 Bengals On The Move They have been their own worst enemy lately, so it’s probably good timing. Cincinnati can take this week to focus on itself rather than concentrating on another team. "You try to get a chance to self-scout," linebacker Brian Simmons said. "You look at the things you’ve done well and the things you haven’t done well and the things you’ve kind of done well and get better in every category."
When the Bengals were 3-0, it might have been easier to gloss over shortcomings. A 38-13 spanking administered by New England on Sunday has made self-evaluation more urgent. "The second we walked into the locker room, the first thing we said to each other was, ‘That’s not good enough. We have to stay poised and go to work,’ " center Eric Ghiaciuc said. "We went to work yesterday. We’re already addressing problems." The Bengals’ defensive woes are not new. The defense has long been a unit that relied on turnovers to mask weaknesses such as an inconsistent run defense. Problems on the other side of the ball are unexpected. When quarterback Carson Palmer returned from his devastating knee injury before the season, the offense seemed destined to pick up where it left off. Instead, Palmer has fumbled five times in the past two games and been sacked 14 times in the past three games. The Bengals allowed only 21 sacks last season. "If you look at the teams that we’ve played to this point, we’ve played some good defenses," offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski said. The good news is that Palmer’s knee has held up. But the more he is hit, the greater the odds for calamity. "It has an effect on any quarterback," Bratkowski said. "What we’ve got to do is do a better job of protecting him. I think his knee is fine. I don’t think that is even an issue. I’ve always said it, but the quarterback is only as good as the players around him are. And in most cases, we’ve been playing OK. We’ve won three games. The other day we didn’t quite get it done." It would help if the Bengals could get their deep passing game back on track, but it’s obvious opponents have made a concerted effort to take that away. Chad Johnson’s longest reception is 18 yards. "I think after the things we did offensively last season, a lot of teams have spent a lot of time in the offseason studying us and trying to take away some of the things we did last year," Bratkowski said. "We’re constantly adjusting and trying to stay a step ahead of them." Success would be easier if the offensive line had remained intact. Center Rich Braham, out because of a fractured tibia, is revered for his ability to change blocking assignments just before the snap. Ghiaciuc, a second-year player, simply lacks the experience. "He’s playing good. He can play better," Bratkowski said. The same goes for most of Ghiaciuc’s teammates. They have 10 days to fix the deficiencies before they play at Tampa Bay. Columbus Dispatch
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