As if you haven't heard by now...Larry Johnson is officially a Bengal...

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LJ is not a "4th Running Back"
John Thornton, AllProBlogger.com
Bengals owner Mike Brown and Marvin Lewis probably see this as a chance to add another starting RB on a squad that is a power running team. I don’t see Larry screwing up the chemistry on this team because he will probably be on his best behavior, ala WR Terrell Owens. And I love Marvin Lewis, but I’m not buying his explanation that Larry will be the 4th RB if brought to Cincinnati. Really? If Larry would be the 4th RB, why not bring in Dede Dorsey, Kenny Watson, or any other guy that can play that role. Larry Johnson isn’t going to be running down on kickoffs, or blocking on punt returns. Marvin has to say that out of respect for the RB’s on the roster now and LJ isn’t signed at this point.

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Johnson signing is strange
P-Doc, Enquirer
It’s too soon to say whether signing Larry Johnson is good or bad for the Cincinnati Bengals. It’s just strange. Marvin Lewis has spent a couple years removing problem children from his locker room. The room is for grown-ups now. Where does Larry Johnson sit? Why do the 7-2, first-place-and-rolling Bengals still need to be the home office for career rehabilitation? It’s a business, not a halfway house. Once you’ve cured the headache, you don’t look for the nearest wall to slam. At least in other NFL places.

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Embattled tailback Johnson aims to move forward
CBS Sports
When Bengals coach Marvin Lewis doesn't want you around, he's not shy about making his feelings known -- even if team owner Mike Brown is intent on, in his own words, redeeming a fallen player. Ask wide receiver Chris Henry, who's stayed out of trouble since rejoining the team in Week 5 of 2008 but who often disappeared from the game plan this year before an arm injury ended his season. Ask fullback Jeremi Johnson, who was buried on the depth chart by Lewis to start this season after making a habit of showing up to training camp overweight.

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Joey Galloway had a tryout with Bengals yesterday...Adam Schefter of ESPN reports the Bengals worked out the former Patriot/Buc/Cowboy/Seahawk on Tuesday, in addition to safety Mike Doss and defensive tackle Ed Johnson. The Bengals have replaced Chris Henry from within to this point, but Galloway could be an option down the line if the team feels it needs another vertical threat.

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No joke, Bengals are serious contenders
Pete Prisco, CBS Sports
Crazy. Nuts. Stupid. Typical Prisco. I know that's what many of you said, and it's what many of my colleagues said, when I picked the Cincinnati Bengals to make the playoffs. But in the past few weeks, I'd be a rich man -- OK, I would be able to buy a nice tuna sandwich -- if I had a dollar for every time I've heard this: "When you picked the Bengals, I laughed. I guess you were right." Halfway home, I might be. We've seen teams fall apart in the second half of a season -- especially teams like the Bengals, who have had a dark cloud following the franchise for years. But I'm starting to get the idea this is a different Cincinnati Bengals team.

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Rest easy, Bengals fans
Ludwig at Large
Rest easy, Bengals fans. I command you to relax and chill over the Cincinnati Bengals’ signing of ex-Chiefs tailaback Larry Johnson on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009. And, please, don’t lose any sleep over it. I guarantee — right here, right now — that the Bengals’ fifth Johnson will not be a disruption or a distraction on the glory road to Super Bowl XLIV in South Florida. The seventh-year veteran from Penn State will not step out of line, get in trouble, make waves or moan and groan about his limited role with this year’s AFC champion Bengals.

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Bernard Scott up for weekly award....Bengals HB Bernard Scott is among five finalists for Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week honors for games played Nov. 12-16, the NFL announced today. Fan voting will determine the winner, and fans can vote for one of the finalists on NFL.com/rookies through Friday at noon. The winner will be announced Friday evening on NFL.com/rookies.

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Scott won't run from troubled past
Gregg Doyel, CBS Sports
Bernard Scott knows what he did. He returned a kickoff 96 electric yards against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, and then he filled in capably for injured tailback Cedric Benson, and at the end of the game the Cincinnati Bengals were in first place in the AFC North ... and Bernard Scott was an anonymous sixth-round draft pick no more. And that's not necessarily in his best interest. See, Bernard Scott has a past, and it's not the greatest of pasts, and now that he has outed himself as a fabulous football talent, people will start digging into that past. They'll wonder who he is, where he came from, how come he's so old (25) for a rookie.

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AFC North Stock Watch
ESPN.com

Rising

1. Bengals defense: The very underrated Cincinnati defense registered four sacks, one interception and held Pittsburgh to 226 yards of total offense. The Bengals controlled the pace of the game through their defense, which continues to surprise opponents with physical play. Cincinnati also was money in the red zone. The Bengals made big play after big play to keep the Steelers out the end zone and hold the defending champs to field goals. That kept the game within reach on the road as the Bengals eventually pulled away.

3. Bernard Scott, Bengals tailback: In a big game between two division rivals, you had a sense that a surprise player would step up and make a huge difference. And that player was Scott. Not only did Scott fill in for injured running back Cedric Benson (hip) in the second half, but his 96-yard kickoff return turned out to be the only touchdown Sunday. With Benson’s status unclear for this week, Scott may get more opportunities with the Bengals.

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Bengals making plenty of roster moves...in addition to the signing of Larry Johnson, they've done the following:

- Terminated the contract of wide receiver Antonio Chatman, releasing him to free agency. Chatman was released from the Reserve/Injured list. A seventh-year NFL player, Chatman opened the 2009 preseason with the Bengals but suffered an ankle injury in practice on Aug. 7. He was placed Sept. 5 on Reserve/Injured and has completed his rehab.

- Terminated the contract of tight end Ben Utecht, releasing him to free agency. Utecht was released from the Reserve/Injured list. A fifth-year NFL player, Utecht opened the 2009 preseason with the Bengals but suffered a concussion in practice on Aug. 5. He was placed Aug. 31 on Reserve/Injured and has completed his rehab.

- Signed safety Brannon Condren to the practice squad. Condren (6-1, 205; Troy) is a third-year NFL player. He opened 2009 with Indianapolis, but was waived on July 29. A fourth-round draft choice of Indianapolis in 2007, he played in eight games for the Colts that season, with two tackles, a pass defensed and four special teams tackles. He was waived by the Colts on Aug. 30, 2008. Later in ’08, he was inactive for four games with St. Louis and played in four games for Miami, with three special teams tackles.

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AFC North Power Rankings
James Walker, ESPN.com

Cincinnati Bengals (7-2)
Last week: No. 4
Current ranking: No. 4
Analysis: Cincinnati continued to shock the NFL with another huge win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it didn’t help much in the Power Rankings. Movement is very difficult at the top as the Bengals remained solid at No. 4. The panel got this one right. You cannot move Cincinnati ahead of the top three teams in the Minnesota Vikings and undefeated New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts. The Bengals have a chance to pad their record over the next few weeks with easy games and will have to wait for one of these top three teams to fall off.

Pittsburgh Steelers (6-3)
Last week: No. 5
Current ranking: No. 6
Analysis: After a respectable, hard-fought loss to a top five team in the Power Rankings, the Steelers dropped just one spot to No. 6. Similar to the Bengals, Pittsburgh’s schedule eases up over the next several weeks. The Steelers should have their way with the Kansas City Chiefs this week. But Troy Polamalu’s injury status will have a huge impact on this team’s potential if he is out longer than a game or two. The Steelers just aren’t the same team when he’s not on the defense.

Baltimore Ravens (5-4)
Last week: No. 14
Current ranking: No. 11
Analysis: Who knew a win over the lowly Cleveland Browns could do so much? The Ravens moved up three spots to No. 11 and continue to be one of the most schizophrenic teams in ESPN.com's Power Rankings. It’s been hard to get a read on this team all season due to their streaky and inconsistent play. Baltimore played an average game Monday and still manhandled Cleveland. But the team will have to play a lot better to have a shot this weekend at knocking off the undefeated Colts.

Cleveland Browns (1-8)
Last week: No. 32
Current ranking: No. 32
Analysis: There is no doubt the Browns are currently the worst team in the NFL. It’s been that way for several weeks, but it took previously winless teams to get its first victory of the season for our panel to take notice. Cleveland’s offense is hard to watch. I’m not sure what its trying to accomplish most weeks than to run out the clock. The defense is OK, but it gets worn out too quickly and can’t put together four good quarters. This could be an ugly final seven games in Cleveland.

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Charlie Weis says he doesn't think his future has been decided...."Oh no, I don't think that any decision's been made because I probably would know, and I don't know," Weis said Tuesday. "With that being said, it's full speed ahead to UConn, full speed ahead to Stanford and full speed ahead to recruiting. That's exactly the way we're approaching it."

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Cronin places gag order on freshmen....Under a new policy instituted this year by UC head coach Mick Cronin, neither Stephenson nor fellow freshmen Sean Kilpatrick and Jaquon Parker are allowed to talk to the media.

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Congrats to the Cyclones....The Cincinnati Cyclones set a club record for regular season weekday attendance, drawing 8944 for the ‘Ohio Lottery presents Education In Hockey Day’ game played this morning. The previous regular season weekday attendance record of 6211 was set in a 2-1 shootout win over Idaho on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 during a ‘NASCAR Night’ promotion. The club also takes over the ECHL lead for average attendance with today’s crowd. The 8944 is the largest regular season weekday attendance in the ECHL in at least ten years. The biggest weekday attendance in 2008-09 was 8115 for Stockton at Ontario on March 18, 2009. The biggest during the three seasons (2006-07 to present) that the Cyclones have returned to ECHL play was 8661 set when Las Vegas visited Bakersfield on November 14, 2007.

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Speaking of the Clones, they won yesterday morning
Official Release
<blockquote>The Cincinnati Cyclones used a two goal performance from Scott Reynolds to pace the club to a 3-1 win over the Trenton Devils on Tuesday morning. The win snapped a three game winless streak (0-2-1) for the club.

The contest was the annual ‘Ohio Lottery presents Education In Hockey Day’ event with a crowd of 8944. It was the fourth-largest regular season crowd and biggest weekday regular season attendance in team history. It was also the biggest regular season weekday crowd in the ECHL in at least ten seasons. Cincinnati now leads the ECHL in attendance, averaging 6653 per game.

The EIHD program utilizes the 16 college educated players on the Cyclones roster teaching math, science, geography and physical education elements to students in the Tri-State area. Pupils from the second through twelfth grade were on hand, a total of 76 schools and nearly 9000 students attended.

The Cyclones took Trenton to school early, as Matt Pierce tipped home a Jason Jozsa shot from the right point. Pierce’s tenth goal of the season was also assisted by rookie Brett Robinson. Trenton evened the score at one when Kyle Kucharski converted a two-on-one break with a shot just inside the right post for his fifth score of the campaign. Tim Kunes and Andy Thomas had the assists. Cincinnati regained the lead when Scott Reynolds tallied his fifth lamplighter at 6:14. Dustin Sproat and former Devil Mark O’Leary had the helpers. The shots on goal favored the Cyclones, 9-6, in the opening frame.

The second period finished scoreless, but Cincinnati had chances. The Cyclones had four minutes of five-on-three power play time after a major penalty and a pair of minors in a scrum near the Trenton goal. All told, Cincinnati had four power plays and nine minutes of man-advantage time—but was unable to score. Devils netminder Dave Caruso stopped all 14 shots he faced in the stanza. The Cyclones outshot Trenton, 14-9.

Reynolds’ second goal of the afternoon and sixth of the season came on the power play at 3:26. Pierce and Sproat handed out the assists on the score. The shots once again favored the Cyclones, 10-8. For the game Cincinnati held the upper hand in shots, 33-17.
Jeremy Smith picked up the win, his fourth of the year—stopping 16 shots. Dave Caruso was pinned with the loss despite stopping 30 shots. Cincinnati was one for twelve on the power play, while Trenton was one for four with the extra attacker.

Cincinnati is now 6-5-1, while Trenton is 5-6-3. Cincinnati and the Devils meet again tomorrow night (November 18) at 7:30pm, also at U.S. Bank Arena. The game can be heard on the internet at: www.cycloneshockey.com.</blockquote>

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Just another reason I'm proud to be a Miami RedHawks alum: Charlie Coles....when asked by "How did this one get away from you?" Coles responded with this:

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The Bengal-Mobile....now I'm not exactly a ladies man, but I'm guessing this isn't gonna help you pick up chicks...just a guess...

hat tip to Alex in Indy for the photos

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Hump Day = Kayleigh Pearson

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Wednesday Food Porn...introducing The Toaster Orgy

A toaster strudel topped with cream cheese, strawberry jelly, butter and Aunt Jemima syrup sandwiched between two waffles, all covered in strawberry cream cheese and more syrup.

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WalMart is like the Ellis Island of shopping....they welcome all kinds....

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WTF of the day....damn you spandex, damn you!!...

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Jerry Jones likes his booze....

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Coolest transformation you'll see today...

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hat tip to Sloanie at OneQuickBeer.com for the video

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Thinking about growing a mustache? This flowchart will help...
Maxim

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FAIL of the day....

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One less reason to watch House....

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Today's Definition of Duh.....Anthony Carrazco, 19, practically arrested himself after he was going door-to-door attempting to sell weed, but he knocked on the wrong door. Police say Carrazco had a gun, marijuana and went up to a police officer's front door and asked him if he wanted to buy some weed. They say Carrazco even had his own scale.

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