John Clay's Sidelines

(AP photo/Al Behrman)

Does the city of Cincinnati owe Mike Brown an apology?

The Bengals are 4-2. Rookie quarterback Andy Dalton and rookie wide receiver A.J. green are burgeoning stars, both playing above first-year expectations. The Cincinnati defense has been ranked atop the NFL in yards allowed.

Now word comes this morning that the Bengals are about to trade “retired” quarterback Carson Palmer to the Oakland Raiders for a pair of first-round draft picks.

Many felt Brown should have traded Palmer in the pre-season rather than let the holdout quarterback sit with nothing in return. But by waiting until the trading deadline, and with Oakland in dire need of a quarterback following Jason Campbell’s season-ending injury, Brown appears to have played his cards correctly.

True, Cincinnati has yet to play either Baltimore or Pittsburgh. But the Bengals are surely more competitive than most thought. And now they are fortifying their future with a pair of first-rounders, the first of which would come next season.

And maybe Mike Brown is smarter than we thought.

Wrote this morning that Carson Palmer was being selfish in his refusal to play for the Bengals despite having four years left on his contract.

Meanwhile, owner Mike Brown says he is not about to “reward” Palmer by trading the quarterback.

What do you think? Should the Bengals trade Carson Palmer?

Update: There’s a Carson Palmer video after the jump.

Cincinnati running back Cedric Benson talks to the media about his career-high 189-yard effort in the Bengals’ 45-10 blasting of the Chicago Bears at Paul Brown Stadium.

Continue reading ‘Video: Cedric Benson talks about big day against Bears’

Update: Enquirer reports that Zimmer’s wife died of natural causes.

With the Bengals off to a 4-1 start, here’s some Cincinnati links:

• Great Paul Daugherty column — the guy doesn’t write too many that are not — in the Cincinnati Enquirer on Mike Zimmer, who lost his wife unexpectedly on Thursday, and somehow managed the strength to coach and help his team to a win on Sunday. My belief is that ultimately the Bengals are better because the defense is much better. And it’s going to keep getting better.

• Scott Priestle of Cnati.com also writes on Zimmer, more of a profile. He quotes Marvin Lewis as saying, “He’s got no B.S.” I remember at the Bengals pre-camp luncheon, Zimmer joked that he didn’t care much for the HBO Hard Knocks episdoes he was a part of with the Dallas Cowboys. Said his daughters got on him for his language.

• Joe Reedy of the Enquirer gives a rundown of Marvin Lewis’ Monday press conference. Doesn’t sound like the Bengals are going to ditch struggling long-snapper Brad St. Louis.

• Don Banks of SportsIllustrated.com picks the Bengals as his surprise team of the season. As Banks points out, at 4-1, the Bengals have already matched their win total from last season.

• Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times says he can hear the Bengals roar. Expect the national press to start paying attention now. It was amusing, however, last week to hear Colin Cowherd say that he wasn’t buying the Bengals turnaround, then the next day kiss up to Carson Palmer during an interview. That’s ok. We do what we have to do. We love ya, Herd.

• Pete Prisco of CBS Sportsline thinks that Carson Palmer and Kyle Orton are the real deal. Is there a better clutch quarterback right now than Palmer?

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: