WhoDeyRevolution

My thoughts on the Palmer trade

Of all that's being written about the Bengals' recent on- and off-field success lately, the most backward viewpoint has to be that which Peter King expressed in his recent MMQB:

I think if the season was seven weeks long and I had to vote today, my Executive of the Year would be Mike Brown. It's not just the Palmer trade. It's sticking to his guns on draft day and waiting, waiting, waiting for Andy Dalton at the 34th overall pick.

Let's be clear: the end result of the team's quarterback controversy, in essentially replacing Carson Palmer with Andy Dalton and a first-round pick (or possibly even swapping a second-rounder for a first-rounder as well), is undeniably beneficial, certainly for the Bengals' future and maybe even present chances. However -- as King himself somehow points out without realizing the larger truth -- Mike Brown did not plan for any of this to happen, or at the very least, did not sufficiently attempt to execute a plan.

Dalton could have very well been taken before the Bengals' picked him at 34; most draft projectors expected him to go earlier. For Mike Brown, assuming he had fully moved past Carson and was convinced that Dalton would be a future franchise-quarterback, to sit back and merely hope Dalton slid down to him shows laziness, stupidity or a combination of the two. He simply does not deserve accolades for failing to trade up and take Dalton if he really did strongly wish to land him as his future quarterback. A good result does not justify the process used to achieve it; it merely proves how lucky Mikey Boy was in gaining the quarterback he wanted despite his lack of proactivity.

The same applies to the Carson Palmer trade. Mikey Boy fully intended on keeping Palmer for the duration of his contract while foregoing decent compensation in a trade, not because he thought such a decision benefited the team but because it satisfied his ego and pride. That a team, the Raiders, came along with enough desperation for a quarterback to offer as great a package as they did is in no way a testament to Mikey Boy's plan. Once again, it is merely a case of Mikey Boy winning the lottery--his misguided process of trading Carson Palmer (or lack thereof) fortunately yielded the result of a team overpaying for Palmer.

This isn't to take all of the credit away from Brown. He did, after all, have to accurately evaluate Dalton in taking him, and he did have to swallow his pride in trading Palmer away when offered a package even he couldn't refuse. But, Executive of the Year? I don't think so.

Mikey Boy is still cheap. He is still stubborn, and vain, and selfish, and insistent on a mom-and-pop style of organizational operations that simply cannot compete with most other NFL teams. The Bengals still have just one permanent scout; they still are the northernmost team to not have an indoor practice facility. As this whole scenario has shown, the Bengals' decision-making and planning are still misguided and half-heatedly gone about, even during the rare times when Mikey Boy benefits from luck and some momentary sense. 

So, I hope that Bengals fans and the media are not fooled by the events of the past six months, that they continue to notice and call Mike Brown out on his incompetence. We are making progress in altering, if only a little, how the Bengals' organization runs; the blackout streak (even if it soon ends next month) is sending a message that Mikey Boy must listen to. Only if our dissatisfaction continues, and only if we continue applying vocal and financial pressure to him, will he change, and will the Bengals have more time periods like the one we're in now than those we've mostly been experiencing since 1990. When you see Dalton and the Bengals' additional first rounder pick playing in the years to come, think not of the exceptional moves Mike Brown somehow pulled off, but of how much the Bengals could constantly accomplish if their leader relied on sound reasoning and hard work rather than luck and laziness.

Smart Dudes Discuss Palmer Trade

Head on over to Shutdown Corner at Yahoo for a podcast amongst some people who know more about football than you do.  In particular, Greg Cosell, the main man at NFL Films for many decades - who literally just spends every day breaking down film of NFL players - weighs in on the deal.  I haven't listened yet but it should be very informative.

For one thing, we might get some perspective on this deal from the Oakland side beyond snarky "lolz good luk with haz been Palmr suckas!"  There is so many interesting angles on this deal that it calls for a fake Q&A with myself for later.

One thing I will note that though we are fairly crediting Mike Brown for getting without question top market value for Palmer, let's all remember he created the condition in this franchise where star players want to leave.  There's a limit to how much praise should be given to someone for fixing the very window they smashed.

Mike Brown On The Trade In His Own Words

Whole press release via Enquirer, but the meatiest quote highlighted via Joe Reedy's tweetdeck:

“We also find ourselves rather suddenly in position of being able to receive real value for Carson that can measurably improve our team – which is performing well and is showing real promise for this year and years to come. When this opportunity arose, we felt we could not let it pass, and needed to take a step forward with the football team if we could.”

Holy shit that is the most reasonable thing I've ever heard Mikey say.   How come all the decision making isn't this reasonable and isn't focused entirely on doing the best thing for the team?  How come Mikey makes this decision seem so reasonable and easy yet also does stuff like fails to make the effort to keep Jonathan Joseph in a season with no cap and tons of extra cash (even before they just freed up a TON of cash for the future)?

This Carson trade is great news for the team going forward (though it does seal the fate of the Carson Era as grossly mismanaged in the past) but it doesn't change how infuriating this franchise can be with its volatile decision making.

A longer post will come later but this is good start on sane decision making finally coming from the front office.  But it is only a start.  They need to show more commitment to this team and community and winning.  Perhaps with the freed up cash and draft picks they could, oh I don't know, BEEF UP THE FRONT OFFICE AND BUILD SOME REAL PRACTICE FACILITIES TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF A PROMISING YOUNG TEAM.  THIS IS SO EASY JUST FREAKING DO IT.  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

??????????

Approximately no one who has followed the Bengals under Mike Brown saw that coming.

This event deserves longer treatment when I have time.  For now, I only say:

1. The Bengals got value for a vocally disgruntled star, which is how good front offices operate
2. Given how Carson performed sans Ocho and TO at the end of last year, I still would have liked to see him ride out this year and the next while Zimmer remains under contract
3. The Carson Era ends with 2 playoff appearances, 2 division titles and 0 playoff wins...considering the trajectory of the team in 2004/2005 that is enormously disappointing.  Keep this in mind as the Andy Dalton Era begins.

Lewis Slams Paul Daugherty

Fellow comrade-in-arms, Paul Daugherty of the Cincinnati Enquirer and SI.com, was blasted by Marvin Lewis during his weekly press conference today.

"He" was never identified, but consideing Lewis's contentious relationship with the local media during his entire stint in Cincinnati, - could 'he' really be anyone else?

 

Is there anything you would like to say to the fans to get the attendance back up?
ML: “I can’t change people’s minds about things. You know what I mean? Someone has done a very good job of driving them away from here. And he’s been very wrong.”

You said earlier that ‘he's’ doing a good job of driving fans away. Who do you mean by ‘he’?
ML: “I said he did. So that's all I said. Nope, no clarification.”

 

You can find the entire transcript here.

Considering this incident - we also can't forget Enquirer reporter Dustin Dow - who was unfairly berated by Lewis in 2008 immediately following his article profiling Who Dey Revolution.

 

Nuff Ced

• Cedric Benson is so goddamn slow. Leonard, who is a white guy, is as fast as him at this point. Put Bernie Scott in the game. You ever notice that watching Benson trying to turn the corner to the outside is like watching an obstinate mule pull a cart behind it.
• Dunlap and the d line are the only above average thing about this team.
• While Jay Gruden is obviously an upgrade over Bratkowski, that doesn't mean he's the next Sam Wyche. I hear Bratkowski took over playcalling duties for his grandson's pop warner team and now they're only scoring 9 points a game.
• Reggie Nelson continues to BRING THE PHYSICALITY.
• I still think Gresham is being underutilized. Why can't they throw the guy a couple seam routes a game?
• I noticed Livings is still getting playing time. Someone should have been fired long ago for that. I hope they aren't grooming Bolling for the "Mathis Memorial Backup Center Is More Important Than Starting LG" spot on the team.
• Fuck Mike Brown.

Fat Hoosier Friday

Will Cinci be invaded by a bunch of fat humps in sixe XXXL 18 jerseys or will all those seats just be empty this year? I would think the fountain square Greater's is losing a LARGE amount of business this weekend.

Carlos Dunlap continues to get pressure along with the rest of the defensive front and this has made up for a great number of defeciencies in other areas. Also how could you not like the look of the Red Rifle over Gabbert last week. Although to be fair Gabbert has no one of Green or Gresham's talent to throw it to. Bernard Scott has to be due to get about 15-20 touches this week as everybody waits for Benson to get the hammer sooner rather than later.

I hope the colts being in full on "suck for luck" mode helps propel the bengals to victory, but with anything bengals I expect the worst and hope for something just mildly better than whatever vomit MB is trying to shovel me this week. Sadly we're still a couple weeks away from shots of Jim Tressel in a colts sweatervest which would have made this game a much better watch. 

 

Some quick thoughts..

A few odds and ends before tomorrow’s game…

• Hobspin has a great new article up on the buzz around a special team’s unit that currently ranks 15^th in DVOA. Granted, Mike Nugent has nailed all ten of his field goal attempts all season, and after the joys last year of watching a guy named Clint Stitser spasm his way to two missed PAT’s and the whole unit work its way to the 28^th rank in DVOA, this season appears a revelation. However, there are two problems with Hobspin’s point. One, as I’ll continue to proclaim to the day I die of multiple cleat-wounds to the chest, kicking accuracy is not consistent year-to-year and thus not an actual skill. Nugent, like all kickers with high field-goal percentages, will regress sooner than later. Second, Brandon Tate, he of the average kickoff and punt return numbers, really doesn’t seem like that explosive a returner. All he does on punt returns is make a bunch of fancy moves that make Bengals fans gasp with anticipation before realizing that he’s been taken down for a single-digit gain, and also that they’re still wasting their time watching Mikey Boy’s footballers. Hobspin’s implication that Tate will soon become a great returner because he’s an explosive player (which somehow hasn’t led to any results in 2+ NFL seasons) and is being coached by the immortal Darrin Simmons (whose credentials are lazily awed at by Hobspin because of the Bengals ’05 and ’09 playoff berths, during which his unit ranked 14^th and 21^st, respectively) really doesn’t make any sense. Special teams won’t be a struggle this season like last year—it just won’t be especially strong.
• Football Outsiders has some interesting data in a recent column, distinguishing early-season offensive sack numbers by whether they were given up long after the snap (3 seconds or more) or shortly after (2.5 seconds or less). So far, the Bengals have conceded the sixth-most “long snaps”. The Bengals' just below-average adjusted sack rate for this season, based on this, is a testament to the offensive line (mostly Andrew Whitworth’s elite play and the others’ non-Levi Jones-ness) and also the skill players like Jermaine Gresham and the backs who have stayed in to pass block. Many sacks have been due to Andy Dalton holding on to the ball and not porous blocking, showing that Dalton still has much developing to do (shocking) and that the Bengals offense might benefit from opening things up a bit. Right now, the Bengals receivers are having trouble getting open quickly, facing double-teams (especially AJ Green) without tight ends and backs to consistently take the attention away from them; this problem can be reduced by leaving less men in to block, which the o-line, especially with the return of Bobbie Williams, might be able to handle.
• The game against the Jaguars, like most of them at this point, serves as a barometer for where the Bengals are. Jacksonville has played like one of the worst teams in the league, with a decent defense but perhaps the worst offense in the NFL. For the Bengals to prove that they’ve made progress, that they actually aren’t a bottom-dwelling team, they need to not just win the game, but do so in a more convincing fashion than against Cleveland or Buffalo. As long as the Bengals can stop Maurice Jones-Drew and Dalton limits his mistakes, they should be fine; if the defense can’t stop the run even when facing a rookie quarterback and Dalton can’t avoid stupid plays even when the opposing offense can’t do anything, then it’ll be yet another close game. And yes, I do realize that the Jaguars are actually favored tomorrow, but I'm not sure how many people in Las Vegas watched Blaine Gabbert last week.
• Just a quick reminder, even though most people probably don’t need it: if the Bengals win tomorrow, getting above .500 and within half-a-game of first (because yeah, that’s a possibility), don’t go to any games this season. You want to watch Andy Dalton and AJ Green and Jermaine Gresham on good teams, playing in important and well-publicized games? Force change; force good ‘ole Mikey Boy to care about limiting our dissatisfaction with his mom-and-pop organization. This is the only way we can one day reveal we’re Bengals fans without making a self-deprecating joke!

TGIF! - Northern Florida's Team

Who do the bengals play this weekend I really have no idea I have totally checked out. Oh the jags I totally don't know how I missed that.

Carlos Dunlap is my favorite defensive player to watch since Tovar and somebody we can only hope MB lucks into locking up for a little while longer than his rookie contact. Dunlap gets consistent pressure and is somebody o-lines have to scheme for already. He looks like the type of d-line anchor you want to build around. The guy the bengals never have who makes everybody else around them better while still being able to get his own. I know people thought Geathers was this after his double digit sack season that we have never seen again but Dunlap just seem more consistent already if that makes any sense.

I still expect 2-3 after this weekend. I've just watched to many times where we've always always always let flukey rookie qb's beat us through the years.  I guess we'll see if this defense is any different. Either way the fighting who dey's lost to Alex Smith two week ago so nothing would surpise me at this point.