Marvin Lewis blew a gasket when second-year linebacker Odell Thurman was a no-show for the start of Training Camp on Saturday.  Lewis called Thurman a “non-factor” and said that he will play who shows up to work.

Thurman had a great rookie season playing in all 16 games and recording 98 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 5 interceptions..one of which Thurman returned for a TD, and he forced 4 fumbles.

Lewis is starting to let the pressure to win get to him.  Thurman would be very hard to replace for a team that expects to contend.

The young defensive tackle that was a fourth round pick in 2004 is the latest Bengal to be arrested this year joining rookies Frostee Rucker, AJ Nicholson and verteran Chris Henry.  Askew was approached last night by the police about a parking violation but he decided to try to outrun the police.  Askew was then tased and arrested and has been charged with resisting arrest, obstruction and the original parking violation.  Is Askew really worth the trouble for the Bengals?  Askew has only appeared in six games over two seasons and has a whopping total of five tackles.

The Bengals should maybe do some background checks on the players before they draft them.

On October 1st (week four) the New England Patriots invade the Jungle.  Unbelievable as it may seem the last five times the Pats have played in the Queen City….the Cats have covered.  And in the last eight overall, the Bengals are 7-0-1 against the spread vs. New England.  If Carson Palmer is healthy……bet on the Bengals.

Thurman will miss the first four games of the year due to a violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy.  Landon Johnson and Ahmad Brooks will try to fill in for Thurman, but that’s some huge shoes to fill.  The Bengals added Sam Adams to free the linebackers….namely Thurman.

The Bengals will forfeit their third round choice in the 2007 draft for the selection of linebacker Ahmad Brooks from the University of Virginia.  Brooks was a first team all-ACC linebacker as a sophomore and a finalist for the Butkus Award as a junior.

Coach Al Groh kicked Brooks off the team in spring practice last season and would not specify a reason why.  Brooks is the kind of player the Bengals have been taking chances with lately, as they think they can straighten out bad apples that have immense talent.  That formula has worked well for them so far.