I am working on the issues the site is experiencing right now. There are still minor issues with the main site. The forums remain down.

I will update this post as I get more info on the problem.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

UPDATE: It appears that this is a server issue. I will have to wait for Bengalszone’s host to fix this problem. After the problem is fixed the forums are going to be upgraded. Not sure if the current forum skin will survive the upgrade…

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The Cincinnati Bengals didn’t wait long to become a member of the blamed in the death of wide receiver Chris Henry. Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com, shortly after aiming his sites at Jay Feely’s Twitter account, named the Bengals a co-conspirator in the tragic end of the wide receiver – sort of.

“Henry’s case is sad and the blame for his demise falls on his shoulders, but the Bengals aren’t far behind,” he wrote.

Freeman, in his search to say something new or different on the story, went with the blame-the-team meme – how original. If it wasn’t the Bengals, he would have blamed GM for making the truck he fell out of or the company that paved the asphalt.

Cliche or not, implicating Marvin Lewis and Mike Brown in the death of Chris Henry is not only stupid, but shows a general lack of experience dealing with people – shocking, given Freeman is a worldy writer for a national Web site. Not shocking if you’ve spent time reading Freeman and his racialist and fireball gotcha storytelling and opinion making.

I’ve met many a Chris Henry. They weren’t restricted to just athletics. Some people are wired to do the absolute wrong thing in the most critical of circumstances. Just as some have the right instincts to respond under pressure, others don’t. When they find themselves in bad situations the bad usually comes out.

This is a guy who brandished a weapon in public – while wearing his game jersey. This is a guy who thought it was a smart move to haul his whole crew from New Orleans and give them a home while attempting to maintain a highly public career. This is a guy whose first instinct during a domestic situation was to jump shirtless in the back of a pick-up truck. Henry, often noted by teammates for his soft-spoken and kind nature, was bereft of critical decision-making ability despite his best efforts and the efforts of others. Unless Marvin Lewis and Mike Brown could be there all day to handle all of his personal decisions, I don’t see how they should receive any of the blame for anything that happened 1,000 miles away from Paul Brown Stadium.

Athletics attracts these types, who for some reason, don’t make better judgments given circumstances. Be it life and crime or just general every day decisions. On one level, there is Chris Henry or Stanley Wilson. On the other, there is the high school running back with the 4.3 speed who works at a machine shop after graduation and spurns all his college offers. I’ve known A-students who suddenly quit going to class one day. Jim Morrison said people were strange and it doesn’t take a cloudy head full of hallucinogens to understand there isn’t a switch to make people make the right move.

Why do people make these decisions? Because we aren’t perfect. This isn’t a logical world, nor is it filled with logical people. Tossing Chris Henry may have made the Bengals a better football team – I thought they re-signed him to the team’s detriment. But if NFL gold and glory wasn’t enough to keep him out of cuffs five previous times, what would have happened if he had been cut and let go? Kids, a future wife and a second chance weren’t enough to help him deal with whatever demons he possessed, neither would cutting him. There was nothing on the waiver wire that would have helped him deal with the issues in his head.

The truth is this – for two years, Henry kept his nose clean until another critical moment arose and he made a bad decision. His death was tragic, even more so because he made the effort to reform and failed.  That’s not Mike Brown or Marvin Lewis’ fault, that’s the fault of Chris Henry and whatever neuroses, psychological issues or behavioral problems he dealt with.

As everyone probably knows, Chris Henry is in serious condition after falling out of the back of a pick-up truck.

Chris is in my prayers along with prayers for his family and friends.

Carson Palmer and Cedric Benson are up for the FedEx Air and Ground NFL Players of the Week.

Voting can be done by clicking this link.

Palmer is up against Phillip Rivers whose San Diego Chargers dismantled a bad Kansas City Chief team 37-7. Tony Romo is also up for the Air Award after beating the Atlanta Falcons 37-21.

Benson’s competition for the Ground Award is Ryan Grant of the Green Bay Packers and Shonn Greene of the New York Jets.

Granted, Cincinnati Bengals fans have suffered through hard seasons, but big wins aren’t totally non-existent. Sunday’s 45-10 rout of the Chicago Bears, a team with a marquee quarterback and a 4-2 record coming in, is one for the books. Carson Palmer’s 20-for-24 performance and five touchdowns will go down as a career highlight, as will the Bengals manhandling of a Chicago defense that stacked as many as 10 men in the box during the fourth quarter and still had trouble stopping the run.

The game brought back memories of other big performances. Here’s a few.

2005: Cincinnati 37, Minnesota 8: Daunte Culpepper was fresh off MVP hype and explosive seasons with Randy Moss. With no Moss, he looked hapless against a Cincinnati secondary that was a turnover machine in 2005. Palmer had one of his best days as a young pro and the Bengals announced themselves as a serious contender in the AFC North.

1990: Wildcard Playoffs: Cincinnati 41, Houston 14. Reggie Williams said goodbye at halftime and the Bengals enjoyed their last playoff win, a smashing of the rival Oilers. A win sure to put a smile on Sam Wyche’s face as his team pummeled Jerry Glanville. The game followed a 40-20 drubbing of the Oilers just a few weeks earlier.

1985: Cincinnati 50, Dallas 24. The NFL’s glamor franchise had never played in Cincinnati prior to 1985, when the Bengals took down the once NFC East-stalwart. Still stacked with names like White, Jones, Pearson and Dorsett, the Cowboys couldn’t handle the up and coming Bengals. Boomer Esiason had his coming out party in his first year as Bengals starter. Cincinnati set a team record for points scored in a quarter.

It’s been six years, but Marvin Lewis has finally built the Cincinnati Bengals into a team after his own image.

This is why a team that was known for choking down the stretch has played magnificently late in games. That is why a team which relied on the pass for all can finally do more besides bide time for another Chad Ochocinco touchdown dance.

It starts with Mike Zimmer. It also starts with a concerted effort by the front office to spend money on talent that doesn’t necessarily sell tickets. Getting Antwan Odom was part of the package, as was drafting heavily defensive the last few years – not the usual route of Mike Brown, who prefers to spend first-round money on skill players who sell jerseys and tickets. But it’s paid off in big wins, and for the first time since arriving, Marvin Lewis has a team that mirrors it’s rather heavily- defensive coach. No pun intended.

Despite the headaches from all the “redeeming,” Cedric Benson was the right pick up at the right time. Unlike many others, he was redeemable and itching for a second chance. He got it and made the most of it.

Week five brings Baltimore – the class of the division. Cincinnati is a big underdog, and should be, especially after giving all to outlast the hapless Cleveland Browns. But this team finally has something it has lacked in the past – intangibles. It has a ground game, it has a sound defense that can pressure the quarterback and it has an attitude that it can win games late. If Cincinnati can hang around, its chances are good.

For the next 12 weeks to go like the first four, certain things need to go Cincinnati’s way.

Injuries: The team has been a walking MASH unit in recent years. Staying healthy is key. Unsurprisingly, winning games should help keep some bodies motivated and out of the training room.

Depth: If injuries do happen, does this team have the depth?

Pass blocking: The Bengals have proved they can run the ball, usually through pass-rush blitz- happy defenses, but what happens when teams regularly stuff the box? Cincinnati’s number of no-name linemen have played above par on the rushing end. Keeping Palmer more upright will be a tough task. Speaking of …

Carson Palmer: He doesn’t look quite the same. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t have to – he has a ground game now and a semi-respectable defense. Save those odds and ends until the two-minute warning, where they are needed. My advice to him – watch Tom Brady. Brady is an expert at getting the ball to receivers in space. You never see Moss or Welker crunched over the middle, if you do it’s seldom. A lesson Palmer and a certain offensive coordinator should take heed.

Special teams: The snapping problems, and Quan Cosby looks like he’s bound and determined to fumble in the coming weeks.

I predicted 6-10 and the Bengals are halfway there win wise. This weekend will go a long way in proving the team can handle early success and the best the league offers.

Call it luck, call it whatever, the Cincinnati Bengals didn’t deserve to win today – Brandon Stokley or not.

An offense that, on paper, overmatched the hapless Broncos was scoreless the first 59 minutes of the game. A veteran long-snapper blows a crucial field goal and the Pro Bowl quarterback left his decision making next to his old ACL on the operating table.

Talk the defense up, whatever, this was a game the team needed to win. Three of the next four games are on the road, three of the next four are against playoff-caliber teams, three of the next four games are against division rivals. Today’s game was one good teams have to win.

An example – Minnesota. Granted, the Vikings are hardly the Patriots, but the scrappy Cleveland Browns hung in for one half until the Viking coaching intelligentsia suddenly recalled it had Adrian Peterson at running back. The Vikings won – ended up winning big. The Bengals should have won. They didn’t and they never seem to.

Sure, the team worked hard in the offseason – believe your lying eyes as they glaze over HBO once a week. But on good teams, Coles and Coats make those catches. On good teams that ball at the ended is tipped down not up. Good teams seem to put those things together.

Instead, in a bad football game, the Bengals suffered a bad loss. And right now they are a bad football team.

The Bengals have signed the following players to their practice squad:

S Corey Lynch
FB Chris Pressley
RB James Johnson
DT Clinton McDonald
G Jason Shirley
WR Maurice Purify
TE Darius Hill
LB Dan Skuta

Former Bengal safety Marvin White, who was cut yesterday by the team, was picked up by the Dallas Cowboys.

The Cincinnati Bengals got their roster down to the 53 man limit on Saturday. The cuts include safety Marvin White, linebacker Darryl Blackstock and defensive tackle Langston Moore.

Wide receiver Antonio Chapman’s ankle injury landed him on injured reserve. The Bengals received a roster exemption through Sept. 14 for rookie tackle Andre Smith.

Full list of players cut/waived:
CB Rico Murray
DE Chris Harrington
DT Ventrell Jenkins
DT Clinton McDonald
DT Langston Moore
FB Chris Pressley
FB Fui Vakapuna
G Andrew Crummey
G Jason Shirley
K Sam Swank
LB Dan Skuta
LB Darryl Blackstock
LB Jim Maxwell
RB James Johnson
S Marvin White
S Corey Lynch
T Augustus Parrish
TE Kolo Kapanui
TE Darius Hill
WR Maurice Purify
WR Freddie Brown

Alvin Keels, the agent for rookie offensive tackle Andre Smith, twittered his meeting with the Bengals today regarding the contract of his player. Not good news.

Leaving Cinci. Not any closer on a deal for Andre Smith. Mike Brown says “the ship has sailed on the slotting system”.

With the current tackle not looking up to speed, bringing Smith into camp is a necessity. But these are the Bengals, where stupidity and money is ranked way ahead of winning.

The slotting system is the unofficial guide to signing picks, judging contracts by what the picks surrounding them sign for. The Bengals have offered Smith a contract way below market value and what the slotting system suggests.

Would love to know the “reasoning” (not that Mike Brown has ever needed that) for blowing off what seems to be a demand for a reasonable contract, but it won’t happen. Can’t wait to see Katie Blackburn running her mouth about this on Hard Knocks next week.