John Clay’s Sidelines

Unlike a few others, I was actually encouraged by the Bengals showing in Dallas on Sunday, even if it resulted in a 31-22 loss to the Cowboys.

True, defense is Dallas’ weak spot. But in the second half, at least, the Cincinnati offense actually started to look like the Cincinnati offense again. After completing just three of seven passes for all of 28 yards in the first half, Carson Palmer finished 23 of 39 for 217 yards. Better still, he incorporated both Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmanzadeh into the offense. T.J. caught five balls for 68 yards in the final two quarters. Ocho Cinco grabbed three passes for 42 yards. Cedric Benson actually showed some spark as the backup back. Still not a fan of Chris Perry, even before his costly fourth-quarter, momentum-killing fumble. Just don’t see Perry being the lead back in an offense. He’s more of a third-down type, who can catch the ball out of the backfield. Don’t trust him to carry the load. Not saying Benson is the answer, but maybe the ex-Bears washout can be the one Bengal re-hab project that actually makes it.

This Sunday is no picnic. The Bengals take their 0-5 record to New York to meet Brett Favre and the Jets, who had a bye week to get ready. And 0-5 starts are never a good thing, especially for the Bengals. In the history of the franchise, Cincinnati had started the season with at least five straight losses on eight different occasions. Only once in those eight years did the Bengals make it back to .500. Never did they finish above .500.

Cincinnati’s 0-5 (or worse) starts: