While no announcement was officially made, the Cincinnati Bengals aren’t expected to use their franchise tag on cornerback Johnathan Joseph or running back Cedric Benson. While not franchising Benson at $9.5 million seemed like the right thing, the idea of franchising cornerback Johnathan Joseph at $14 million is obviously giving the Bengals pause, provided that they’re still indecisive.With defensive tackle Haloti Ngata expected to hit free agency this year, the Baltimore Ravens used their franchise tag on the defensive tackle, holding him for at least a year, which will allow them to negotiate a long-term contract once the Collective Bargaining Agreement is resolved, Cheap Football Jerseys.
Tag Archives: Cincinnati Bengals
Around The AFC North: Baltimore Ravens Franchise Defensive Tackle Haloti Ngata
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on March 1, 2011
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Video: Four people who are very thankful for Chris Henry
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on November 27, 2010
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You hear a lot of stories around the holidays that are designed to elicit an emotional response – prefab “Hallmark Moments”. But once in a while, you see the results of a graceful and unselfish gesture that really knocks you off your feet. So it has been for Carolyn Glaspy, the mother of former Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry, who lost his life in the early morning of Dec. 17, 2009 after a fall from a moving vehicle the day before.
Four people – Brian Polk, Donna Arnold, James Benton, and Thomas Elliot – are alive today because of the organ transplants that were made possible by his mother after Henry’s passing. The embedded CBS Sports feature from this morning’s Lions-Patriots pregame show begins with those four people and their families sharing a Thanksgiving table with Chris Henry‘s mom. And if that doesn’t choke you up … well, don’t worry. There are many more opportunities to “get a little dust in your eye” as the seven-minute feature rolls along.
“I think about Chris Henry every day,” Elliot said. “And I think about his family.” John Green, the trauma surgeon at Carolinas Medical Center where Henry was taken, said that he realized there wasn’t much anyone could do for Henry, based on his injuries. Matthew Kinney, the family support coordinator for the hospital, went to be with Mrs. Glaspy in her time of grief. And soon after Henry was declared dead, Glaspy made the split-second, unthinkable decision that her son had not during his life – that he would be a donor for others. “It was a hard decision,” Glaspy said. “But it was a decision that I would do again if I had to.”
Very quickly, Polk, Arnold, Benton, and Elliot were informed that their transplants would be happening. Polk received a kidney, Arnold received a pancreas and a kidney, Benton received a liver, and Elliot received two lungs. It was Glaspy’s way of making the best of the worst imaginable situation, but what has come from that decision has affected everyone involved more than they might have imagined. Not only are the four who live through that gesture doing well, but as Glaspy said, she has a new family with those people.
About 5:30 into the video, we see Mrs. Glaspy coming to Carolinas Medical Center to meet the people she and her son helped. When she goes through the door, and those people applaud for her … well, that’s when words failed me. Just watch the video, hug your friends and family a little tighter today, and give thanks for what you have – especially the things you have from the most unexpected sources.
As Mrs. Glaspy said, “People of faith believe that people journey into one’s life for a reason. Of course, my family will never be the same, but it will also never be bigger. And for that, on this and every other day, I will truly, truly be forever thankful.”
Wild turkey: Pats come back, Saints steal win in Dallas, Jets roll
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on November 27, 2010
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NFL fans were treated to a football feast on Thursday, with three competetive games, one of which featured the wildest Thanksgiving finish in years. A rundown of the day’s action:
The appetizer: New England Patriots 45, Detroit Lions 24
When this game was announced in March, we ran the following headline about the game: “Patriots get to maul Lions on Thanksgiving.” Judging by the score of Thursday’s game in the Motor City, you’d think we were a mix of Nostradamus and Jimmy the Greek. But despite the 21-point margin of victory, this game was a pretty competitive affair that was in doubt for the first 45 minutes.
The Pats only pulled away after a 79-yard touchdown on third down tied the game and broke the Lions’ spirits. Second-year veteran Alphonso Smith(notes) played the role of turkey on that play, getting burned by Deion Branch(notes) and wildly flailing all over the field in his pursuit.
Tom Brady(notes) finished the game 21 for 27 with 341 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions, giving him a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3 (the second time in his career he’s achieved that mark).
Detroit lost its seventh straight Thanksgiving Day game, the longest streak in franchise history. The team has been outscored by an average of 23 points in those games.
The main course: New Orleans Saints 30, Dallas Cowboys 27
New Orleans stormed to an early 17-point lead and it looked like Thanksgiving in Dallas would be as exciting as your typical Turkey Day in Detroit. But a late first-half field goal gave the Cowboys a bit of momentum headed into the locker room and the team rallied in the second half to take a 27-23 lead.
It was to be one of Dallas’ great Thanksgiving comebacks, on par with Clint Longley’s 1974 miracle against the Washington Redskins. When Roy Williams snagged a key third-down catch, the game appeared all but over. New Orleans had one timeout and Dallas could have run down the clock to under a minute. But before Williams went down, the Saints’ Malcolm Jenkins(notes) somehow wrestled the ball away from him (above). The Saints recovered and Drew Brees(notes) quickly led the team 89 yards en route to a touchdown and a 30-27 lead.
New Orleans left 1:55 for Dallas to score, but the team mismanaged the two-minute drill (maybe it was poor cardiovascular endurance) and couldn’t get close enough for kicker David Buehler(notes), who yanked a potentially game-tying 59-yard field goal a little left. That let Saints coach Sean Payton breathe a sigh of relief. The coach has tried to take one of those pesky pre-field goal timeouts, but it went unseen by the refs. Had an official seen it, Buehler would have had another chance to win the game. Instead, the defending champs got a much-needed victory in their battle with Atlanta for the NFC South crown.
The dessert: New York Jets 26, Cincinnati Bengals 10
An ugly first half, possibly affected by too much turkey and stuffing, was followed by an explosive second. The lowly Bengals took a 7-3 lead into the locker room, but two Brad Smith(notes) touchdowns — one of an end around to start the third quarter and another on a kick return in which his shoe popped off — helped the Jets to what became an easy victory. At 9-2, Rex Ryan and the Jets are living up to the preseason expectations they helped set.
It’s the second-best start in team history.
Jets Win Without Last-Gasp Drama
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on November 26, 2010
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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — On Thursday night, for the first time in forever, the Jets triumphed without a comeback, without a seeming miracle, without the divine intervention from the football gods that seemed to guide them over the past month.
They did not dominate, or decimate, or elicit fear across the league. Instead, they won a boring game relative to their recent standards, decided without dramatics, 26-10, at New Meadowlands Stadium against the free-falling Cincinnati Bengals.
“The last three games seemed like six games,” tight end Dustin Keller said. “It was exhausting. This felt good.”
The Jets improved to 9-2, good for the second-best start in franchise history. They also set the stage for a potentially epic American Football Conference East clash Dec. 6 against New England on “Monday Night Football.” The Patriots won their Thanksgiving semifinal, over Detroit, to match the Jets for a share of the N.F.L.’s best record.
The Jets’ exclamation point came courtesy of Brad Smith, a receiver in title only. He scored his second touchdown Thursday early into the fourth quarter, on a 90-yard kickoff return in which he lost his left shoe halfway through and streaked toward the end zone with his sock flopping loosely from his foot.
Shortly before game’s end, linebacker Bart Scott leaned toward a camera and unleashed his feelings about the team’s most impressive defensive performance yet this season. Scott stayed silent last week, when that defense collapsed against Houston. He stayed silent Wednesday, too, when Coach Rex Ryan challenged him and several other veterans during a team meeting.
Then the Jets held the Bengals to 163 yards of total offense. Darrelle Revis, labeled an “average cornerback” this week by receiver Terrell Owens, turned the talkative Owens into a nonfactor, then joked afterward, “And to think, they put an average guy on the best receiver.” Linebacker Calvin Pace called the defensive effort easy.
As usual, though, Scott spoke loudest, still clearly irked.
“Say something about our defense now,” he said, with expletives removed. “They questioned our ability. They questioned our pass rush. They acted like we were the worst defense in the world. Say something.”
Earlier Thursday, on the NFL Network, the analyst Steve Mariucci said the Jets needed a “convincing” win, needed to “pound someone” and make a “statement.” This performance fell short of that, but not by much.
Quarterback Mark Sanchez mostly failed to exploit a Bengals secondary that started two backup safeties and a cornerback signed off the street this week. Sanchez threw for a meager 166 yards. Place-kicker Nick Folk missed another field goal. The Jets again acquired penalty flags as if collecting them.
Besides the defense, Smith provided a boost almost entirely by himself. Two offensive plays into the second half, he seized back the lead, taking a handoff around left end, through a gaping hole and 53 yards into the end zone. He gained 55 yards on three rushes. He caught a 23-yard pass. And, of course, he made the shoe-missing kick return.
“We should call him flash,” offensive tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson said. “He’s like a cartoon character. Like, he’s so fast, he plays all those positions at once.”
These teams met twice last season, including in the first round of the playoffs. There, Cedric Benson became the last running back to gain at least 100 yards on the ground against the Jets, amassing 169. The Jets managed to win that game, but the memory of Benson lingered — until Thursday, when they held him to 41 yards on 18 carries.
The same Jets defense that looked atypically shaky and vulnerable this month, that was staggered last week against Houston, stopped Benson for no gain on each of his first four attempts. That defense, with Eric Smith starting at safety in place of Brodney Pool, held the Bengals to 40 yards in the scoreless first quarter.
That defense last registered an interception in Week 6, but grabbed two — one by safety Jim Leonhard, another by cornerback Antonio Cromartie — in the first half. Those turnovers, however, highlighted a disturbing trend: offensive drives stalled within the red zone. Despite the interceptions, the Jets scored 3 first-half points.
Fortunately for them, these were the Bengals. Owens called his own team “terrible” after last week’s embarrassing loss to Buffalo. On a conference call with New York reporters, another Bengals wideout, Chad Ochocinco, said of their collective problems, “Where do I start?”
The Jets ended the second quarter with their own series of miscues. Cornerback Drew Coleman committed an unnecessary roughness penalty, setting up Carson Palmer’s 5-yard scoring strike to Jordan Shipley. Folk missed a 44-yard field goal — he made one attempt, but Cincinnati wisely called timeout beforehand — and the Bengals led at halftime, 7-3.
Thus the Jets fell into a familiar pattern, showcasing their split personality on national television, alternating between good and bad, dominant and dismal, sometimes on the same play. Like when the defense forced a punt — and Sanchez threw an interception. Or when the defense recorded a turnover on downs — wiped clean by a roughing-the-passer penalty against safety James Ihedigbo.
Good Jets. Bad Jets. Lucky Jets. So it went.
Still, as always, the Jets will not apologize for the manner in which they win. Receiver Santonio Holmes had another touchdown grab. Ihedigbo atoned for his penalty with a key fumble recovery on a punt. Again, one unit (this time the offense) struggled. And again, another unit (this time the defense) stepped forward.
In this way, the Jets are like a fulcrum; progress in one area often leads to regression somewhere else. They consider that a good thing in a way, because they are off to a near-record start and they have yet to compile a perfect game (the Buffalo game, players said, came close).
“We want to peak at the right time, and we sure did that last year,” Sanchez said. “We’re just looking for that complete game.”
They showed glimpses in the second half Thursday. Shoeless Smith returned the kickoff. Defensive lineman Trevor Pryce recorded the team’s first safety of the season. Fans began to filter toward the exits.
For one week, at least, they could be forgiven for leaving early.