If I were to tell you right now that I predict the Cincinnati Bengals to make the playoffs, you would probably nod your head in agreement. After all, the Bengals are now sitting at 6-2 and coming off a big win over division rival Baltimore. Now what would’ve you said, if I told you this prediction in August? I doubt, I would have gotten the same response from most, if not all of you. I will brag for one moment and say yes I actually had the Cincinnati Bengals going to the playoffs, when I made my preseason predictions. Now before people start appointing me a liar, I should also mention that I picked the Ravens to beat the Giants in the Super Bowl and the Carolina Panthers to win the NFC South. Yes, the same division where the Saints are now 8-0 and those Panthers are a lowly 3-5.
The real question is why would’ve anybody that isn’t a huge Bengals fan and is legally competent have picked them in the preseason to make the playoffs. Well, let’s start off by saying don’t jump the gun on that competent stuff yet, the state tests I took are still waiting to be reviewed. I wish I could tell you I knew that halfway through the year Cedric Benson would be on pace to rush for over 1600 yards, but I didn’t. What I did know about Benson is that he would rush for a career high in yards this year. Now before we go calling this a bold prediction, let’s check to see how many yards he needs the rest of this season to reach that personal plateau. Oh yeah, that’s right! He already did. It’s a pretty strange oddity to think about but the NFL’s second leading rusher this season broke his single season record in only 8 weeks and it’s his fifth season in the league. Benson has 837 rushing yards and is as close as one can get to being a shoe in to get his first career 1000-yard rushing season.
So if not Benson than why predict the Bengals to get back to the postseason. They must have made a big splash in the free agent market right? Not exactly, in fact they lost one of their best talents wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh to the Seattle Seahawks via free agency. The answer is so much simpler. This team revolves around one player and my apologies to my man Chad Ochocinco, but it isn’t you. The Bengals go as far as Carson Palmer and his mighty arm will take them. That is what was missing last year and the Bengals fell apart in all branches of the game trying to make up for that missing part. There is no quick fix to replacing Palmer. He is one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL and he is once again showing it now that he is healthy. Carson Palmer is quietly on pace to pass for 28 touchdowns and over 3600 yards. They aren’t out of this world numbers, but are strong contributions and just what the Bengals need to even out their now deadly ground attack.
As long as Carson Palmer stays healthy, Chad Ochocinco will be his productive self and the Bengals will be around in the playoffs. The question is what do they need to do to get further once they are there.
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