I was going to fit this into the last post, but I felt like there was so much I wanted to say there was no really good place to put it.  How in the world Bob Bratkowski has managed to keep his job is a minor miracle that might need to be investigated by Congress.  All joking aside, in Cincinnati this year there was so much talk of "What does Corey Patterson have on Dusty Baker?" There were the jokes of Korey Backerson, and it was all legit.  But the bigger question is what in God's name does Brat have on Lewis and/or Mike Brown.

In 2005, the Bengals offense was as good as it was in spite of Brat, not because of him.  Carson was in his second full year and was coming into his own with the recievers and pretty much took the league by storm (aided by a fairly weak schedule).  Since then, the offense has gotten progressively worse (4th to 8th to 11th to 27th currently in points scored).

The Bengals offense is as vanilla an offense I have ever seen.  Bratkowski in 2005 discovered that the shovel pass worked once.  And since then it has become the only "trick play" the Bengals use.*  And they use it over and over and over and over again, because Bratkowski apparently believes no defensive coordinator in the NFL ever watches film.

* I refuse to count the "fake reverse" which the Bengals seem to run a lot also.  Message to Brat: you have to actually run a reverse to get a team to bite on the fake reverse.**

** How often does a fake revers work?  If anything it seems to just make a play develop slower, and often it seems if the reverse were actually called it would gain about 15 yards.

Anyway, Brat is probably the most unimaginative coordinator in the league.  What you see is what you get.  I watch all the games.  I don't look over game film 18 hours a day between Tuesday and Friday like defensive coordinators, so these are the observations of a casual viewer.

If the Bengals pass the ball on first down and it is an incomplete pass, they will run on second down.  I am more sure of this fact than I am that the sun will rise tomorrow.  It's simply a given.  An incomplete 1st down pass might as well be the end of the drive in the eyes of Brat because what comes next in the 1 yard run up the middle followed by a screen or draw for 4 and a punt.  Somewhere in his office that is etched in stone.

Play by play commentators frequently say something along the lines of "The Bengals should move Chad Johnson around and try to get him matched up one on one more."

This doesn't happen.  Sure, teams tee off on him and double and triple team him, but that happens to all number 1 recievers.  The New York Giants have nothing but Plaxico Burress, yet the Giants found ways in the first half to get him one on one with David Jones, who came into camp as our number 4 corner.  Brat can't figure that out.  Brat picks his plays like a Madden video game.  Only in Madden, the teams actually score points.