The Bengals have signed WR/KR Courtney Roby to a 2-year contract.  Roby played the last two seasons with the Titans and he played in 25 games.  In those 25 games, Roby caught 23 passes for 317 yards (13.8 avg) with 1 TD grab and he also has carried the ball 3 times for 19 yards (6.3 ypc).  Roby has returned 22 kickoffs for 495 yards (22.5 avg) and he will likely take over that role with the Bengals right away.

The Bengals have placed reserve DB Ethan Kramer (knee) and WR/KR Tab Perry (hip) on the Injured Reserve List ending their seasons.  Kramer didn’t play at all this season.  Perry caught 1 pass for 7 yards and he also carried the ball 1 time for 9 yards.  But, his main role on the team was as the kickoff returner.  He returned 7 kickoffs for 145 yards (20.7 avg) this season. 

The Bengals nightmare season continues to unravel as they fell behind too far to make this a good football game.  Carson Palmer needs to protect the football a little bit better.  He completed 26 of 43 passes for 320 yards with 2 TD passes and 2 interceptions.  He also lost a fumble.  Kenny Watson did most of the running for the Bengals as he carried the ball 13 times for 68 yards (5.2 ypc) and he also caught 3 passes for 14 yards (4.7 avg).  T.J. Houshmandzadeh had a fantastic game as he caught 8 passes for 145 yards (18.1 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Chad Johnson pitched in with 8 catches for 83 yards (10.4 avg).  The Bengals finished up with 78 yards rushing on 18 carries (4.3 ypc) and they also completed 26 of 43 passes for 295 yards.

Landon Johnson led the way on another bad effort by the defense….with 11 tackles and 1/2 a sack.  The Chiefs rushed for 121 yards on 34 carries (3.6 ypc) and they also completed 25 of 35 passes for 233 yards.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=271014012

This should be a good football team between to desperate teams that really need a victory.  The Bengals have lost three games in a row and they have allowed 109 points during the losing streak.  The Chiefs are sitting a 2-3 and they need to play better on offense at home as they have only scored 20 points in 2 games there. 

The Bengals will get RB Rudi Johnson for this game and it couldn’t come at a better time.  The Chiefs are allowing 125.6 yards rushing per game and 4.2 yards per carry so the Bengals might try to pound them some on the ground to keep the defense on the sideline.  But it’s also very likely that Carson Palmer will try to light up the sky and essentially take Larry Johnson out of the Chiefs game plan by making them play from behind.  WRs Chad Johnson (28 rec, 495 yards, 3 TDs) and T.J. Houshmandzadeh (39 rec, 360 yards, 5 TDs) will have a big speed advantage on the corners of the Chiefs.

Damon Huard’s MRI came back o.k. and he will start this week against the Bengals and that’s a good thing.  The Chiefs will try to get Larry Johnson (275 yards rushing, 3.3 ypc) to keep control of the football and keep the Bengals offense on the bench.  Look for Huard to be able to get the ball to TE Tony Gonzalez (29 rec, 338 yards, TD) and WR Dwyane Bowe (22 rec, 369 yards, 3 TDs) often against the Bengals defense which is allowing 251.0 yards passing per game.

PREDICTION:  This will be a high scoring game but I have a hunch that the Chiefs will be inspired and win this game by a field goal.

The NFL has suspended cornerback Jonathan Joseph for this week’s game with Kansas City for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.  He has made 10 tackles so far this season.  It’s hard to say how much the Bengals will miss Joseph because no one has played any defense for the Bengals this season anyway.

The Bengals are averaging 26.5 points per game and 365.5 yards per game……and they are 1-3.  The reason for that is the defense is downright pathetic.  There have been some injuries but most of the reason for the poor defensive play is because the Bengals don’t have any Pro Bowl type players on that side of the football.  They are allowing 152.0 yards rushing per game (5.3 ypc) and they allow 251.0 yards passing per game.  The Bengals are allowing 32.3 points per game and they will be lucky to win 4-5 games this season if they don’t improve on defense soon!  They are putting too much pressure on the offense which has played pretty well but they can’t win games by themselves.  The Bengals better focus on defense over the bye week.

The Bengals need some big plays from their kick returners but they have not been getting any.  Skyler Green doesn’t get much work as the punt returner of the Bengals because of their awful defense so they need him to make some plays when he gets a chance.  Green has only returned 4 punts for 22 yards this season (5.5 avg).  Glenn Holt has really improved as a football player as he has caught 5 passes for 52 yards and a TD after only catching 1 pass for 3 yards as a rookie last year.  But his biggest contribution on the Bengals could be as a kickoff returner as he has returned 17 kickoffs for 414 yards (24.4 avg) so far this season.  The Bengals need more plays out of the special teams if they are going to help the offense stay close in game because they probably have the worst defense in the entire NFL.

The Bengals have claimed Corey Mays off waivers from New England out of desperation.  Mays has nice size at 6’1″, 245 pounds but he hasn’t had a lot of playing time to prove himself in the NFL.  He played in 1 game for the Patriots this season and he made 1 tackle.  Mays has played in 8 games in his NFL career and he has made 10 tackles.

The Bengals have lost Lemar Marshall for the season after he tore his left ACL last night against the Patriots.  He finishes the season with 8 tackles and 1 sack.  This will hurt the Bengals big-time as they currently have very little depth at linebacker.