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Inconsistencies on offense, defense still need to be addressed At the start of training camp, the Bengals would have gladly taken a 3-1 record heading into their bye today. They didn’t know if quarterback Carson Palmer’s reconstructed knee would hold up to the rigors of an NFL season. It has. They — or at least their fans — looked at a rugged early schedule and worried they could find themselves in a hole. Cincinnati is ahead of Pittsburgh and a game behind Baltimore in the AFC North. The bullet has been dodged. But all is not ribbons and bows for the Bengals. The 38-13 loss to New England last week showed Cincinnati is a team that will require significant improvement if it’s to be the Super Bowl contender it believes it is. Even with the return of Palmer, the offense has not clicked consistently. It ranks only 19 th out of 32 NFL teams. Without injured center Rich Braham, the offensive line hasn’t been the overpowering unit it expected to be. "Guys just have to come together more, get a better feel for each other," right guard Bobbie Williams said. "That’s one thing that the original line had — that togetherness. We’ve been together for going on three years. You’ve just got to get that feel, and in this league you’ve got to do it fast. "There’s no margin for error. You see what can happen with that error. It leads to five or six sacks. And that’s not us. That’s not this offensive line here in Cincinnati at all." Palmer has rightly taken some of the blame for the 15 sacks. He needs to do a better job of sensing pressure and getting rid of the ball when he does. The Bengals also must find a way to get their deep passing game untracked. Extra defensive attention has turned Chad Johnson into a glorified possession receiver. Though T.J. Houshmandzadeh has played well since returning from a heel injury, it was clear in the New England game how much Cincinnati missed Chris Henry. The NFL has suspended the oft-arrested receiver for the next two games. Even after the suspension expires, the Bengals will count on Henry at their own peril. "We’re not where we were at last year, but I don’t think we’re too far behind," running back Rudi Johnson said. "At the same time, everyone just has to improve, whether that’s watching more film, communicating more with everybody, whatever has to be done." Defensively, it has been mostly the same story as last year, which is a disappointment. The addition of Sam Adams was supposed to help shore up the run game, but shoddy tackling and missed assignments continue. Adams hasn’t had a tackle the past two games. Though his value isn’t necessarily reflected in stats, Adams has looked like a nonfactor most of the time. "We’ve got to be more gap-sound," middle linebacker Brian Simmons said. "We have to do a better job of tackling. If we get those two things fixed, we’ll be all right. "It’s one thing to sit here and talk about it. It’s another to go on the field and get it fixed. Right now, that’s kind of the phase we’re at." Simmons has been a Bengal since 1998, so defensive struggles are nothing new to him. He acknowledged it’s frustrating to have to answer the same questions all over again. He also has experienced seasons that were all but doomed at this point of the schedule, so he knows how much worse it could be. "The great thing about it is we’re sitting here and have to make these adjustments and fix these things, but we’re 3-1," Simmons said. "We can’t lose sight of that. You’ve got to take the good with the bad and realize we haven’t played as good as we can, because we know we can be a great football team. At the same time, we’re 3-1, and you have to feel good about that also." Columbus Dispatch http://columbusdispatch.com/bengals/bengals.php?story=dispatch/2006/10/08/20061008-E15-01.html
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