Anyone who follows Ochocinco on his Twitter account knows that he’s been clamoring for the Bengals to sign T.O. for quite a while now. Between the tweets of his bad luck in love and his clothes, Ocho has made it clear that he believes Owens and himself would give secondaries sleepless nights. There’s a chance that this could very well happen. There’s also a chance those two could give Marvin Lewis his fair share of sleepless nights as well.

Lost in the shuffle of all of this is Antonio Bryant. The Bengals signed him earlier in the offseason with thoughts of him lining up opposite of Chad. With T.O. now in town, Bryant sort of becomes the forgotten man. Who knows how he’ll react to this, but the Bengals seem to have a possible tinder box at the receiver position.

Of course, none of these guys will be worth a lick if Carson Palmer isn’t able to pick up his game form last year. Palmer had a rough year last year and the Bengals have to be hoping he’s able to regain his form from several years ago. I’d be willing to bet he’ll get back in the groove, but he’s got to do it quick. The collective patience of the receivers in Cincinnati is probably going to be pretty low. And if they all don’t get balls thrown their way, in copious amounts, Marvin Lewis and Carson Palmer better be ready to hear about it.

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The Bengals signed Benson to a two year, $7 million contract last offseason, but Benson feels like he could be getting more out of the team. It’s hard to argue that Benson may have been underpaid last season, considering he put up over 1200 yards and averaged 4.2 yards per carry in 13 games. And since it seems like every player who feels they’re getting the short end of the stick money wise wants to try and re-do their deal with the uncertainty of everything between the league and the players, it’s hard to blame him.

But the Bengals may want to hold back on their willingness to award Benson. The Bengals haven’t been immune to doing stupid things, and rewarding a guy for one good season may not be in the teams best interest. I’d be shocked if Benson held out because he’s unhappy with his contract. So maybe the Bengals should let him ride out his current deal and see what he does this year, now that everyone is aware of what kind of threat he is.

It could be a pricy risk for the Bengals, especially if he has another good season. If he plays like he did last year, he’ll have way more leverage when it comes to contract talks. But that’s a risk the Bengals should be willing to take. Productive running backs are becoming less of a rarity in the NFL, and while Benson had a good year last year he didn’t have a great one.

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Receiver Jordan Shipley out of Texas is another player that should make Palmer smile. He’s got great hands and could turn into a great slot receiver and return man for the Bengals. The secondary got a little help with the addition of Wake Forest cornerback Brandon Ghee, who could see his way onto the field immediately in nickel packages. Cincinnati drafted another defensive lineman, tackle Geno Atkins from Georgia. He’s got good strength and should help shore up the depth in the middle of the defense. Texas linebacker Roddrick Muckelroy gives them depth at linebacker and should come along well with all the talent they have at linebacker.

The offensive line wasn’t a real concern but they added some bodies there anyways. Guards Otis Hudson from Eastern Illinois and Reggie Stephens from Iowa State will bring a decent level of competition come training camp. They added one more weapon for Palmer to work with. Receiver Dezmon Briscoe has good size and hands and could wind up seeing some playing time. The Bengals got more potent in areas they were already pretty potent in. The Bengals may compete with the Ravens for top spot in the AFC North.

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Having said that I think it’s pretty clear that the three rematch games, and the Patriots-Ravens rematch from earlier in the year, will be great.

The most intriguing in my book is the Bengals-Jets rematch. The Bengals looked horrible last night and the Jets took major liberties with it. A lot of people will say that this will motivate the Jets. I say the Jets don’t need any motivation. This is a team that lacks no confidence, if you watched the game last night you’d see that.

The point in the game that strikes me, and may just motivate the Bengals, was when Rex Ryan decided to challenge the spot of the ball on a fourth down attempt by the Jets. It happened at the beginning of the fourth quarter with the Jets holding a 27-0 lead. The spot was poor and the call was reversed, giving the ball back to the Jets. They added one more touchdown and it was the last points scored in the game.

The game was clearly out of reach for the Bengals and the fact that Ryan challenged the call doesn’t surprise me, considering what type of coach Rex is. But this is where the Jets confidence starts moving into plain stupidity.

Running up the score with brash arrogance on a team that you have to play in their stadium the following week is about as poor strategy as you can have. I know the Bengals looked bad and I know Ochocinco is a little banged up right now but don’t count them out. The game plan for the Bengals looked pretty vanilla, while the Jets needing to win threw everything but the kitchen sink at them. The Jets were telling anybody who would listen before the game how they thought they would physically beat up on the Bengals.

A lot of people say the Jets could make a deep run into the palyoffs. I say the Jets are going to find out what happens when you kick a Bengal in the back.

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Prior to the game Chad tweeted to buddy Adam Schefter that he had something planned and that he would be fined for sure but it would be worth it. The league saw Chads tweet and was ready, they slapped him with a $30,000 fine.

Before the season started Ocho put aside $100,000 specifically for fines. The league now seems to be determined to make sure he blows through that and maybe a little more before the seasons done. Something tells me Chad doesn’t care.

Ochocinco is definitely a character and he draws fans interest to games that maybe some people wouldn’t have any interest in otherwise. Every time he gets fined, someone who hasn’t seen his antics that catches wind of it feels compelled to tune in the next time to see what he does. It’s brilliant marketing and the league probably secretly loves it.

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When one of the reporters mentioned to Benson that he looked like he dropped his sucker in the mud, his response was interesting, “Oh, I didn’t know I was supposed to be jumping out of my seat or anything,”, “I really have no feelings about it.”.

Huh. No feelings on your team making a move to stay competitive and keep winning? Well that’s a great attitude.

This may seem like nothing but things can change fast. It’s one thing to have two running backs on the team that both could potentially be starters when given the chance. It’s another to have two running backs that have proven they can be starters and both know they can carry the load.

Both of these guys have had or do have attitude problems, and shitty dispositions just don’t disappear. The Bengals have proven they can be a good team when everything is sunny in Cincinnati. But if things get cloudy look out! Near the end of every year a few teams start having a fall from grace. Don’t be surprised if the Bungles Bengals are one of them.

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In his locker room interview earlier today Ocho was asked if he had any special plans for the fans in Oakland. “You think I could jump in the Black Hole?”, “I think I might try that.”.

I would actually love to see him try and do this. I’m a big Chad fan and I think the Black Hole is rad so this would create some quality entertainment. Even now with the fans knowing what he’s going to do it will be interesting to see how they respond. It’s going to be tough, but I may actually turn on the Oakland game this weekend.

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I’m not sure how I feel about this one. If Benson is hurt then the Bengals made the move based on necessity. But if they’re bringing him in with the hopes of having some sort of unstoppable backfield they might be making a crazy decision. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

The Bengals have really turned it around this year and for once they don’t seem to have any kind of inside the locker room problems. But bringing in LJ could change all that. If he’s as much of a douche bag problem as he comes across as being this could create some real problems for the Bengals.

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Both teams are tied for the division lead right now at 6-2. When the two teams met in week three the Bengals were able to squeak out a victory 23-20. Cincinnati hasn’t lost a game yet in the division, they’re 4-0. The Steelers are 1-1 in the division and another loss to the Bengals could ruin their chances at winning the division.

The Steelers seem to be a different team than there were 7 weeks ago. They’ve been able to find a way to close teams out in the fourth quarter and they’re starting to run the ball with a little more effectiveness.

The Bengals have really turned things around for themselves recently. Especially on defense where they’re 5th in the league in points allowed. If Cincinnati can win on Sunday they put themselves in an excellent position coming down the stretch.

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