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Chick Ludwig covers the Cincinnati Bengals. He also writes about his other passions: college football, basketball and golf.Home > Blogs > Chick Ludwig At Large > Archives > 2008 > December > 11 > Entry
Some readers unleash their reaction: ‘Mr. Brown is like an alcoholic’
OCHO CINCO INTERVIEW
A BIG HIT, TEAM IMPROVES
ALMOST BY ACCIDENT
===LUDWIG AT LARGE appreciates and welcomes all readers’ comments. Let me be the one you run to. Let me be your shoulder to cry on.===
FROM KEITH IN CINCINNATI
“Hey, Chick, I enjoyed the Ocho interview. At what point do you think it will dawn on Chad, T.O., etc. that WRs don’t win championships, line play wins championships. Tennessee doesn’t exactly have a Pro Bowl set of receivers and they’re doing just fine.
Chad Ocho Cinco
Ocho ran up his numbers when Palmer was getting some protection, and the help of a good running game. If your quarterback is injured and running for his life, you won’t rack up big yards and TDs.
“As for the gun culture, it would appear that if you need a gun to protect yourself while you’re on the town, pick a different part of the town. I can’t believe Peyton Manning is packing heat when he goes out for dinner. Then again, he’s probably not wearing $200k worth of ridiculous jewelry and carrying a wad of cash to impress whomever is impressed by those things.”
• Chickster’s take: Ocho Cinco is realizing he can’t do much without a line and a healthy “No. 9” (Carson Palmer)
Daniel Coats
Chris Henry
FROM ED IN DAYTON
“The difference between winning and losing: Two interceptions because of receivers stopping or changing routes. A TE/FB who drops a TD pass. A two-deep zone that is split for 67 yards. Chris Henry has to go. Make that goooooooooo!”
• Chickster’s take: And a QB (Ryan Fitzpatrick) who fumbles on the opening possession at the Colts’ 30-yard line. If the Bengals score and take an early lead, it’s a different ball game.
FROM FRITZ IN WEST CARROLLTON
“Great article on Chad! I for one never blamed him for anything.
Odell Thurman
“But I did see a train wreck coming. The Bengals were lucky with their defense in the 11-5 season. Turnovers plus Odell. The next three drafts were terrible. In three drafts you need to get at least a couple of impact players, what I call “Class A” guys, not ton of “Average Joes.”
Mike Brown
“Now we hear Mike Brown saying that this year was Palmer getting hurt. Hello! The Bengals were 0-4 with Palmer. ( I projected 5-11 with Palmer!) Now, all these injuries. Bengals always go cheap. There aren’t many decent backups on the team … an example of poor talent evaluation by the Bengal brass.
“Mr. Brown is like an alcoholic. He can’t face/admit that he has a problem — a problem that has been going on for 20 years. It is always about excuses, every year, year in and year out.”
• Chickster’s take: Fritz, you’re right. I see a light at the end of the tunnel … and it’s another train approaching the wreckage. Believe me, Ryan Fitzpatrick is a good quarterback. But he’s playing behind a bad line.
FROM JIM IN DAYTON
“Chick: The Bengals are so far depleted in talent that it would take a Bill Parcells-type at least 3 years to bring them back to mediocrity. They are due to duplicate their record of ‘08 again in ‘09 and probably ‘10. Sorry you have to cover them.”
• Chickster’s take: Appreciate your comments, Jim. Actually, with the “forced” acquisitions of Chris Crocker and Mike Doss, the Bengals — believe it or not — are improving … by accident.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment | Categories: Bengals
Comments
By andrew
December 11, 2008 10:08 AM | Link to this
Chick, does your potential re-assignment have anything to do with how terrible the team plays? The economy’s bad, but the team is worse. In the newsroom people write well-read stories about trainwrecks. On the sports desk, trainwrecks are page 3, at best.By VoHo
December 11, 2008 11:22 AM | Link to this
Good analogy by Fritz — the Brown family is a losers club with a football problem!By photoman
December 11, 2008 1:12 PM | Link to this
Say it ain’t so, Chickster! The Bengals will have to improve immensely in order to overcome the loss of our Chickster’s full time Bengals coverage. It will be a sad day in Bengaldom if we have to go on without CL full time. “…how can I explain what I’m going through it’s like trying to find a shadow in the dark.” (words of Anders Johansson, “Sunshine”)By Brian
December 11, 2008 2:47 PM | Link to this
Wow, time to propose a financial bailout for the Chickster to Congress! Would $10 million suffice?By blindeye
December 11, 2008 10:05 PM | Link to this
Chick, If you could get the people to blog instead of writing personal emails to you things would be better, eh! The more they blog the more opinions we see. I say that it’s time to start focusing on the upcoming draft. Since defense wins games I say that the team should go all out for defensive players. Also,since half of the defensive players will likely be on the IR list next season they will need to draft a DT, DE, LB, CB, S and maybe even a punter. Note that they can always pick up offensive talent from the waiver wire like they’ve done for the past 3 seasons.By psychostats
December 12, 2008 3:02 AM | Link to this
This blog has been way too much fun for it to just go kaput like that. Chick, you can’t leave on us. Who else are we going to harangue for his indefatigable optimism and woefully inaccurate predictions? (Remember Doug Gabriel?) Who else can we count on to put the hard questions to Marvin Lewis? (He maxes out on milquetoast as it is.) Who else will keep things fun during a dreary football season? (And we know many more of those are on the way.) Please tell us that you’ll be around for a long time. By the way, did you remove that particular comment from your post? It seems to be gone.By SillyMe
December 13, 2008 12:47 PM | Link to this
As far as the draft, we need a 1st pick center, the best available. 2 O-line picks, strong side. Then D-line for 2 picks. Then work on skilled position picks on both sides until the last pick and if they insist on a “project” pick take it then.By steve
December 14, 2008 8:18 AM | Link to this
It would appear that the defense is doing a decent job this year…yes there have been missed tackles…blown assignments and simply getting beat.. but they have improved drastically. Offense.. Well get rid of Willie, let steinbach go.. have big cry babies like ocho, and sandbaggers T.J. and that’s what ya get, Mike Brown is a MORON and sadly after 35 years of being a fan I think I am just about done with this team… What a shame.. It’s a curse I reckon… But you need an O-Line, and willing offensive players otherwise your gonna suck….