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It's only preseason, but it is still the NFL right?  To play in the NFL you have to have a certain amount of fire, at least that's what winning teams display, but the Benglas showed not much of that last night.  I stayed up until midnight last night but saw enough at the 1 a.m. mark.  The Bengals have a lot of work to do, a lot of work!

I'll start with the positive assessments:

I like mean Chris Perry, he is running with a huge redwood on his shoulder...

Kenny Watson has to be the most underated Bengal, I constantly tout him and all he does is get about 5 yards a carry.  It has gotten to the point where when Kenny touches the ball for the first time in a game, you know he's going at least 5 yards.

The Bengals had some good short and intermediate pass plays.  The first pass of the game was a quick out and Maxwell caught some good slants, overall Maxwell looked good and I would consider him ahead of the pack for the #3 job.  Carson only looked effective in doing the 3-step drop...

I am feeling pretty good about Fitzpatrick, we may have one of the better backups in the league.

OK, now the negative assessments:

The entire game of football is won in the trenches.  That is where it starts and ends.  I can not in good conscious say Carson looked bad, it was the O line who performed horribly.  Carson was on his arse more than a (well let me not insert a suggestive metaphor here, but eh...I think you get the picture).  If the line can not pass block better and create more holes for the RBs, than the season will be lost. The jurassic line looks extinct.

No Rudi and TJ.  Wow, unbelievable.

I think Chad will be back but he has been ineffectve anyway so far.  (Again the O line is partly to blame again).  Before the injury, he dropped a pass he should have caught and then complained Carson didn't hit him in the numbers.  I suppose this is what happens when you start worrying about your contract and not catching the ball. 

Absolutely no pass rush...

Cornerbacks looked bad but as an aside Calvin Johnson is going to make a lot of secondaries look bad this year.

There seemed to be a lack of passion on both sides of the ball, a lot of confused faces like they never had training camp...Marvin may need to reconvene training camp with two-a-days!!

Disclaimer:  My assessments came after only an hour of viewing, so I guess before  Fitz led the Bengals on their scoring drive...I must've tuned out with about 9-10 mins. left in the 2nd qtr.
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Congratulations to:

  Michael Phelps

I am happy for him and am amazed at his achievements, but I still stand by my sentiment in my previous blog...I am sick of him and the swimming.  Now, I know most of you disagreed with me on that, but sooner or later you will come over to my side on this.  It is not a question of will you? so much as when? 

Knowing the media, you know, and I know, that they are going to wear Phelps out...they are going to use him and suck him dry (like Mr. Crabs did the jelly fish in that episode of Spongebob).  He is going to get more time than either of the candidates running for president the rest of this year...so when you are sick of it too, I have a special space waiting for you.
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Lastly I am going to recommend a movie outside of my normal mode, the romantic comedy:

  Last Holiday

Now this one is strictly for you to score some points with your ladies if you haven't seen this yet.  Queen Latifah is a fine actor and LL Cool J doesn't do too bad in his limited supporting role.  It's the first time I've seen LL without any headgear (but that is temporary as his parts in the last 1/3 of the movie he wears winter head gear and a chef cap).  Guys, the movie is a bit corny/cheesy, but I like the message and again I think it is awesome for you to watch with the ladies...you'll get big points!  So if you are looking to get credits in with your wives and ladies and still want to watch a good movie with good humor I give this a "most definitely check this out with the lady."

Until next time...