried desperately to lure Boling away to Minny. (This is one season removed from a rebuilt knee!)

This week will no doubt be a difficult assignment for our defense.  Other than pressuring Phillip Rivers, who or what do you think will be our biggest key to success?

For me it's containing Danny Woodhead.  He is Rivers safety net and difficult to cover.  When we had success against them in San Diego in 2013 Burfict did a lot of work redirecting his routes and getting him on the ground.  Not sure who we have currently that can fill that role.

What legacy does the Dalton Generation of the Bengals have ?

As a culture do we put to much emphasis on winning championships? If you look at all the games played over the last 4 years the Bengals are consistently one of the best teams in football, but have this stigma attached to them that because they lost 4 football games they're are a team with only the appearance of greatness. Let's be fair in the NFL it is hard to win football games. There are a ton of factors that come into play that create a perfect storm for success with coaching decisions, on field play, injuries, and pressure.

What is more important to have a yearly contender waiting for that perfect storm or to have a single flash that results in a championship?

Would you trade 10 years of consistently good play with winning seasons for a single Superbowl?

If you can put up with Bayless and Smith, AJ Green will be on First Take (ESPN2) sometime between 10 and noon.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000531124/article/nfl-power-rankings-packers-nab-top-spot-chiefs-enter-top-five?campaign=fb-nf-sf13075716-sf13075716

Rank 7 - Up 4 spots from last time

"Little to not like about the Bengals' blowout win in Oakland. The offense averaged 6.1 yards per play while the defense held the Raiders to a mere 4.0 yards per play. That's a sizeable differential when averaged over 126 plays in an NFL game. That said, no one gets excited over Cincinnati winning in the regular season anymore, and that's just the way it is. Not unless Andy Dalton plays lights out. "

Which of course is a good reason to get tickets and actually go to the game. Otherwise, for my fellow CBus residents, be ready to hit a sports bar or find a stream.

Ravens @ Raiders
49ers @ Pittsburgh
Titans@ Cleveland
Chargers @ Cincy

I can't see the rest of the division being shut out again this week.

I'll take the Ravens over the Raiders. To beat the Ravens, you have to run the football. The Raiders obviously can't.
The Titans should handle Johnny Douchebag and the Browns. Ugliest uniforms in NFL history.
The 49ers D won't give much to the Steelers. Their D is better than New England's. Still, some might call that an upset.

So, after week 2
Bengals 2-0
Ravens 1-1
Steelers 0-2
Browns 0-2

I am always looking at stats and yesterdays Bengals stats were strange. Dalton and Eifert had a really good day, but then I look at 63 yds for Hill and Gio each, Hill having 2 TDs, our 3rd down percentage was horrible, and our 4th down percentage was extremely high. WTF? The stats don't lie!
Those kinda numbers won't be what we need for much better teams. Glad we won big and our D is still without Burfict, but they looked real good! Go Bengals! Please Burfict, get well real soon!! We NEED YA!

8 for 63 rushing
6 for 25 receiving
14 for 85 total yards

Im a fan of Gio. I dont know about doing the 3rd series thing because I am generally against that way of coaching. But we really couldnt ask for a better #2 rb behind Hill.