Jet lagged, trashed and no win

Regular readers (ha!) may have noticed there was no blog last week, which was in large part due to me preparing for a trip across the pond to watch the Bengals take on the Steelers and wondering what important items I would forget to take (none as it turned out, a first, I’m getting better in my old age).

Four thousand miles is a long way to go for a game of football, especially when you’re travelling on Delta airlines. So thankfully there were plenty of other things to be doing and explore in the Queen City – more on that later.

As for the game, it pretty much summed up the Marvin Lewis-era Bengals. Three quarters of misery and ineptitude followed by an unexpected and remarkable comeback which fell agonisingly short just when everyone had dared to believe again.

I guess we can now officially call the season over in terms of play-off hopes, though in reality the writing had been on the wall for at least a couple of weeks. It’s now a question of what changes need to be/can be made in the spring to try and turn things around.

While they have the nucleus of a decent team, I still maintain the Bengals will never have sustained success with Mike Brown at the helm. His penny-pinching and the lack of a scouting department is, at least in my opinion, directly responsible for the drafting of too many players who are either lacking talent, attitude or both (Jerome Simpson, come on down). This in turn leads to the indiscipline which has ravaged the Bengals’ teams throughout Brown’s tenure.

On the coaching side, Lewis takes a deserved share of flak for the indiscipline but he has in many respects done a great job during his eight years in Cincinnati. Will he be around next year? At the moment I wouldn’t bank on it.

Whoever is in charge has a host of issues to sort out but the most high-profile by far from a media perspective is the future of Carson Palmer.

To put it bluntly, the Bengals’ quarterback is not going to get any better. It’s a simple decision of deciding whether the offense around him can be improved to cover his deficiencies, or whether it’s time to give someone else a go.

The thing is, Palmer isn’t terrible. He’s on schedule to throw for more than 4,000 yards this season and his TD/Int ratio is respectable.

But stats can be misleading and it’s when you perform that really counts. Too often in his career Palmer has failed to shine when needed most in the way a Manning, Brady or Roethlisberger would. Monday night was just the latest example.

Trouble is, the Bengals have put all their eggs in the Palmer basket and this amplifies the problem. There is no genuine backup and I’m not convinced Palmer feels under any real pressure.

Here’s my solution. Unless there is any opportunity to trade for a better model (I’m thinking Vick) then keep Palmer but draft a quarterback in the first or second round. I don’t follow college football religiously but I’m told it’s going to be a pretty deep draft for signal callers and at this rate the Bengals should have two of the top 40 picks. At the very least this course of action will knock Palmer out of his all too obvious comfort zone.

Looking ahead to Sunday, the slow limp to January begins with an unenviable trip to the Colts. Indy hasn’t looked as invincible as in recent years but the Bengals have been torched by the two genuine pocket passers they have faced this term.

Unless they get pressure to Peyton Manning from the gun, I can only see the best in the business dishing out more pain.

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“Cincinnati? I’ve not heard of many people going there, it’s on the other side of America from here, right?”

As the old saying goes, if I had a pound for every time I’ve heard that line before and after my trip.....I’d have three pounds.

In all seriousness, Cincinnati is not what you would call a tourist trap and therein lies its charm. It’s a big city but the pace of life never feels rushed, it has a rich history and there’s plenty to do, the people are friendly and actually speak to you.

It also brews some great beer. Christian Moerlein’s OTR is a late contender for the best new beer I’ve tried this year.

Anyhow, on the off chance you ever find yourself with a few days to spare in the ‘Nati, here are a few places I would recommend.

1) Findlay Market: Quite simply brilliant. Ohio’s oldest public market located in Over-the-Rhine, where you can pretty much eat your way around the world. There are also street performers and lots of interesting little shops around and about – including one which sold 200 varieties of tea! It reminded me a lot of Covent Garden except it is actually a market.

2) Cincinnati Museum Center: The town’s railway station offers stunning architecture. I went to the history museum, some of the exhibits are aimed at kids but on the whole it’s very informative and worth the walk from downtown.

3) Southgate House: Located in Newport just across the Ohio river. From the outside it reminded me of the Addams family house, inside there is plenty going on. Music in every room, a good jukebox, decent variety of beer. Just a cool venue, kind of like the Sanctuary in its heyday, always something different happening.

4) Shake It Records: Good job this isn’t in Birmingham or I would never have any cash. They have just about any CD you could want and at reasonable prices. I found some rareities which I would never find in Britain.

5) The Comet: About a 10/15 minute walk up the hill from Shake It in the Northside neighbourhood, this bar has loads of different beers to try, live music and its free to get in. They also serve superb burritos. If this bar was in the UK you’d be paying at least £3/£4 minimum just to see the bands. The barman Paul is an artist and you can check out some of his excellent work at paulcoors.com

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