It was unbelievable. When Brandon Stokely grabbed the deflected pass and turned to look up the field, there was no one standing in his way to the end zone.

In just the few seconds it take to sprint down the field, Stokley turned around what would have been a crushing loss for Denver into a historic moment in franchise history. Stokley’s 87 yard touchdown with just left seconds left in game gave the Broncos a 12-7 win over the Bengals, who definitely will need lots of time to recover from this loss.

Carson Palmer, quarterback for the Bengals, said he had never seen anything quite like that before. I’ve been playing football since the age of 7 or 8 and never seen anything like this.

No one has seen this before. According to the NFL, the 87 yard play is the longest game winning play from the line of scrimmage in the last minute of a game in NFL history.

Thirty minutes after the game had ended there was a lone Bengals fan dressed in a Rey Maualuga orange jersey sitting alone in the empty green seats that are in back of the end zone. He sat staring out at the field, attempting to understand what had just taken place.

One strange bounce of the ball had completely changed everything.

Stokley said we needed a miracle and got it. He said when I scored I remember it was really quiet and I felt good.

The Broncos were heartsick when a one yard run by Cedric Benson gave the Bengals a 7-6 lead with just 38 seconds left in the game. There wasn’t anyone on the team who felt worse than Kyle Orton, the quarterback, after his bad judgment had given Cincinnati the opportunity to go ahead in the game.

In desperation, Orton tossed a pass down the sideline that was almost intercepted. On the next play he tried to throw a pass to Brandon Marshall on the sideline, but he was well covered. Leon Hall the corner back cut in front of him and tipped the ball up into the air.

The ball caromed over to Stokely, who headed straight for the end zone after his lucky catch, and ran sideways for a few steps to kill a little time before he finally crossed the goal line.

There was so much going through my mind, Stokely said. He said that his mind was racing and he told himself to get whatever you can, and then could feel myself pulling away.

The play was caused by a high risk coaching decision. It was the result of a poor defensive play. Hall went after the ball instead of knocking it down and the safeties weren’t looking for a deflection.

Hall said he needed to either pick it off or knock the ball to the ground.

But instead the game ended up being left entirely to chance.

Correll Buckhalter, running back for the Broncos, said that he had seen quite a few things in football before but nothing quite like this.

In what was the regular season coaching debut for Josh McDaniels, Orton placed the Broncos in the position for a gut wrenching loss. Orton, who has a dislocated index finger on his right throwing hand, was just able to give the Broncos a lead at 6-0 as the game headed into the final minutes.

He then had a brain freeze and took a sack, which pushed the Broncos out of reach for what could have been Matt Prater’s third and decisive field goal. Prater had earlier connected in the game from 50 and 48 yards out.

The odds still appeared to be in favor of the Broncos. During the second half the Bengals only managed one first down against the Bronco’s overhauled defense. After being shut down all game, Palmer performed flawlessly in the clutch. He completed all six of his passes on the Bengals 91 yard drive, capped off by the touchdown run from Benson.

That turned out to merely be a tease.

Benson said that was the weirdest and craziest ending to a football game that he had ever experienced.

Tell that to the one lonely fan sitting alone in the stands.

Notes
Orton’s stitches were removed from his finger following the game. He is hopeful that he will be able to play in next week’s game without having to wear a glove. Orton completed 17 of 28 passes in the game for 43 yards.

Marshall, who during training camp was suspended for complaining about the fact that he wasn’t traded, led the team with seven catches on 27 yards. He did drop the first pass that was thrown to him.

Cincinnati coaches have a 9-0 regular season debut record, not counting the interim coaches.

Palmer was 21 for 33 with 247 yards after missing the final three games of the preseason with a sprained ankle.

A Bengals field goal attempt was botched on a bad snap.

The Bengals on 4th and 2 ran the wild cat, keeping a drive alive.

There was a crowd of 62,831 at the game, 3,000 less than the stadium’s capacity.

Questions still follow Maualuga. Dressing for practice to prepare for the final exhibition game for the Bengals against the Colts, almost 2,000 miles away from home where all of the criticisms began. And the unflattering evaluations still follow him.

Maybe the former All American linebacker from USC, Rey Maualuga thought all of the questions had dissipated. May he mistakenly thought that because he was now starting to show his potential with the Bengals, after being drafted by Cincinnati mid second round, that he wouldn’t have to think about all the negative analyses coming from anonymous scouts any longer. All the questions about his maturity, intelligence, and ability for him to translate his success in college to a successful pro football career. Maualuga has discovered that even thought Jeff FitzGerald, Bengals linebackers coach, stated on a recent show of “Hard Knocks” on HBO that the coaching staff absolutely needed to get Maualuga into the starting lineup, that the questions about whether he has NFL level talent have not disappeared.

Maualuga says people will talk as he rested his hand, adorned with his “One Love” Jamaican inspired bracelet, inside his metal locker. People are going to say things about you and say you can’t do it. No matter what I said it was not going to help in getting me drafted to where I wanted to go. I had to come here and just let my play do the talking.

His play so far has sounded like a man yelling into his microphone. In the Bengals’ third exhibition game against the Rams, Maualuga had eight tackles, leading the team even though he started this season at strong side linebacker behind Rashad Jeanty on the team’s depth chart. This week FitzGerald said Maualuga has made it into a race and it’s now a neck and neck battle. Maualuga on Sunday stated he has been informed that he would start in Cincinnati’s season opener, although the team has not announced that.

The coaches have also found him impressive when working as a middle linebacker, which was the position he played in college at USC, when Cincinnati switches to the nickel defense during passing situations.

FitzGerald said that when it came to him playing outside linebacker that here had been questions regarding his pass coverage because they hadn’t seen him playing there before. Up to now we have been happy with what we have seen. There are always concerns when you haven’t seen a guy in the position. He exclusively played inside linebacker and we didn’t get to see him covering receivers from outside the box. Coming into the spring that was one of the big questions we had about his, but he’s done a good job and been able to carry that through into training camp.

As the scouts worried about his exploits on the field (was he inconsistent, was he just a big play wonder), there were other questions regarding his maturity.

Before the Rose Bowl last season, Maualuga, who won the Bednarik Award for being the top defensive player in the nation, was captured on film, dancing suggestively behind Erin Andrews, sideline reporter for ESPN. It wasn’t a good reflection on him, and it was obvious he had made a mistake with the video getting millions of YouTube views.

Maualuga stated that he apologized with how he handled himself and felt he had show disrespect to women. He added that he didn’t want there to be the appearance that they could do things like that and get away with it.

Since then he’s walked the line of trying to maintain his what’s best for the team, chilled out, happy go lucky personality while at the same time trying not to be too obnoxious as a rookie linebacker who is challenging a veteran for a starting position.

At the team’s training camp, located in Georgetown, KY, Maualuga was always the last rookie to leave after signing autographs. One time his legs started to cramp from staying on so long that he needed to be carried off the field as he continued signing footballs and tossing them to the fans. He has also playfully nabbed walkie talkies from gullible team interns.

It’s definitely harmless fun. However, his complete personality won’t be revealed until after Maualuga completely understands all the fine points regarding his position.

FitzGerald said this is just a glimpse of who we will see on the football field. He will be good in the community and interactive with people. All of that will come. But right now it is all about him learning how to play our defense and the linebacker techniques we use, and then just getting out and playing your behind off.

The veteran linebackers and several of the fellow ex USC Trojans, including Keith Rivers, linebacker, Frostee Rucker, defensive end, and Carson Palmer, quarterback, will all help him to channel his enthusiasm.

Chinedum Ndukwe, strong safety, said about Maualuga that he is very high spirited and that was a good thing he brought to the team. He just needs to channel that in the right way. Regardless he will make the plays. I am sure that Rey wants to be a big time player. The veteran guys surrounding him is going to really help him.

Early in training camp Maualuga was slowed by a hamstring injury. He missed about a week of practice as well as the team’s first exhibition game. However since that time with all the repetitions during practice, he has performed very well.

Marvin Lewis, head coach for the Bengals, said that Maualuga might make a small mistake or something but he is going full speed. What he does, he does with an impact. Like most of the college players Rey comes needing to learn how to discipline his eyes. And that is true with just about any college linebacker. But USC has a varied defensive scheme and he learned a lot there so he has a big advantage.

Although Maualuga has tried to let his playing during preseason answer all of the criticism, he has not forgot what occurred in April. He said he was bitter at first when he didn’t get drafted until the second round, but that he has gotten over it. However, the way that he plays seems to confirm that he is still attempting to answer all of the questions that have never quite gone away.

Maualuga said he didn’t know that he really had anything to prove. I just need to go out and play football and do what the coaches have taught me. He added that he wasn’t going out of his way to show other people what he could do. Football is what I have played for 12 years. Sometime people will say he is a football player. We were wrong. This guy really can play. That is what I am going to show.

The fire and brimstone speech that was given after the Cincinnati Bengals loss last week to the Rams appears to have definitely resonated with the team.

On Thursday night in the final game of the preseason versus the Indianapolis Colts and before 56,527 fans at Paul Brown Stadium, the Bengals came out of the gate with a much larger sense of purpose. It definitely showed in their 38-7 victory.

The win gave the Bengals a 2-2 preseason record for the second year in a row. With their loss the Colts record dropped to 1-3. They haven’t had a winning preseason since 2004.

The Bengals have now won six straight games against the Colts during the preseason.

Marvin Lewis, Bengals head coach, said they were not going to brag about tonight’s statistics, but the first group did come out and set the tempo and were able to get things done. Then we had the opportunity to see some of the guys who needed to show why they deserve to be here. He added that they got good tape to look at, and that is what the game had been about.

The offensive line, after struggling during the game last week, performed a lot better. They allowed only one sack and were able to open up the running game where the backs continued to take advantage. Out of the 389 total offensive yards for the Bengals, 296 were on the ground and they averaged 6.9 yard a carry.

With many players fighting for a spot on the roster, Brian Leonard really helped his cause during the first half of the game. The 3rd running back who was acquired by the Bengals in a trade in May with the Rams, had a breakout performance finally which may have wrapped the third spot up for him.

Leonard had nine rushes for 64 yards along with a touchdown and two catches for eight yards.

DeDe Dorsey gave one more reason to consider him with his block of a punt from Pat McAfee in the early part of the fourth quarter and seven yard score. Dorsey finished the game with nine carries and 46 yards. Coming into the game he was the last Cincinnati player to block a punt two years ago while playing against Arizona.

Today the Bengals will be very deliberate before paring their roster down to 53 by the Saturday 4 p.m. deadline. The team will actually have 54 players since Andre Smith, first round draft pick, is exempt for two weeks.

The night was a fast one for the first teams. On the Colts’ opening drive the defense was able to force a three and out. The offense was then able to drive for 61 yards on five plays. The first 44 yards were all accounted for by Cedric Benson on three plays (two of the plays were runs which totaled 35 yards). Andre Caldwell was then able to get free and caught a pass of 14 yards from J.T. O’Sullivan in the end zone.

Two hours prior to the game, Carson Palmer did suit up and work on a practice field. However he did not participate in the pre-game drills and missed his third game in a row.

The Colts tied the game on their next possession when Jim Sorgi hit Taj Smith with a 22 yard pass for a touchdown. Defender Geoffrey Pope tried to break up the pass but mistimed the play, which allowed Smith to go free untouched. The Colts caught a break during that drive when an interception by Corey Lynch was disallowed when Pat Sims was penalized for being offside.

On the next drive, the Bengals were able to retake the lead on a 49 yard field goal from Sam Swank. The drive was started by Bernard Scott with his kick return of 35 yards down to the Bengals 47, and then rushed three times for 14 yards. The sixth round draft pick, who throughout the preseason continued to progress, finished the game with five carries and 43 yards.

It appeared that the Colts were on their way to scoring again when Morgan Trent stripped the ball from John Matthews which was recovered on the Bengals 34 yard line by Marvin White.

The Bengals were then able to break the game wide open during the final six minutes of the first half, with their two scoring drives. They increased the score to 17-7 on an 81 yard, eight play drive which was capped off by a seven yard Jordan Palmer pass to Chris Henry in the end zone. The touchdown was Henry’s fourth for the preseason.

Leonard on that drive made the play of the night, hurdling over defender Travis Key on a 23 yard gain. Palmer, three plays later on third down, scrambled for 26 yards and fumbled in Colts’ territory. However the play was reversed when he was ruled down by contact.

Frostee Rucker was able to force a fumble and then recovered the ball at the Colts’ 14. From four yards out Leonard then rushed up the middle in three plays. The score was 24-7 at half time.

During the second quarter, Cincinnati out gained Indianapolis 131-34 with Pat Sims having two key third down sacks that ended drives. The Bengals finished the game with six sacks.

The Bengals opening drive for the second half was a 10 play 72 yard drive that was capped off by a Palmer 25 yard pass to Kolomona Kapanui.

Palmer struggled at the beginning, but then settled down and went 8 for 16 with two touchdowns and 75 yards.

Jim Sorgi went 11 for 19 for the Colts for 119 yards in what was his first preseason playing action. The Colts sat all of their starters out except two.

Just two days after ending his holdout Andre Smith, Cincinnati Bengals rookie right tackle, broke his left foot at practice.

The first round draft pick suffered a small fracture in his foot while working out in a non-contact drill. It was just his third workout since he had signed his deal with the Bengals. His chances of landing a starting position this year was given another major setback.

Marvin Lewis, head coach for the Bengals, stated that the medical staff told him that the injury wouldn’t require surgery. He added that it was too soon to make any close predictions in terms of how long it would be before he would be able to return to the practice field but that it looked like he would miss a few weeks.

The Bengals drafted Smith as the sixth overall pick and expected that he would start at right tackle this year.

A protracted contract impasse has forced him into missing training camp as well as the first three games of the preseason. On Sunday he finally agree to a $21 million guaranteed four year contract and later that day worked out with the team in hopes of playing in the final game of the preseason against Indianapolis on Thursday.

For now the team will have Anthony Collins, second year lineman, at right tackle. Last year Collins was a fourth round pick and due to injuries was the starting right tackle in six games.

The offensive line has been overhauled during the off season. Cincinnati has made changes at both tackle positions and at center, trying to upgrade their offense which ranked last in the NFL in 2008.

The main priority is making sure Carson Palmer, the quarterback, is protected. He was hit on a frequent basis last year. Palmer’s nose was broken during the preseason, and during the regular season he tore a tendon and ligament in his passing elbow and was forced to miss 12 games.

During the first game of the preseason this year, Palmer sprained his left ankle and has had to miss the last two preseason games. On Tuesday he took snaps for the first time since the sprain with the starting offense.

Lewis said that Palmer looked remarkably improved and was moving better.

Palmer wants to play in the last game of the preseason. Lewis will make a final decision right before the game.

Lewis said that as they go forward they were going to play it out in terms of what would be best for Carson. He added that it was good to see Palmer getting back and involved with what the team was doing today and tomorrow and that the goal was having him ready for going full speed by Monday.

There is a new name and new role for Chad Ochocinco.

International soccer fan and emergency kicker for Cincinnati kicked the extra point, and what proved to be the decisive point, late in the second quarter of the Bengals’ 7-6 victory over the Patriots on Thursday night.

Ochocinco said that “Estaban” Ochocinco, the most interesting soccer player in the world, was back. He said that everyone needed to remember that he had always said that his number one sport was soccer. He added that he thought Ronaldinho would be proud of him right now.

Ochocinco does practice kicking, but had never done so in any preseason or regular season games in his eight year career with the Bengals, with the first seven years being under the name of Chad Johnson. However with Shayne Graham suffering from a sore groin during the pre-game warm ups, Marvin Lewis, Bengals coach, decided to rest one of the team’s franchise players and let Ochocinco show what he could do.

He did it very well.

After the game was over, Ochocinco pulled his PDA out and showed off a photo of him with David Beckham, the soccer star.

He said that soccer was his first love and that kicking was easy for him, like riding a bike. He said he could kick from 50 to 60 yards from either the right or left hash mark and that he kicked all during high school.

The receiver, who is the team’s career leader in yards receiving and catches, was able to power the football through the uprights, which can be a tough task if it is not done on a regular basis.

Wes Welker, wide receiver for the Patriots who kicked an extra point and field goal for Miami on the same field in a 27-10 loss to the Patriots in October 2004, said it wasn’t easy. To kick the extra point was really something and he got some good height on the kick.

By the time the extra point was made, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was finished for the night and his backups Brain Hoyer and Kevin O’Connell were unable to bring the Patriots team back during the scoreless second half. However, Brady had already shown in the game that he could take a hit, coming back from his left knee injury which ended his season after suffering the injury during last year’s opening game.

He got knocked down twice during the 13 snaps that he took, following the game the week before when he stayed upright on all of the 24 snaps that he took in the Patriots’ 27-25 win in Philadelphia. Brady got up quickly each time he got knocked down.

Keith Rivers softly tossed Brady after the 2007 NFL MPV threw an incomplete pass during his third snap, with Brady landing on his back.

Rivers said he didn’t notice whether it bothered Brady, and that it felt just like a regular hit.

On the first play of Brady’s second and final series, Robert Geathers, left end, flattened him after easily getting around Nick Kaczur, the Patriots right tackle. Brady landed on his left side.

Fred Taylor, running back, said the good thing was that he got up after being hit good. He is tough.

New England scored twice on 32 and 41 yard field goals from Stephen Gostkowski. With 1:55 remaining in the half, the Bengals scored on a 24 yard pass from J.T. O’Sullivan to Chris Henry. Then Ochocinco trotted out onto the football field, lining up behind Kevin Huber, the holder. Everything worked as planned- snap, hold, kick.

O’Sullivan said that nothing surprises him, but that all the jokes aside, he was able to kick the ball through those uprights and won the game for us. He added that some people might find it funny but that it was important.

The Patriots later in the game drove all the way down to the Bengals 12 with a first down, but the Bengals’ Marvin White was able to recover a fumble from Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis with just 3:43 minutes remaining in the game. Bill Belichick, Patriots coach, said that in just about every aspect of the game that they were pretty sloppy.

O’Sullivan started for Cincinnati, with Carson Palmer sitting the game out due to a injury to his right ankle that was suffered in the team’s 17-7 loss against New Orleans in the exhibition opener for the Bengals. Palmer does not expect that he will miss the team’s regular season opening game and may return to playing before then.

Lewis said that they played a finesse team last week and that this week showed that they were capable of competing against a power team. He added that he thought they had a good response and were mature.

For the second week in a row, Brady proved that he has put his knee injury behind him. However, some of the passes he threw were off target, which included overthrowing an end zone pass to Welker. Brady was 4 for 8 with 57 yards, which included a 32 yard gain from Welker, who gained most of the yards running. Brady was more productive in the teams opening 27-25 win in Philadelphia where he passed for two touchdowns to Chris Baker.

However Brady could do nothing to overcome Ochocinco’s winning kick but watch from the sideline.

Lewis, smiling, said that he reminded him of that.

Be prepared for the holdout that could very well spill over into the regular season.

On Sunday Alvin Keels came and left Cincinnati without sealing a deal for Andre Smith, first round draft pick.

Keels met with Mike Brown and Katie Blackburn for four hours without making any progress. Judging by Keels posts on Twitter, it sounds as though both sides are still entrenched in their respective positions. He wrote leaving Cinci and not any closer on an Andre Smith deal.

Sunday was the 24th day that Andre Smith, Cincinnati’s number 6 pick, has been unsigned. He along with San Francisco’s 10th pick Michael Crabtree are the two first rounders who still are unsigned.

Cincinnati’s last offer to Andre Smith was a base of $28 million for five years and a $33 million maximum. That amount is lower than a contract that was offered to Vernon Gholston of the Jets, last year’s sixth pick, who had a base of $32.5 million as well as the seventh pick this year, Darrius Heyward-Bey with Oakland with a base of $38.25 million.

Cincinnati’s 2001 first round pick, Justin Smith, went unsigned for 51 days and in 1984 Ricky Hunley went unsigned until his rights got traded mid season to Denver.

Mark Brunell and Drew Brees each threw touchdown passes in the New Orleans Saints 17-7 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in the preseason opening game for both teams.

Brees played in three series, which went into the second quarter, completing 6 out of 9 passes that included a 22-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Shockey. Brunell was 9 for 13 and passed for 128 yards, which included a 64 yard strike scoring Robert Meachem. Neither Brees or Brunell threw an interception in the game.

Meachem had three receptions totaling 77 yards, and Shockey caught three passes as well for a total of 61 yards. Reggie Bush, coming back from microfacture knee surgery, rushed for five yards on three attempts.

The Saints new look defense, which is under Gregg Williams, the new defensive coordinator, gave up 379 total yards to the Bengals but were able to hold them to just seven points and forced three turnovers. The game saw the return of Carson Palmer, after missing 12 out of the last 13 games for the Bengals last season when he decided against surgery to repair the injured elbow on his throwing arm. Palmer went 7 for 11 with 133 passing yards and 1 interception in his playing time during the first quarter.

Chris Henry scored the only Bengals touchdown when he caught a 14 yard pass in the second quarter from J.T. O’Sullivan. O’Sullivan went 9 for 11 with 100 passing yards and did not throw an interception.

At halftime the game was tied at 7-7. Shockey’s touchdown put the Bengals on the board first at the beginning of the second quarter, and then the Bengals evened the score on Henry’s touchdown seconds before half time. Midway through the third quarter the Saints took the lead in the game for good when Brunell connected with Meachem on a 64 yard touch down pass. A field goal of 54 yards was added by Garrett Hartley at the beginning of the fourth quarter for the game’s final score.

Game Notes
The Saints defense last year ranked 26th in points allowed and 23rd against the pass. The Bengals, who finished the games with 289 passing yards, ranked 30th in passing and were last in scoring. Chad Ochocinco, Bengals wide receiver, caught two passes for 73 yards and Marques Colston, Saints wide receiver, caught one pass for 14 yards.

When earlier in the week Tony Dungy said that Michael Vick would be signed within the week, there was as a lot of speculating going on about what team Vick would wind up on. There were quite a few rumors of him ending up in either New England or Pittsburgh. That was probably due to the fact that these franchises are strong and have excellent coaching staffs, which is after all what Vick really needs.

When the announcement came that Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles had come to a two-year agreement, it sounded like a good fit.

They have a very good head coach in Andy Reid, and the organization is very strong. Starter Donovan McNabb is solid, which will give Vick the opportunity to get his game up to speed.

There was another rumor coming out of profootballtalk.com that there was another team that had also been interested in signing Vick.

In turns out, according to Jay Glazer, that the team was none other than the Cincinnati Bengals.

Who could not see that coming.

Mike Brown, the Bengals owner and notorious for being cheap, offered a two-year $2.3 million dollar contract to Vick.

The Bengals have reportedly been trying to get their organization cleaned up. Sure Vick might deserve another chance of playing in the NFL. However, the last team in the league that should sign Vick would be Cincinnati.

The Bengals team seems to target players with problems and then breeds even more problems. Just ask Chris Henry.

If Vick had ended up in Cincinnati, he might not have ever gotten into trouble. However, alcoholics shouldn’t get a job in a bar. You wouldn’t be forced drink, but that temptations would always be there.

The very best thing that Vick could have done for himself was sign with Philadelphia.

The Eagles fans are to be congratulated. This season will be exciting. Congratulations to Michael Vick as well, who is already showing signs of making better decisions.

On Wednesday Reggie Kelly was placed on injured reserve after he underwent surgery on his left leg to treat his ruptured Achilles tendon.

The injury for the Bengals starting tight end occurred two days prior during one of the team’s non-contact drills. A full recovery is expected for the 11-year veteran by the beginning of next season.

Kelly’s injury was Cincinnati’s first significant one of training camp. Last year he caught 31 passes on 207 receiving yard, and was the Bengals’ third leading receiver.

Two other Bengals tight ends were injured on Wednesday. Ben Utecht, a reserve, suffered a concussion during Wednesday’s evening practice. As a precaution he was sent to the hospital. The injury occurred during one of the team’s full speed drills. It appeared that Utecht hit head to head with Darryl Blackstone, a linebacker. Utecht crumpled to the ground and was unconscious temporarily.

Utecht’s teammates knelt beside him as he was being strapped onto a stretcher and placed into an ambulance to be taken to the hospital. He was kept overnight for observation. Jack Brennan, Cincinnati spokesman, said that Utecht had full movement in his legs and arms.

Another reserve tight end, Daniel Coats, wound up with a sprained ankle, suffered in the morning workout and showed up at the evening session on crutches. After these injuries there are only two tight ends remaining- rookies Chase Coffman, a third round pick and Dairus Hill, a free agent.

Many people blame the Cincinnati Bengals 4-11-1 record of last season to losing Carson Palmer for three fourths of the season. However, there were deeper problems. In 2006 and 2007 Palmer threw for over 4,000 yards and had over 25 touch downs. In 2007, however, the team went 0-4 in the games that Palmer played. So that is not exactly a sign that the Bengals teams would have done any better with him at quarterback instead of Ryan Fitzpatrick. Even Peyton Manning might have had a difficult time igniting the Bengals’ 2008 passing game.

So what caused the slide from being the league’s seventh best passing team in 2007 to 2008 when they were third worst? There were two major factors that contributed to the downfall of the team’s passing game. The first factor was the performance of Chad Ochocinco. After six seasons in a row of going over 1,100 yards, in 2008 Ochocinco gained only 540 receiving yards. Not nearly as explosive as he was in previous years, his biggest accomplishment of the 2008 season wasn’t anything he accomplished on the field, but rather his off field feat of having his last name legally changed from Johnson to Ochocinco.

The second factor causing the Bengal’s passing game slide was their lack of a decent ground game. Cincinnati released Rudi Johnson, running back, prior to the season. They felt confident that Kenny Watson and Chris Perry would be able to handle things. Unfortunately this did not materialize and the two running backs only rushed for a combined 324 yards for the season.

Their performances were so poor that the Bengals had to call on Cedric Benson, the often troubled running back, who rushed for 747 yards and two touchdowns on 214 carries. Despite the solid contribution, even Benson could not keep the opposing defensive teams honest, as the kept their focus on stopping the Bengals only real offensive threat, TJ Houshmandzadeh.

So despite the fact that 2008, where the Bengals ended up 12th in the league, was the best performance for the Bengals defense since 2001, the 2008 season was a waste.

Key Additions
Wide receiver Laveranues Coles. The Bengals will definitely miss T J Houshmandzadeh. However, the addition of Coles definitely helps to soften that blow. Coles is not the same deep threat that he was at one time, however he will be able to utilize his toughness to run the Bengals offense underneath routes.

Coles’ 2008 season was solid. He had 850 receiving yards and seven touchdowns and might improve on these numbers in 2009 paired up with Palmer. Particularly if Ochocinco doesn’t perform more like Ouchostinko.

Key Departures
Wide receiver TJ Houshmandzadeh. T J had been the Bengals wide receiver workhorse for three years with over 90 receptions for each of those three seasons. In 2006 and 2007 Housh had 1,000 receiving yards and nine plus touchdowns. His stats went down in the 2008 season when the Bengals passing game unraveled. He still managed to snag 92 receptions, 904 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Palmer will definitely miss his go to receiver.

Offensive tackle Andre Smith. Last year the Bengals allowed the third most sacks in the NFL and also had the third worst average yard per carry in the league. So it didn’t take a genius to figure out that the Bengals desperately needed to bolster the offensive line during the off season.

The Bengals selected Andre Smith, impressive tackle from Alabama, as the sixth overall pick in the draft. However, similar to most of the Bengals players, Smith comes with some questionable character traits and work ethic. If Smith is able to come through this season, he could end up anchoring the Bengals offensive line for years to come. However, if he fails to do this, the pick could end up blowing up in the Bengals faces.

Spotlight
Quarterback Carson Palmer is the biggest risk/reward option of the 2009 season. Fantasy owners will not only have to concern themselves with whether or not he can recover from last year’s elbow injury and surgery, but there are also questions about his wide receiver options after Housh bolted to Seattle. However, Palmer has gone over 3,800 yards and had at least 26 touchdowns in all three seasons before last season, so he could definitely be a great value pick.

The Bengals gave running back Cedric Benson his second chance after he was released from the Chicago Bears due to a DUI and BUI. Benson was able to take advantage of the opportunity and played good enough, particularly in the season’s last two games where he rushed for 182 yards and secured his 2009 starting spot. You can consider him as a running back 3 option in your fantasy draft.