His poor season is the accumulation of many factors. First off, Chad had a procedure done on his ankle during training camp which set him back. Plus, he suffered a torn labrum during the first preseason game against the Packers. He wasn’t healthy early, and Palmer and Chad just couldn’t get in rhythm.

Then everything fell apart.

After Palmer hurt his elbow in the third week of the season (eff the Giants!), Ryan Fitzpatrick resumed quarterback duties for all subsequent games, save for the fifth game against Dallas. And Fitzpatrick is no Palmer, for sure — his arm strength is decidedly weaker and so Chad becomes ineffective on the deeper patterns (which he’s asked to do a majority of the time).

Then there’s the offensive line’s (lack of) protection. With two rookies playing the left side of the line, a terrible center and an over-valued “franchise” right tackle, Fitzpatrick is ordered to take three step drops, release the football or take off. Chad has three routes that he runs primarily (square in, hook out, and streak), all of which depend on patience (holding onto the football) from the quarterback and decent blocking. However, since Fitzpatrick can’t sit in the pocket, waiting for routes to develop, he’s often either throwing to Houshmandzadeh (who runs shorter in, out and zig-zag routes about five yards beyond the line of scrimmage), or looking to scramble because he’s under immense pressure all game.

Except for being deactivated against the Steelers on Thursday Night Football (and he’s deeply regretful that it all happened), he’s been about as good, uplifting of a team mate on this team as any player. He rarely speaks out, pointing fingers and resigned to the fact he’s going to stick with this team. And in truth, the context of his blabbering this off-season has been echoed by fans. But as fans, we didn’t appreciate the level of childishness it was done, assisting in our already nature to look bad.

On one hand, a normal Chad helps keep opposing defenses with seven-man fronts, naturally opening running lanes for our rushing offense. Instead, the lack of a threatening deep pass by Fitzpatrick benefits the opposing defenses to stack the line. Sadly, we allow them to, and don’t take advantage of it on the deeper patterns. So if this were the Chad of any other year, we’d love to have his presence — we know his blabber mouth potential, but we mostly shrug it off. But on the field, his production just isn’t there — again, an accumulation of a lot of things. Some fans suggest that he’s dogging it though, simply to get out of Cincinnati. I don’t believe that, but I can’t say with any certainty.

On the other hand, we’re still pretty sour that the Bengals didn’t take the trade offer by the ’Skins that would have rebuilt our offensive and defensive lines.

That’s a great question. It took some thought, but I would fall back on T.J. again. His numbers are consistent, one of the league leaders with receptions and typical of him to be among the leaders of third down conversions. Watch for him on third down mostly. He’s nearly always the primary, so he lines up wide and in slot. Typically he runs patterns that finds breaks and holes in the zone. He’s not the prototypical receiver in terms of talent, but he makes up for it all with his intelligence. We have no problem saying he’s one of the smartest receivers in the NFL.

No, we’re really that bad. The line was 13 against the Colts and they covered by 32. Granted, not the same team and we’re at home this time. But we don’t have home field advantage, so to speak. We’ve hovered around .500 since the Marvin Lewis era began, save for the 2005 season.

Well, first thing would be to bring back some of the 22 players that we have put on IR, many of whom are starters or critical backup/special teams players. In fact, if you include Palmer (who’s not on IR), then we can actually put out a starting line up on offense. Give us two tackles to IR, and we have a starting line up on offense and defense.

We understand that injuries are simply part of the game, so it’s not an excuse. But many of our injured would be starting this Sunday. For example, two starting DEs, a starting LB, 3 safeties with starting experience, a starting CB are all on IR.

Get some of these guys back, replace some of the crappy players (like our starting center), and turnover the personnel so that older left tackles aren’t in the starting lineup anymore. In quick summation.

1) Health
2) Rebuilding offensive line
3) Turning over aging personnel

That would be a good start.

What’s going on with reported “cooling” of Zorn and the players? Is it a matter of a first year head coach just learning how to treat players of today? Or is there a fundamental knocking of the heads?

Houshmandzadeh’s game is too dynamic, and critical to any offense, to just let him go. It’s generally believed that the Bengals will franchise him.

Henry is, well, that’s just a different story. Back in 2005, he was the best #3 receiver on the field in the league. His size, athleticism and natural talent should have made him a first-round pick, but on-the-field incidents (not off the field), scared several teams. So the Bengals thought they got a steal in 2005 drafting him in the third round. And during that season, it was a steal. Then everything went kaboom after that.

Marvin Lewis didn’t want him back, expressed that to the media and to Mike Brown (owner). Brown brought him back anyway, forcing fans and media to conclude that there’s friction between the two and an eventual split. That’s not the general consensus anymore, and many believe (oddly enough) that Lewis could be the most secured head coach in the NFL. If Lewis leaves, it’s because he chooses to go, not because he’s forced out.

Now Henry is on the field, and he’s just terrible. He doesn’t make receptions with passes that skip through his hands — if the pass isn’t perfect, he doesn’t catch it. A personal foul against Indianapolis after an interception gave the Colts the ball at the 7-yard line (they scored a touchdown heading into half time with a 14-3 lead).

If you ask everyone but Mike Brown, Henry won’t (and never should be again) a Cincinnati Bengal. Not for his incidents, rather he’s just not all that effective and he doesn’t contribute to the offense, at all.