The Cincinnati Bengals had an extra week to self-study and fine-tune. It did no good. Instead of looking refreshed after their bye week, Cincinnati’s offense looked rusty in a 14-13 loss to previously winless Tampa Bay on Sunday. With a brutal upcoming stretch in the schedule — Carolina, Atlanta, Baltimore, San Diego and surprising New Orleans — the Bengals might look back at the loss to the Buccaneers as more than a minor misstep. Yesterday brought more bad news. Coach Marvin Lewis said offensive left tackle Levi Jones would probably require arthroscopic surgery and miss at least the Panthers game. Lewis said receiver Kelley Washington (hamstring) also would miss that game. With Chris Henry (suspended) and Tab Perry (hip) out, that will leave only three experienced receivers. Suddenly, a season that began with three wins might be at the crossroads, and the offense is the surprising reason. The Bengals have scored only 13 points in each of the past two games, an unacceptable total for an offense so talented. The line has taken the brunt of the criticism, and though some of that is deserved, it is an incomplete answer. The Palmer-Chad Johnson combination, so lethal the past two seasons, is out of sync. Yes, Johnson finally caught a pass longer than 18 yards by making a diving 50-yard reception Sunday, but he and Palmer had poor timing on more than one route. As for Palmer, his 24-of-37 performance was certainly respectable, and he didn’t throw an interception or fumble (other than once on a snap). But he still doesn’t look like the uncannily accurate quarterback he was in 2005. At times, he appears to be short-arming throws, which could be a byproduct of the knee injury last season or shaky protection. What might be more disconcerting is the overall lack of rhythm in the offense. A year ago, the offensive formula was pretty clear: Use the explosive passing game to take the lead and have running back Rudi Johnson pound the defense to milk the clock. This year, it’s hard to identify the Bengals’ identity. With defenses intent on taking away the deep passing game, Cincinnati has been ineffective making teams pay for that strategy. On Sunday, after Rudi Johnson was limited to 3 yards in the first half, he said the Bengals were intent on establishing the running game. Johnson opened the second half with runs of 13, 5, 5 and 6 yards. But then T.J. Houshmandzadeh was stuffed for no gain on a reverse and Palmer, saying he got "greedy," threw an incompletion to kill the drive. In the somber locker room, the Bengals spoke of their frustration. More telling might have been the silence. Chad Johnson and Willie Anderson, perhaps the two most talkative players, declined comment. With all the injuries, it might be unrealistic for Cincinnati to be the high-powered offense it was a year ago. Perhaps the Bengals will get a boost when running back Chris Perry returns from the physically-unable-to-perform list as early as Wednesday. As valuable as the versatile Perry can be, the difference he makes will be minimal unless the Bengals can find a way to keep the other parts of the offensive machine from misfiring. Considering the upcoming opponents, time is of the essence. Columbus Dispatch http://columbusdispatch.com/bengals/bengals.php?story=dispatch/2006/10/17/20061017-E6-00.html |
