The Bengals Miserable Offseason Gets Worse With Palmer Dilemma

Yes it has been one of the worst off seasons in recent Bengals history and the news got worse yesterday as Carson Palmer packed up his stuff, put his house up for sale, and started plans to head back to his birth state of California. Carson is seriously considering retirement and he is sending the signs to the Bengals that no matter what changes they make he is sticking to his original demand to be traded or he will retire. Palmer is now a father of 3 young babies and his wife has been urging him to retire as she wants him with the kids more and the family has been getting heckled by upset Cincy fans.

Palmer has banked millions and is in no need to come back. His love for the game has seemed to take a dip as he has been “bengalized” by major injuries, bad coaching, and losing seasons.

However, as Palmer is in a perfect situation, the Bengals are trapped in an awful one and their options are dwindling. The Bengals are unable to meet Palmer’s trade demands until a new CBA is signed which could be a while and the price they could get for him is dying as the rest of the league knows we have no leverage. While in a normal circumstances teams like Oakland, Seattle, and Arizona all could offer anywhere from a first pick to a second and a third pick for Palmer his public discourse will leave the Bengals begging to get what ever they can for their former number one overall pick.

Palmer is sending a strong message that brings back memories of Barry Sander’s early retirement when no one believed he would follow through on his threat.

The Bengals are also stuck because the QB pool in the draft is considered to be one of the worst in the last decade and many believe no QB in this years draft is worth a top 20 pick, let alone the 4th overall one that the Bengals own.

Also the free agents out this year are not very good unless the Bengals make a play for a declining Mcnabb or the mentally unstable star that is Vince Yong.

Regardless of Palmer’s struggles, if fans get what they want in Palmer leaving Cincinnati they may very well end up regretting that wish. It took the Bengals nearly 12 years to find a franchise QB in Palmer and they went through many heartbreaking QB busts for years. Bengal fans remember the 2 AFC North championships because you just may be praying to have those days back if Palmer leaves. The Bengals are on the verge of entering another long QB search and should be working on a plan B immediately in case Palmer follows Sander’s footsteps and exits the game early.

 

 

League Nearing Doomsday Situation As CBA Talks Are Canceled

I have avoided talking about the collective bargaining agreement for as long as I could, but it now appears to be time to explain the situation, the deadlines, and the ramifications if a deal is not in place soon. The news broke this morning that the owners and players association would be calling off their scheduled meeting today after reportedly meeting for upwards of 10 hours yesterday with little to no progress. It’s also been reported that the meeting for next week has been canceled as well and if that report proves to be true the chances of a lockout will almost instantly double.

The reason for this is there is a March 3rd deadline to have a new agreement in place otherwise teams will be unable to make trades, players will not become free agents, and will be locked out without deals to any teams. If the league and its players cannot reach a compromise by that deadline the talks will likely be put on hold until right before the season. The situation is getting uglier by the day and the chances of them coming to terms before that March deadline are becoming more of a pipe dream than reality. If the talks head into the middle of the summer the league will suffer gigantic losses in merchandising, ticket sales, sponsors, and more. The players will also be losing out big in the way that they will be locked to their current team well into the summer and cannot blend with their new team anytime soon and they will be unable to test the waters of free agency.

For fans we still will get to enjoy the NFL draft and the scouting combine, but we will not see trades, free agency, and mini camps until something is worked out. This will be a major let down as the NFL as always prided itself on being a year round sport that always leaves the fans something to look forward to.

The league and players are mainly fighting over the money the players get in comparison to the owners. Players take far more of the NFL pie than the owners and the players are so heavily overpaid it snit fair to the owners. Some of the other issues include revenue sharing, rookie salary cap, the proposed 18 games schedule (the players hate), and overall issues with pay rates.

The league has not hit the panic button quite yet, but they have certainly now have their fingers on it. For the rest world we will have to wait and see if our nations most popular sport will even be in existence as we know it in 2011 and if so what major changes we will see across the board. The NFL sky is falling and clock is ticking.

Update: The CBA talks broke down due to union proposing a 50-50 split of all revenue. This is per Chris Mortensen of ESPN.

Super Bowl Videos & Prediction

The week has been over crowded with predictions, stats, guesses, news, sound bites, and more but the game is finally here and the Steelers and Packers are set to do battle tonight in chilly Dallas. Not going to go into it too much details because a Superbowl is so unpredictable it’s no use in breaking down these two great teams. Prediction- Packers 27- Steelers 24.

Low scoring game at first with the Steelers coming on strong and a similar ending to the last two Steeler’s Superbowl appearances but instead this time their luck runs out.

Just some videos here to enjoy before tonight. Enjoy the game and the bittersweet end to another year of football.

Lil Wayne Green and Yellow (Superbowl song)-

Awesome ESPN pregame video of top 5 Superbowl moments made out of food-

One for all the Hines Ward haters (me included)-

 

Bengals to Hire Jay Gruden.

The Bengals didn’t take long pulling the trigger in their search for their next offensive coordinator. The reports are the Bengals will soon announce the new coordinator to be none other than the brother of the Jon Gruden whom many fans wanted to be named head coach. Jay Gruden has only a little NFL experience spending 2002-2008 as an offensive assistant on the buccaneers when his brother was the head coach. Jay was a starting QB at Louisville during his college days and ranks in the top 5 in many of Louisville’s all time passing statistics.

He also coached the Florida Tuskers in the UFL and is now making the jump to the big leagues. Good luck to Gruden and for the Bengals fans for that for the first time in 10 years will see a different approach offensively from their Cincinnati Bengals.

Bengals Fire Bob Bratkowski

The words that Bengals fans have been dying to hear for years have finally come from the front office as the team parts ways with their offensive coordinator. It looks as if Palmer’s attempt to get changes might have gotten through to the owner as the Bengals are looking to make even more changes. The interesting part is the Bengals couldn’t fire him before the senior bowl for fear they wouldn’t get to coach in it, but once they were done with the game they immediately cut ties from their OC.

Statement from Marvin Lewis: “After reviewing our season in depth, we’ve decided it’s best for the team to make changes at this time.”

It will be interesting to see if more changes are in store and if the move convinces Palmer to lay off his trade demand. Regardless, this is a very big moment for the Bengals and they can now begin to move forward under a new direction.

With the Bengals official sacrificial lamb gone even more heat will be on Palmer and Lewis to succeed in 2011 (that is if, you know, there is actually a season in 2011).

Update: Bengals figure to hire from outside the organization which is another great piece of news. Queue the talk of Childress to Cincy talk.

 

Update: Carson Palmer’s Agent Releases Statement

“Because of the lack of success that Carson and the Bengals have experienced together, Carson strongly feels that a separation between him and the Bengals would be in the best interest of both parties.”

Those words were echoed today by Carson Palmer’s agent David Dunn in what seems like a retaliation statement following Mike Browns attempt to defuse the situation earlier in the day. This still could still just be posturing by Palmer, but it seems apparent that things are not right and Carson and his agent are ready to go to war. This is getting extremely ugly and is slowly becoming one of the worst times in recent Bengals history.

Chad Ochocinco decided to chime in on the situation by saying on his Twitter account “@Bengals Not sure who runs this site but tell management I’m gonna start whooping ass if we don’t get it together, let’s go damit! #WhoDey”

“I’d do anything to play for someone like Rex Ryan or anyone who has that type of mentality.” Chad & T.O.

This could just be Chad being Chad in an attempt to further his chances of leaving the team or maybe he is really trying to help bring to light all the issues with the team. Either way this team is sinking quickly and an ugly storm cloud is hovering above this franchise as Mike Brown is taking it to a new all time low.

Brown: No Childress Signing or Palmer Departure In Cincinnati’s Future

Mike Brown put another dagger into the hearts of Bengals fans Monday when he announced via the team’s website that there is no plans in bringing in Brad Childress. He announced that there is currently no interest in bringing the coach in and changes are still possible.

He also took the time to explain that the report that his QB Carson Palmer wants out of Cincinnati is indeed true and he mentioned it personally when the two met with each other last week. Mike Brown said he attempted to defuse the situation and says Carson “made no demands. He is the way he is. He didn’t finger anyone or anything.” Brown continued saying the team isn’t looking for offers for the former number one overall draft pick. The only glimmer of hope came in the statement “We’ll reach out to him and understand the things that are in his craw. Maybe there are things we can do that will appeal to him. We’ll try to and see whether we can get it fit back together again in the future.”

“He was told that we are not in a position to trade him.” Brown knows the team is in no position to be in the market for a quarterback and he realizes his team needs to spend their picks elsewhere. The market appears to be fairly bare in free agency and the QB’s in the draft have been labeled the worst class in recent years with no stud number 1 prospect.

Per Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the season ticket holders will be receiving their letters to renew their season tickets this week and they will be arriving during possibly the worst news week of the off-season that has already contained the blunders of keeping the coaching staff intact, the dreadful press conference, Carson’s trade demands, and the overall lack of responsibility by the organization. It will be interesting to see just how many ticket holders don’t instantly rip up the letters in disgust. Prepare for many blackout games next year folks and the off-season is just getting underway.

Packers Celebrate NFC Crown While Steelers Celebrate AFC Title A Little Differently

Packers vs. Steelers will be quite a Superbowl I am sure. Its amazing what both teams have fought through to get to this point as (my preseason Superbowl predicted) Packers fought through a staggering number of injuries and heart crushing losses, and the Steelers fought through losing their QB for the first four games to suspension. Regardless, both teams have made it to the end and I will be gladly rooting on one of my all time favorite teams, the Packers.

I got to admit its been a tough day for Bengals fans in Cincy today with the news of Carson demanding a trade and their hated rivals making it to yet another Superbowl, but for those of you who missed it this video capturing the Steelers Rashard Mendenhall “celebrating” the Steelers AFC championship victory will sure to bring a smile to your face. Enjoy

Oh, and this happened too….strange game.

 

 

Report: Carson Palmer to Demand Trade From Bengals

 

Wow. The off-season for the Bengals just went from bad to worse. Multiple reports are surfacing saying Palmer is working his way out of the Bengals organization. As bad as fans want to act like this is a good thing for the black and orange it is not. The Bengals will likely receive little to no compensation for Palmer and the 2011 season is most likely now ruined. The 4th overall pick in the draft will now also be spent on a QB which would be a reach for this draft class.

Unfortunately the Bengals will not be able to trade him until a new CBA is in place and until then no player can be traded. So this will linger over the Bengals for quite a while.

This also shows that a lot of players in that locker room are not happy with Lewis and the rest of the staff are staying. Palmer has threatened to use retirement as a way out of Cincy and for a person like Carson to take it to that level shows that this team is under awful circumstances. The departure of the 2003 number one overall pick just might acquire the Bengals another overall pick in 2012.

Stay tuned.

 

 

Report: Ocho to Oakland? Ocho vs. Marvin.

It has been brewing for years and it seems this time the Bengals might finally be ready to flip the page to a new chapter in Bengals history that does not have Chad Ochocinco’s name written anywhere on it. Although Ocho is signed under a club option allegedly exercised years ago (supposedly 2007) he still may be on the outs with the team. A back and forth between Chad and Marvin through the media has fueled rumors of a growing discontent between the two, and its hard to see whose at fault here.

Regardless, the Chad Ochocinco we know hasn’t been the same since T.J. Houshmandzadeh followed him to the Probowl, and made the Bengals choose between the two. It seems as T.J. began to get love and Marvin seemed content on moving on without him, Chad began his disdain for his coach and started begging to leave the team. Even though the Bengals decided to keep Chad and let T.J. walk things still have never seemed to be completely healed between coach and receiver.

The combination of the media fight taking place between the two, Chad’s declining performance, Ocho’s shaky contract situation, and the fact that Chad’s beloved mentor Hue Jackson is now the head coach in Oakland all leads to reports by Profootballtalk.com that Chad is interested in heading to the bay area. Chad also would have low expectations on a team with bad receivers and could immediately  fill the “go to guy ” role he seeks. Also playing out his days in warm L.A. and being close to his outside interests would most likely not just intrigue Chad, but might also help set himself up well for his life after football.

Chad has recently flirted with the Patriots as well and it is becoming painfully obvious that the Bengals will most likely take the field in 2011 without their franchise leading receiver. The most interesting factor of all is what the Bengals would be able to get for the aging receiver if anything at all. If the Bengals cannot trade Chad I believe they will cut him to make Marvin happy, and to allow more cap room to resign the teams “staples” in Benson and Joseph who are both set to become free agents in the spring.

Regardless, Chad leaving would be a sad moment for Bengal fans who just a few years ago thought the trio of Lewis, Ocho, and Palmer would lead them to the promised land.