Oh yeah...now I remember.

From C. Trent's blog, this is what a sellout crowd looked like in the fourth quarter of today's "football game" at Paul Brown Stadium.

You know, for a while there I had kind of forgotten what it was like to be part of a fanbase that represents absolute irrelevance.

You know what? That was kind of nice.

Lost in the debacle of Sunday's mediocrity (although "mediocrity" might be giving this team too much credit) were a couple of positives, believe it or not.

1. Keith Rivers looks to be a far cry from the "Poor man's Brian Simmons" that I and others feared he'd be coming out of the draft. The kid is very, very good and will only get better. It's a shame that he will spend his formative years in the NFL on such a wretched team.


2. I know Antwan Odom had an axe to grind today, but he played very well also. Odom is officially the best defensive end we have on this team, and the better he plays throughout the year will be a boon to Robert Geathers' production as well. I can't wait until Sims and Shirley are up to speed and healthy enough to relegate John Thornton to passing downs so he can be rested enough to be effective in the role he should be playing, i.e. penetrating and getting after the passer. Thornton flashed a couple of times today, as I've noticed he can do from time to time when he's not out on the field in run defense for so long he gets worn down.

Mike Zimmer and Jeff FitzGerald can build around these two young players, and this defensive unit could actually be on the way up faster than I gave it credit for going into this season.

It's a real shame that any improvement that the defensive unit has made or will make will now be overshadowed by the utter ineptitude that trots out on the offensive side of the ball every Sunday.

Wait, I want you to go back and read that last sentence again. Read it with the knowledge that for the first time since 2004, I have absolutely no confidence at all in the Bengals' offense. That's none whatsoever. It's a real shame that only two years ago I would have had no doubt about the Bengals' ability to march the ball down the field in a two minute drill, regardless of the team that stood in their way. The previous two weeks I have sat in my living room shaking my head while I watched my favorite sports team redefine the word "impotent."

When Chris Perry isn't giving his teammates fumble recovery practice, he really is a pretty good running back. The problem is that his name is not Barry Sanders, which means he cannot gain positive yardage by creating his own holes behind a craptastic offensive line. No effective run blocking equals no run game, and that equals the passing game going to hell in a hand basket like we've all witnessed for the past six games (including preseason).

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Once again, the playcalling on offense was absolutely putrid. Bob Bratkowski should win some kind of award for his inability to adjust a game plan that his players are not executing. What, you thought Brat was out of my doghouse this week because he didn't trot out the shovel pass again?

Don't worry, I'm sure he'll use it twice next week to make up for lost ground and to hit his quota.

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Lastly, before I wrap things up for the night and start heading towards the sack, is it too much to ask for Marvin Lewis to go Jim Mora or Dennis Green at some point? Listening to Marvin and Carson talk about the last two performances, if you hadn't seen the game you would have a completely different perspective on the game than those of us unlucky enough to have watched. The comments and demeanor we see from our head coach and quarterback would indicate a team that was actually in the contest for a while and hadn't recently come off of a two-year decline from division champ to perennial chump.

There's no fire, there's no heart, there's no urgency, there's no anything that a team needs to win football games.

My son's name is Carson and that didn't happen by accident, so you know how much of a Palmer fan I am. That makes it hurt that much more to say that it's starting to look like Palmer is thinking about cashing in his chips here in Cincinnati. A quarterback of his caliber shouldn't be making the kinds of mistakes he's making (to be fair, I think he only really owns one of his three INTs this year...I mean really, how dare he hit his receivers in the numbers!), and it looks more and more like he's checking out each week.

I'm getting pretty close to saying if we don't show up at the Meadowlands next weekend, we may as well trot Fitzpatrick out there against Cleveland. Why not? Part of me wants to think that watching their star quarterback riding the pine because his teammates can't protect him, catch the football or hang onto it when they DO get their hands on the ball would fire the Bengals' offense up, but at this point I seriously doubt it.

Now where did I put that brown paper bag again?

Sincerely,

A Pragmatic Bengals Fan