| Christopher Reina. 21st January, 2009 - 6:46 pm
 Record: 4-11-1
Trench Counter: -4.8 (27th)
Point differential per game: -10.0 (30th)
Payroll: $109.7M (13th)
Cost Per Win: $32.98M (27th)
Passing offense: 150.4 (30th)
Rushing offense: 95.0 (29th)
Passing defense: 205.4 (15th)
Rushing defense: 120.1 (21st)
Turnover differential: -0.1 (20th)
Strength of schedule: 7th
If their season were a song: Wraith Pinned To The Mist And Other Games - Of Montreal
Game-by-Game (Score, Trench Counter)
Week 1: at BAL, 10-17 Loss, -10.1
Week 2: TEN, 7-24 Loss, -10.2
Week 3: at NYG, 23-26 Loss, -4.3
Week 4: CLE, 12-20 Loss, -10.9
Week 5: at DAL, 22-31 Loss, -8.8
Week 6: at NYJ, 14-26 Loss, -2.4
Week 7: PIT, 10-38 Loss, -19.7
Week 8: at HOU, 6-35 Loss, -18.4
Week 9: JAX, 21-19 Win, +6.4
Week 10: BYE
Week 11: PHI, 13-13 Tie, +6.7
Week 12: at PIT, 10-27 Loss, -11.4
Week 13: BAL, 3-34 Loss, -21.8
Week 14: at IND, 3-35 Loss, -15.0
Week 15: WSH, 20-13 Win, 10.8
Week 16: at CLE, 14-0 Win, 18.7
Week 17: KC, 16-6 Win, 14.0
Bengals Season Review
The 2008 season was essentially a completely lost one for Carson Palmer, who suffered a shoulder injury. Ryan Fitzpatrick did as well as he possibly could, but a 70.0 passer rating is a 70.0 passer rating. T.J. Houshmandzadeh remained the more professional Beaver/Bengal wide receiver, catching 92 balls for 904 yards, while Chad Johnson distracted away 2008 with 540 yards. The Bengals pulled Cedric Benson off of the Lake Travis police blotter and he responded with 747 yards on 214 carries, proving to be far more effective than Chris Perry.
This year was a nightmare, but the Bengals are not too far away from competing again if Palmer comes back healthy and they can continue their momentum defensively that they displayed over the final three weeks (all wins).
Reina Value and FIC Rank
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Quarterbacks
- Ryan Fitzpatrick (27th, 487, +231%)
Fitzpatrick did an admirable job filling for Palmer in what was clearly a lost season from nearly the word go, completing 59.4% of his passes for 1,905 yards. He rushed for 304 yards (5.1 yards per carry) and went 4-3-1 from Week 9 on out.
- Carson Palmer (39th, 156, -84%)
Palmer was limited to four games and clearly wasn't right, posting a 69.0 passer rating.
Running backs
- Cedric Benson (43rd, 314 [196 rushing, 119 receiving], +274%)
Benson looked like he might be done in the NFL following multiple arrests over the summer, but the Bengals took a chance on him and he had a nice season. His yards per carry was just 3.5, but he put up nice numbers out of the backfield with 20 receptions for 185 yards. He put up career highs in yards and attempts while running excellent in wins against Jacksonville, Washington, Cleveland and Kansas City.
- Chris Perry (84th, 87 [27 rushing, 61 receiving], -55%)
Perry tried to take on a heavy workload and had a low 2.6 yards per carry average.
Wide Receivers
- T.J. Houshmandzadeh (24th, 615, +22%)
Houshmandzadeh had his lowest output over the past five seasons in yards and yards per catch, but he still had 904 yards in his 92 catches.
- Chad Johnson (54th, 379, -68%)
Johnson never appeared right mentally or physically and it really showed as he only had 53 catches for 540 yards (10.2 yards per catch). This follows at least 1,166 yards and five touchdowns in each of his past six seasons.
- Chris Henry (94th, 151, +127%)
Henry was welcomed back to the Bengals and his 11.6 yards per catch average was well below his 16.3 in '07 and 16.8 in '06.
Tight End
- Reggie Kelly (37th, 140, -63%)
Kelly has had at least 200 yards in each of the past three seasons, catching 31 balls in 2008 for the first time since 200, but his yards per catch dipped to just 6.7.
Defensive Summary
Mike Zimmer's defense wasn't utterly horrible on a per play basis, giving up 5.1 yards, which was 11th overall. Forcing turnovers and getting to the quarterback were rare occurrences, however, as the team had 17 total sacks and Antwan Odom, John Thornton and Nedu Ndukwe each had three and just 24 turnovers.
Leon Hall was excellent at corner while they found Chris Crocker after he was let go by Miami and played the best football of his career at free safety, including one monster hit on Santonio Holmes.
Dhani Jones also played well as the MLB anchor, while recording 73 tackles.
Biggest draft needs
The Bengals will likely look at a pass rusher or offensive lineman with the sixth overall pick. Between Andre Smith, Jason Smith, Michael Oher, one of those three players should still be on the board and fill their need on the line. If all three of those guys are off the board, then they would either have to take the fourth best OT, Virginia's Eugene Monroe, or find a pass rusher such as Everette Brown, Michael Johnson, or Brian Orakpo.
- Chris Reina is the executive editor of RealGM |
