Dr. Z’s Top Ten Requirements Needed for a Super Bowl Run…That the Bengals Already Have
Since this was a bye week for the Bengals and Rob or Joe didn’t hold my feet to the fire for not contributing, I decided to be magnanimous and come up with something really controversial and thought-provoking…a list of the top ten requirements for making a Super Bowl run and proof that the Bengals have them!
- A quarterback that can stay cool, be precise and move the ball after the 2-minute warning.
It never ceases to amaze me when people mentally cast off injured players on the scrap pile. Sure, Carson Palmer blew his knee out in 2005 to where it looked like a grenade went off underneath his kneecap, and yes, he was skittish for two years after that. Add to it that he damaged his elbow ligament in 2008 only re-enforced the concept that Palmer was washed up. To those faithful who hung onto their #9 jerseys…it was a wise decision. Palmer is quickly returning to 2005 form; his precision and arm strength are back and he can scramble as well as ever. With each game played, more play control is being given back to him. All signs show that the rust is now knocked off of Palmer; before the year’s end, he will be back among the likes of Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Tom Brady.
- A top-level running back.
When was the last time we had a TRUE running back that could carry the team? Rudi Johnson? Don’t make me laugh. Corey Dillon? Maybe. My opinion, it was James Brooks. Eight years, 6,500 yards and one Super Bowl appearance. Now the Bengals finally have another one in Cedric Benson, the ex-Bear who seems to like wearing the striped helmets a whole lot more. This guy came in off the streets last year and single-handedly made the second-half of the season bearable and respectable. Mike Brown did the right thing in signing Benson to a two-year contract after ’08 ended; he’s in the top five in rushing yards this year and is the key to the Bengals run-oriented game.
- Wide receivers that catch the ball, throw a block and take a shot from the defense.
Everyone boo-hoo’d when T.J. Houshmandzadeh left for Seattle. My reaction was…”eh”. I always knew that Chad Ochocinco was still the big-play receiver, and if he had taken care of his foot in the off-season he would have performed a lot better. The Ocho had a chip on his shoulder from that point on, and I knew if Mike Brown didn’t cave into his trade demands, he would come back with a vengeance. I also knew that Andre Caldwell was also lurking in the background, waiting to step out from T.J.’s shadow and become the new possession receiver for Cincy. Chris Henry was finally saying all the right things during training camp, and more importantly, doing them. The signing of Laveranues Coles was icing on the cake in that the Bengals could put three veteran receivers out on the field at times, and sometimes four with a special alignment. These guys like to block (and if they don’t, they at least try to), and are capable of taking a hit…who could forget the Ocho losing his helmet after taking that wicked googly of a hit from the Ravens Ray Lewis?
- A tight end that can catch the ball as well as block.
If there is a big weakness with this Bengals team, this is the one. The first episode of Hard Knocks played out like a Shakespearian tragedy with both Reggie Kelly and Ben Utecht getting IR’d for the year. The Kelly injury was a huge setback; this was the one guy Carson Palmer could trust to block and then catch the ball over the middle. Remaining tight ends Dan Coates and Chase Coffman have been ineffective; Coates has the dropsies and Coffman won’t suit up for a game until he learns to block and play for special teams. Enter J.P Foschi…this guy bounced around the league for three years with the Raiders and Chiefs with no solid stats to show for it, but then again, it was with the Raiders and Chiefs. The Bengals picked him up as a free-agent when the season began, and after a slow start has surpassed Dan Coates on the depth charts as the go-to guy at TE. If he can build on his performance, he’ll be the outlet Palmer needs for post-season play.
- An offensive line that can deliver solid pocket-protection.
Quarterback protection…that’s the name of the game if you want your passing schemes to not only work, but work well. It’s the latter part that most teams have a hard time dealing with…injuries, sub-par performance and incompatibility will kill an O-line’s effectiveness as well as the quarterback’s insurance policy coverage. In 2008 the Bengals signed free agent Kyle Cook to play center, but he injured his foot. Eric Ghiaciuc remained the center, Carson Palmer damaged his elbow during a bull-rush, and the rest was bad history. Cook came back this year and has become a massive lynchpin in a very effective yet-still-gelling offensive line. Andre Smith was supposed to be the heir-inherent at right tackle, but his holdout has allowed Dennis Roland to shine. Evan Mathis is another player to take advantage of a situation, he filled in when Nate Livings was injured after Week Two, and the job at left guard is now his to lose. Add vets Andrew Whitworth and Bobbie Williams to the mix, and you have a line that is getting better and better with each game played…scary, huh?
- A defense that can stop the run, cover the pass and adapt to change.
Yes, we have one of those this year! The Bengals defense hasn’t been this strong since the days of Tim Krumrie and David Fulcher. Bone-jarring hits, tight zone coverage, and an increasing taste for sacking the ‘back. You have to hand it to coordinator Mike Zimmer; he demands as much from the coaches as well as the players, and he demands a lot. The defensive unit has kept Cincinnati in most of the games up until the last few minutes where the offense pulled out a scoring miracle. They took a hit when they lost Antwan Odom for the year with an Achilles injury, but they have substituted well; the Chicago game was evidence that the depth is deep and the performance will not fade.
- Some killer free-agent signings.
OK, one or two bona-fide free-agent signings per year that make an impact might be normal for a team. Now try this on for size: thirteen impact-players over a two-year span…and nine of them are starters! And the cherry on the top of this sundae is that six of those twelve were mid-season pickups, reject players that were unwanted for various reasons. The thirteen players? Safeties Roy Williams and Chris Crocker, DE Antwan Odom (now out on IR), WR Laveranues Coles, MLB Dhani Jones, LG Evan Mathis, center Kyle Cook, special teamer Kyries Hebert, DL Tank Williams, RB Cedric Benson, long snapper Clark Harris, PR Quan Cosby and tight end J.P Foschi. That’s a boatload, folks. It’s impressive because the majority of the signings allowed the Bengals to enter the 2009 draft in go-for-depth mode, and even more impressive in that the folks who are finding these guys and signing them are still working for the team.
- A really, really, REALLY good draft.
This is the kind of draft that happens only once in a great while. You have to select players that will add to the team’s performance, not just the head count, and the more picks you have in your back-pocket, the better your chances are that maybe half of them will make the squad in some sort of capacity. This year, Cincy had four supplemental picks to go with the regular seven; with the exception of fullback Fui Vakapuna and receiver Freddie Brown (both lower-round picks), all are on the team. Rey Maualuga and Kevin Huber are starting; Michael Johnson, Bernard Scott and Morgan Trent are actively playing; Andre Smith, Jonathan Luigs and Chase Coffman are reserves, and Clinton McDonald is on the practice squad. If the Bengals were 2-5 instead of 5-2, I would have said that all these guys made it just to fill serious holes. Instead, these players were chosen not out of desperation (OK, maybe Smith was a pressure-pick), but for depth and impact.
- A coaching staff that isn’t distracted from the basics.
OK, I’ll be the first to admit it, Cincy’s coaching for the most part was about as effective as swatting a fly with a sledgehammer…lots of strength in the steel, but you miss an awful lot. With the exception of Mike Zimmer, Marvin Lewis and the coaching staff looked confused and at-odds with each other. Working with a non-pocket second-string quarterback, a center who couldn’t call out signals to the line, an injured defense and a Chris Henry soap opera gave Lewis & Company fits. It got to the point where as hands-on management became the rule, little things like clock-management, team communication and aggressive play-calling on offense were pushed to the background, sometimes to the point of costing the Bengals a victory. With the mid- and post-season acquisition of smart and aggressive players, the return of Palmer, and the maturing of Henry, the Bengals coaching staff is finally back to coaching.
- An owner that keeps his hands out of the mix at the right times.
Everyone complains about Mike Brown (even me at times), but he has shown greater restraint in player operations this year and taking more input from the coaching staff. The decisions he made came at the right times (signing Benson, bringing back Chris Henry, not caving in to Andre Smith’s contract demands or Ochcinco’s trade tirades), yet he refrained from firing the coaching staff after the 2008 fiasco and altering the Bengals approach to the 2009 draft. Being portrayed throughout HBO’s Hard Knocks as a kinder, gentler owner certainly didn’t hurt either. You know, maybe the Bengals don’t need a General Manager after all…and let’s face it, things could be worse: Daniel Snyder or Al Davis could be the owner.
OK, everyone can stop laughing now…despite the long odds, I really think this team could go all the way barring any more injuries. It’s mid-season, and this team is still improving by leaps and bounds. By end of January, it could be a Bengals Super Bowl…the only thing we have to fear is not fear itself, but the Ocho’s post-game interview!
