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THE AUDIBLE | COMMENTARY
Bengals' first goal in '07? Address the offensive line
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
How do you spell mediocre?
How about eight and eight?
Extras
That's it, Bengal fans. The season is over, and it was mediocre.
The playoffs are about to begin and the Who Deys are sitting at home, wishing they were going to Boston or Indy this week.
Talent-wise, the Bengals are close to a playoff-caliber team. But close only counts in dancing.
Oh, it's better than the bad old days when the Bengals were the Bungles and had a better chance of making a Jay Leno monologue than the playoffs.
In the NFL, there are bad teams, mediocre teams and playoff-caliber teams.
The team that played Pittsburgh on Sunday was not a playoff-type team. The Bengals can't beat the top teams in the NFL on a regular basis.
So what do they need? The key to this whole season was the offensive line. When the year started and the line was intact, it was being called one of the best in pro football. But as injuries to the line mounted, so did the Bengals' woes.
The Bengals have several shortcomings. They're still not good on defense, but each week it was felt the high-powered offense could overcome defensive shortcomings.
That might have been true, but when the offensive line faltered, it could not protect Carson Palmer. When he wasn't being sacked, he was rushed and had to throw far too many passes off balance.
While they must address their defensive shortcomings in a big way, the Bengals should start with shoring up the offensive line. Palmer, with time, is effective. Any quarterback back on his heels all day can't be.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2409 or jmorris@DaytonDailyNews.com.
