GB FORUM

Dontay Moch suspended

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:27:26 +0000

Jason La Canfora ‏@JasonLaCanfora
Bengals LB Dontay Moch, a 2011 3rd round pick, has been suspended 4 games for using a banned substance, pending appeal.

A hand out of the rough

Sat, 19 May 2012 11:38:52 +0000

A hand out of the rough

Posted 8 hours ago

Geoff Hobson Editor Bengals.com

Adam Fangman is a Bengals fan and as a member of the Dixie Heights High School Class of 2012, he can't remember anybody but Marvin Lewis as head coach of the Bengals.

So he can be forgiven for the blitzing butterflies in his stomach as he sat down with Lewis for his scholarship interview last week.

"But his personality put me at ease," Fangman says. "He was smiling and he talked about golf. That settled me down a little bit."

This is what Lewis does. He's a calming influence. In the middle of a youth movement, or in the teeth of free agency, or amid the nerves of a playoff run, or in the heart of the community, Lewis is always there with serene support and self-assuredness against the elements.

And so it is again in May when the centerpiece of his Marvin Lewis Community Fund yields five more college scholarships at $20,000 per student. For those scoring at home, his foundation has been doing this for the life of the average middle school student in becoming one of Cincinnati's more reliable traditions.

Since 2005 the Marvin Lewis Scholarship Fund has awarded 41 scholarships, four Sharon Thomas Memorial Scholarships and one Vikki Zimmer Memorial Scholarship for more than $4.2 million. And Lewis is now working on seven straight years of finding Amazing But True stories hidden in Greater Cincinnati's high schools.

So of course Lewis and Fangman would talk golf. The foundation's biggest fundraiser of the year is Sunday at the ninth annual Marvin Lewis Celebrity Golf Classic at Shaker Run Golf Club in Lebanon, Ohio. There's a Tailgate Breakfast, a Celebrity Shootout, a Taste of the Jungle, and 14 holes before Fangman and four others receive their scholarships.

"Adam is Marvin's kind of guy," says former Bengals kicker Doug Pelfrey. "He's that 'get-er-done' kind of guy. I mean, I could talk about the kid for hours. I just don't know where to start."

Start with Pelfrey's Kicks for Kids organization that has also become a community icon reaching out to disadvantaged youth. Fangman has done everything from driving celebrities, folding clothes, wrapping Christmas presents, to tearing down tents.

"A lot of people just want the easy, nice jobs. Adam just wants to do a job," Pelfrey says. "He's re-arranged our offices and cleaned them out and with most teenagers it's like with your own kids. You have to go in and clean up after them. But not Adam. He does it right the first time."

Or, you could start with FBLA. Future Business Leaders of America. It's a group designed to educate children on serving their communities and after working with Kicks for Kids, Fangman wondered why there was no vibrant FBLA presence at Dixie Heights. He revived the chapter with the help of Pelfrey's organization, PROPEL, to such an extent that Pelfrey says Fangman's one-person efforts were the main reasons PROPEL was able to do so much good via the Dixie students.

Or, you can start with his application for the Lewis scholarship.

"He talked about it from the standpoint of what he's accomplished," Pelfrey says. "He didn't even talk about his need."

His family didn't think there'd be a need. His parents had a plan to send their children to college, but when brother Brady came along a few years after Adam there had to be an adjustment. With his mom staying home to take care of Brady's special needs and his dad continuing to work, Adam had to find a way to pay his own way to Thomas More College, which has what he wants in his efforts to make a career out of radiology.

He received nearly half his tuition from the school on an academic and leadership scholarship, but he needed more. He got a couple from Dixie, but the Lewis scholarship, good for $5,000 per year, is what put it over the top and carved the loans to just about $2,000 for his freshman year.

"I think that's pretty much what did it," says Fangman, who plans to major in biology and minor in business. "Right up until I got it (last week), I didn't know if it was Thomas More or NKU (Northern Kentucky). I really wanted Thomas More because of their science department."

Or, you can start with golf, which Fangman is going to play at Thomas More. Lewis loves the fact that he became one of the top schoolboy golfers in Northern Kentucky after starting his career with a nine-hole 63 at his first meet as a freshman.

"Yeah. It was a bad round. It was the first time I ever played nine holes," he says. "But the coach kept me on the team. He thought I had potential."

He also must have seen the work ethic of Vijay Singh, the PGA Tour's leading range rover. After Fangman was the only cut from the baseball team sophomore year, he threw his heart and soul into golf.

He won't lie. The cut hurt more than his devastating shoulder injury in the first inning of his first baseball game freshman year. Playing left field he ran in for a little looper, caught it, collided with the shortstop and shattered his shoulder when he landed on it.

"I held on to the ball and I finished the inning," he says. "But that was it. I had to have a six-inch plate and seven screws put in."

Despite that opening 63, golf wouldn't be as cruel. He figured the best way to improve was to find a course where he could work in exchange for free golf. Enter World of Golf in Florence, Ky., about two and a half years ago, another place where he'll do anything asked.

"I guess the worst thing is emptying the garbage, but it's not bad at all and I like doing a little bit of everything," he says. "I clean the carts, work the counter, change the pins."

He usually works 3 to 9 and he'll try to get there right after school so he can hit a bucket of balls before he starts his shift. On his days off, he'll play.

How good is he now? He says his best drives are 270 yards, but he says his strength is his short game. Four years ago he didn't go that far on vacation, but he turned that 63 into an 18-hole 73 when Dixie won the prestigious Beechwood Invitational last August.

And he came tantalizingly close to winning the Region 9 tournament. Two over ended up winning it and he was two over with four holes to play. But he went five over to finish with a 79, missing qualifying for states by just two shots and Dixie finished third, missing states by one place.

That's more than pretty good.

"One of those at the end was a double bogey. I need to make that double bogey a par," says Fangman, who no doubt will as he takes his improbable golf career to a higher level.

But he's also got other clubs in the bag. He just finished a year-long mentoring stint with Hanner's Heroes with a second-grader at Hinsdale Elementary, which is also in the Kenton County School District.

"I helped him mainly with math, but I also did some reading with him. The most rewarding thing was seeing him smile and light up when I got there," Fangman says. "To have him look forward to it was a great feeling. I thought this was kind of nice. At the end-of-year celebration he gave me a card that said, 'Today is our last day together forever,' so I think he enjoyed me."

Pelfrey doesn't think he's seen the last of Fangman. Fangman is collecting recycled golf equipment so they can help disadvantaged people play. Pelfrey wonders about that $20,000 Lewis scholarship.

"I wouldn't be surprised, "Pelfrey says, "to find out in a few years that he used some of that money to help somebody."

After all, Fangman is the guy that has already proved anything can happen in four years.

From 63 to 73, who knows what's next?

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/A-hand-out-of-the-rough/66763569-c99f-4678-8829-ec4b77ab39c9

Pete Prisco's Top 100 Players

Fri, 18 May 2012 11:39:46 +0000

24

Geno Atkins
DT
Cincinnati He was a dominant inside player last season, beating up on good guards at times. He has the quickness to get a pass rush, but he's strong enough to hold up against the run.

64

A.J. Green
WR
Cincinnati As a rookie he flashed star potential -- and that was with a rookie quarterback and without an offseason. Scary.

69

Andrew Whitworth
OT
Cincinnati He is one of those players who never gets the due he deserves. He is a good pass protector who has improved as a run blocker. He never backs down.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/19066749/top-100-nfl-players-no-influence-here-other-than-scouts-film

Vilma sues Goodell

Fri, 18 May 2012 03:14:18 +0000

I'll move it to the non Bengal forum later.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7942639/new-orleans-saints-jonathan-vilma-sues-commissioner-roger-goodell-defamation

Ranking the Top 32 Starting QBs

Thu, 17 May 2012 23:14:20 +0000

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8281b796/article/quarterback-rankings-eli-manning-tops-list-heading-into-2012?module=HP11_hot_topics

The ones who could someday crack the top 15

17) Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals: He showed me a lot winning nine games as a rookie last year, but the praise he got overshadowed his actual production. Show me you can win games as a sophomore and you'll be higher next year.

Celebrating The Fourth

Thu, 17 May 2012 18:39:25 +0000

Celebrating The Fourth

Posted 3 hours ago

Geoff Hobson Editor Bengals.com

Bengals season ticket holder Charlie Kock prepares to announce the Bengals fourth-round selection during last month's NFL Draft.

Charlie Kock is so Who Dey through and through that when his toes get cold they literally burn with the reminder that his biggest thrill as a Bengals fan is being at the Freezer Bowl 30 years ago when the Bengals won the right to go to their first Super Bowl.

Now that has to be right there with this year's draft, when he won the right via a drawing of Bengals season ticket-holders to announce the team's fourth-round pick. After he and about 80 others breakfasted with Roger Goodell and he got to shake hands with the commissioner, Kock admits he said the name backwards.

"Charles Orson, tight end, Georgia."

In the end, though, he got one over on his buddies in the Hillview Golf Course's Thursday night league not far from his Green Township home. He did get the pronunciation right.

"They were just all over me, giving me grief, saying I wouldn't be able to pronounce it or that I would say something like Stanley Wilson," Kock says.

But he thinks the Bengals got it right when they plucked Orson Charles.

"I've been reading about him ever since and I like him," Kock says. "Yes, it does sound like he's got good hands."

Kock, 67, is always reading the sports page. He's always going to Bengals games. He's been to virtually every one since the Bengals arrived in town. And he's still riding the wave of his New York visit with his wife of more than 40 years.

During a Mother's Day lunch at Frisch's with his three grandchildren last Sunday he was approached for an autograph.

"I had a great time," Kock says. "I'm a football fan. I love football, so that was something I really enjoyed."

Kock loves football so much, he doesn't remember the individual games so much as he does the great players on both sides of the ball.

"I've been lucky enough to see all the great quarterbacks down through the years. And when Jim Brown retired, Leroy Kelly followed him in Cleveland as their running back," Kock says. "I always liked Isaac (Curtis) because of the way he flipped the ball to the official after a touchdown. Anthony (Muñoz). And of course (Tim) Krumrie. Even though he didn't do much in the NFL, I always liked Archie Griffin."

Nowadays Kock's favorites are still led by a big receiver, this one named A.J. Green.

"Green, and I think (Andy) Dalton is going to be one of the great quarterbacks," Kock says, adding another receiver. "And I like (Jordan) Shipley. They've got the good hands."

He also likes the nine other picks the Bengals announced.

"I've seen where people are saying the Bengals and the Buccaneers had the best drafts and I agree," Kock says. "They needed somebody so that Green's not always double-teamed. They got a running back. It's like ESPN said, they got people where they needed them."

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Celebrating-The-Fourth/6ff5820d-d907-467b-9fa1-cb652d675282

Football Gameplan Needs Your Help!!

Thu, 17 May 2012 16:49:47 +0000

Vote for Football Gameplan

Good afternoon Bengals fans!! Football Gameplan needs a HUGE favor from you guys! I need 250 votes to be eligible for the Chase Small Business Grant.. This grant would help FBGP transform from Good-to-Great!

Recess in the Stadium, June 9th

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:03:48 +0000

Cincinnati Bengals shared a link.

20 hours ago

Join us for Recess in the Stadium, a FREE, heart healthy event on Saturday, June 9 from noon to 3pm at Paul Brown Stadium (enter Gate A). We’ve teamed up with the Heart Institute at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the American Heart Association to bring families together for a day to teach kids and parents healthy habits through aerobic activities, nutritional workshops, health screenings and tons of fun! Visithttp://www.heart.org...39520_Event.jsp for more information and to register.

Quote

Recess in the Stadium is a FREE event is for school-age children and their families to experience the Cincinnati Bengals' stadium first-hand, all while learning and playing at interactive stations. Highlights include:

* A 40-yard dash on the Bengals' playing field
* Running and jumping through the Bengals' inflatable playground
* Health screenings for kids and adults
* Ask the doctor booth
* Cheering and dancing with the Ben-Gals
* Special guests and drawings for gifts

Sponsored by the Heart Institute at Cincinnati Children’s, the American Heart Association and the Cincinnati Bengals, Recess in the Stadium brings local families together for a day to teach kids and parents healthy habits through various activities, nutritional workshops and tons of fun.

It’s all FREE! For more information or to register, call 513-842-8873 or visit:
http://www.surveymon...essinthestadium

Emcee:
Frank Marzullo
Fox 19 TV

http://www.heart.org...39520_Event.jsp

Dalton adds weight, works on footwork

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:35:33 +0000

Dalton gets the drop on spring

Andy Dalton
Andy Dalton can be found these days in the Bengals locker room jokingly flexing but seriously challenging.
"C'mon. What do you think?" he might ask standing on the scale.
If you guess his draft day weight of 217 pounds, you'd be wrong.
"Nope," he might say triumphantly. "Try 224.6."
Most of the new thickness is through his chest and shoulders after Dalton went home following the Wild Card loss in Houston trying to figure out how to quarterback his team deeper into the NFL hunt. After the 16-game pounding and the 24-hour flu bug before the playoff game shriveled him to 208 pounds, he felt like he needed to get stronger in the weight room.
But while Dalton lived with the weights he also watched tape of his rookie struggles with the long ball and he knew he needed to make putting more meat on his deep passes one of his offseason priorities.
With Dalton preparing for his first voluntary camp as a pro next week in Tuesday's first practice, the two issues are related only in the sense people can tell he went after it, which just may be his most important leadership contribution in this young season.
"We're going to start faster this year," Dalton said this week. "There were games where I stunk in the first half. I'm not going to have those games."
Under the watchful eye of quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese, Cincinnati's maven of mechanics, Dalton is reportedly going long better and easier than he did last year. Zampese, offensive coordinator Jay Gruden, no one, has questions about Dalton's arm strength. For Dalton, the long ball starts with the legs, not the arm.
In the games that have already begun, which are merely pitch-and-catch with his receivers, Dalton has reportedly looked sharp. His fastball seems to have more zip to some. Gruden isn't sure about all that but says Dalton looks stronger and in one throwing session this week word was he hit all but one deep "Go" route, with the only incompletion a drop.
And when he's not throwing to receivers, Dalton and the rest of the quarterbacks are throwing to Zampese's invention. Hockey may have the Zamboni, but the NFL has the Zammy, which is basically a movable basketball hoop and net mounted on a cart that can be placed at any distance, height and angle.
When the quarterbacks practice the deep balls, they put the Zammy at 42 yards down the sideline. It's the same magic number the Bengals quarterbacks coach used at Spinney Field 40 years ago when Bill Walsh dragged out a garbage can or one of Tom Gray's laundry baskets.
"It's something we've taken the time to emphasize," Zampese said. "After we throw, we'll put on some film and compare it to last year and see why it's better. He's got a better base to throw from now than he did during the season, which gives you the distance and the arc. He's got more control of himself when he gets back there with the fifth step. It's more balanced."
When Dalton was able to finally decompress back in February, after a stretch of his wedding, a lightning training camp, his first 16 NFL starts, a playoff berth, and two Pro Bowl touchdown passes that occurred in all of 199 days, he didn't like some of the things he saw on tape.
"When I threw my Go ball, I wasn’t very good last year," Dalton said. "I know there were sometimes I was rushing my drop because I felt like I had to get back quicker than I really had to. I thought there was going to be pressure when there wasn't really going to be pressure. Little things mentally. I knew what was going on, but I'd go back quicker and when I did I'd step on my back foot. The ball wasn't where I wanted it to be.
"I'd rush the top of the drop," he said of the last two or three steps in the five-step drop. "I'm not hitting that fifth step, hitching up, and getting it out. It’s a hit the fifth step, kind of have to gather, and then hitch, and then try to throw it, so the timing is off."
Spring is for flowers, lovers, graduations and NFL coaches. The players didn't have one last year because of the lockout and the first casualties were the fundamentals. Now for the first time, Zampese says, he's able to work on specific parts of Dalton's game for longer periods.
"In the spring," Zampese said, "you can slow it down. More specific. More detailed."
Lost in Dalton's warp speed conversion from college to the pros was his large number of snaps under center compared to the shotgun snaps he primarily took at Texas Christian. He didn’t have to deal with the transferring of weight and getting his feet right since he was already taking the snap in the pocket. He didn't drop back all that much.
"You're transitioning more, you're moving with more speed because in the gun you're already back there," Zampese said. "Now he's got more control over his weight so he can transition it into the throw. I like his balance. He's made progress."
Maybe the Bengals didn't get that one more explosive difference-maker in the draft (Michael Floyd? Isaiah Pead?) to team with a Pro Bowler at wide receiver inA.J. Green and one at tight end in Jermaine Gresham. But improvements to the running game and the long ball may have some of the same impact.
"My focus has been more on getting that fifth step and really getting that hitch, and really getting more into it," Dalton said. "Rather than trying to feel a throw out there. Just let it go. There were so many times last year we were running by guys even if they were the off corner. A.J. and some of these other guys are going to get past them. It can be frustrating when you know you've got it and you just missed the throw. Hopefully it will happen a little less this year."
It was Dalton's ability to forget the last throw and think about the next one that was at the core of his four fourth-quarter comebacks. He rarely shows frustration, but when he did it was usually from a missed deep ball. Now he's got the spring to think about it. And not only that, Green and the young receivers are getting the work they didn't get last spring, either.
"The 42 yards is a pretty common number," said Zampese of the long ball Zammy. "We like it because we want to give A.J. Green the chance to run into the end zone."
The Zammy may no longer be a bucket, but it is definitely on Dalton's list this spring.
"Throwing the football is all footwork. If your feet aren't right it's a lot tougher to throw," Dalton said. "If you're finding yourself underthrowing guys, that's when you're not getting everything into it and it's all upper body, all arm."

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Dalton-gets-the-drop-on-spring/e6ce098e-7244-4526-8556-3ca588e945f2

Pressure Point - Marvin

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:18:53 +0000

Pressure point: Bengals

Link: http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/58656/pressure-point-bengals

Examining who faces the most challenging season for the Cincinnati Bengals and why.

It would be easy to say Marvin Lewis faces a pivotal season because the Bengals coach is in the final year of a two-year extension. But, by all accounts, owner Mike Brown has approached Lewis a handful of times about a new deal, and it's Lewis who hasn't found time for a sitdown.

While it looks like there is no fear with job security, there is still a great amount of pressure on Lewis to take the Bengals to the next level. In his nine years as Bengals coach, Lewis has yet to win a playoff game or guide the team to consecutive winning seasons. If the Bengals want to elevate themselves to the ranks of the Steelers and the Ravens, Lewis has to get the Bengals to make noise in the postseason. During Lewis' tenure in Cincinnati, he has watched the Steelers win two Super Bowls and the Ravens reach the AFC Championship Game twice.

There's no question that Lewis is a good coach. He's done what others have failed to do in Cincinnati. Lewis has become the franchise's winningest coach, holding the team together through the death of a player (wide receiver Chris Henry), an extended holdout by his franchise quarterback (Carson Palmer) and numerous arrests. But Lewis' track record is his team wins when expectations are low but disappoints when the anticipation is high. And the buzz has never been higher in recent years than the 2012 season. (Me: Ummm, there was a LOT of buzz going into 2010.)

The Bengals surprisingly went to the playoffs last season and improved in most areas this offseason. Cincinnati upgraded at running back (BenJarvus Green-Ellis), guard (Travelle Whartonand Kevin Zeitler) and cornerback (Dre Kirkpatrick, Terence Newman and Jason Allen). The Bengals' top two offensive players from a year ago, quarterback Andy Dalton and wide receiverA.J. Green, are having their first full offseason with the team after last year's lockout.

What hangs over the franchise is the NFL's longest playoff win drought (21 seasons). It's up to Lewis to get this team to end that.

Top players under 25

Wed, 16 May 2012 16:51:26 +0000

WR A.J. Green, Cincinnati Bengals(Age: 23)

The NFL is loaded with young studs at wide receiver. There were several worthy candidates for this list but Green is the best of the bunch. He has ideal size, short-area quickness, deep speed and ball skills. He also has the toughness to work in the middle of the field. He finished his rookie campaign with 65 catches for 1,057 yards and seven TDs. I'd look for all of those numbers to rise significantly in his second season.

Just missed the cut: Giants WR Hakeem Nicks (24), Bengals DT Geno Atkins (24), Seahawks FS Earl Thomas (23), Cardinals CB Patrick Peterson (21), Falcons WR Julio Jones (23), Bengals QB Andy Dalton (24), Redskins DE Ryan Kerrigan (23), Steelers RB Rashard Mendenhall (24), Browns CB Joe Haden (23), Cowboys WR Dez Bryant (23).

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d82921d5e/article/young-guns-top-10-nfl-players-under-the-age-of-25