John Clay’s Sidelines

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?