What makes you think Palmer is done? And the Bengals have a healthy Chad Johnson, Laverneus Coles and Chris Henry. That’s still a formidable group of wideouts, IMO.
Mike Vick signed with the Eagles?
WTF?
The Bengals don’t throw much to the TE anyway. I think Chase Coffman will be at least as good as Utecht. The key to the Bungles will be the offensive line, which was the worst in the NFL for the first half of the season, then became competent at the end (hence the wins). If the OL doesn’t get Palmer killed, the Bengals will at least win a few games more then they did last season.
While that’s true, Reggie Kelly was an integral part of the blocking scheme, so he’ll be missed.
Chase Coffman was an extremely talented pass-catching TE in college, he needs to learn to block, though.
The Bengals are pretty well-equipped to pass and run the ball, I think. It does all hinge on that offensive line, though. If the oline holds it’s own, Palmer should have a banner year, and I also believe that Cedric Benson is going to really surprise some people.
Another big question mark is the defense. I’m cautiously excited by having Keith Rivers and Rey Maulaluga playing together in the linebacking corps, our secondary is solid, and we’re improving along the dline.
Mike Zimmer is a solid d-coordinator and he’s got to get the Bengals working on that pass rush.
…by not getting arrested again.
I think the defense was really good nearly all of last year - they just couldn’t overcome the incompetence of the offense. I expect big things from that defense this year.
I don’t think he ever really recovered from that playoff injury.
So… Vick signed with the Eagles.
I keep hearing everyone qualifying their opinions about Vick by saying something about, "if he returns to his 2006 form…" Here’s what I don’t understand: Why is anyone questioning this? It’s obvious to me he’ll be exactly as good as he was in 2006.
Why? Because the only skills it’s reasonable to assume will have degraded are his ability to throw, read defenses, and understanding of playbooks and terminology-- essentially everything it takes to be a pocket passer (which he never was anyway, so who cares?). Have you guys seen Vick recently? Does he look overweight? He’s obviously been training. It isn’t like he was put away at age 25 and now he’s 35. He’s only 29. It’s perfectly reasonable to assume he would, with the regimented training of the NFL, be just as athletic as he was before. And again, Vick was never much of a throwing QB. If all of the aforementioned skills degraded to nothing, he could still be an asset.
The only problems I see with this have to do with McNabb, who hasn’t shown that he has a thick skin. If this experiment dissolves McNabb’s confidence, or angers him, it could destroy the entire season. I’m not entirely sure it will work, this isn’t exactly an organization with a positive track record with malcontents, but the upside is undeniable. Vick, Westbrook, DeSean Jackson, and Maclin on the field together would be impossible to defend. And if anyone could turn Vick into a good passer, it’s Andy Reid, so there’s that chance.
I see it playing out like so. Vick comes back sometime around midseason. He plays a little wildcat, lines up at WR once or twice, and generally has no impact on the team offensively. He might play 20 snaps this season at the most. But he’ll have one TD (throwing or running, can’t say), and the Eagles will see enough to bring him back for next season. He’ll have a bigger impact next season and leave for bigger money and a starting job as free agency after 2010. Unless his contributions make the offense much more explosive and the team wins a Super Bowl in 2010 (I don’t see it this season), both he and McNabb will be gone. Then the real pain begins. Kevin Kolb is a bust.
Is Vick going to be a QB on their roster? If so, he has to be the backup or they can’t run the wildcat with him until the fourth quarter. In short, if Vick is a QB he’ll have to be QB #2, meaning that on the incredibly-slim-never-happened-before chance that McNabb goes down for several games, we could see Vick as a starting QB this season.
Vick’s been out of the game, what, 3 years now, in unknown shape, and he’s shown up in camp very late. I wouldn’t expect him to get off the practice squad until late this season, if then.
Yeah, he just might have a future in this game.
He was never convicted of anything. And the whole arrest meme regarding the Bengals is a played out, tired joke that doesn’t apply to them anymore. The only reason it got any traction in the first place in 2006 was because the Bengals are perennial underachievers and an easy target.
He’ll have plenty of time to acclimate given his six game suspension.
FoieGrasIsEvil, that’s a good point about the Bengals receivers. I don’t think much of Chris Henry, but that’s only because of his rap sheet. He’s solid on the field. (Right?) Coles is slightly better than Amani Toomer, who doesn’t completely suck but has clearly lost a step. As a possession guy Coles has huge upside.
He’s not suspended for six games. He’s suspended indefinitely. All we have to go on is Goodell’s promise that he would announce his decision by Week 6. That might mean six games, it might mean two games, it might mean the whole season- though it’d be pretty dick of him to go on about how he would sign Vick if he was an owner, then ensure the team that does sign him has to waste a roster spot on him for a full season.
I probably won’t get to see tonight’s 49er preseason opener. My 50" plasma blew a gasket a couple days ago, and my wife called dibs on the bedroom TV tonight.
Yeah, I always have an adventorous time trying to see preseason games every year since I live out of market. I try to find likeminded people that have access to an old school satellite dish, but haven’t found one yet. Then I try to find someone streaming it on the interwebs, or an internet radio station that’s part of the affilitiate network that forgot to turn off their online feed during the game, then I go a sports bar at 2am to catch the NFL network replay, and, if I’m lucky, like some of the games last year, someone will cap and share that.
For 49er game, you can listen on KNBR.
Kyle Orton’s looking real good, huh? 
Both Smith and Hill have decent stat lines, but I couldn’t see them, so I’ll have to read expert reviews later. Rookie LB McKillop has 8 tackles.
Just now: TD!, I think Brent Miller just bought himself another week on the team.
Kyle Orton throws 3 picks and Denver looks horrible. What an implosion they could be in for.
I didn’t really understand that part of the game. Smith and Hill are in competition for who the starter will be, but Hill only gets one series of work, and Smith only until halftime. They are both young, inexperienced QBs. Then why give the crafty veteran Huard the bulk of the game. Even though it is preseason, at least they are reps against another team. And, in a QB competition, reps for each in game situations are vital. The only reason I can come up with is that they didn’t want them playing behind a second or third string O Line and risk injury, but they’d also be playing against the woeful Broncos 2nd and third string D Lines.
It just didn’t make much sense to me.
So, I’m watching a re-air of the Ravens-Redskins preseason game, and I noticed the weirdest thing: Redskins RB Ladell Betts is wearing a jersey that says “Bettis.” 
I thought I was seeing things, so I rewound and paused and it was definitely #46, definitely Betts, but the jersey clearly said “Bettis.” WTF is up with that? I’ve never seen a name typo on an NFL jersey before. Any Redskins fans around notice this?
That would be one reason, but I’m also guessing it’s hard to make an evaluation when they’re playing against scrubs.
I’m a little surprised they didn’t send Nate Davis in for more of it, but there might have been some extra desire to beat the old coach (Nolan is now Denver’s DC).
Edit: …and I messed up Brit Miller’s name. Sorry buddy, nice work yesterday.