THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

I'm not sure what it means, but Chad Johnson said today he's playing horribly this season. It's a bit of an over statement. Johnson is among the league leaders in catches, on pace for an 1,800 yard season. Maybe he's talking about touchdowns. Through four games, Johnson has only three TD catches, which means only three TD celebrations. Maybe that's what the self marketing Johnson is talking about.

Carson Palmer's take on the underachieving Bengals is that he's disappointed, not depressed. Most of the fans of this team would ask, can you be both? Most of them are. Here's the deal: the Bengals are a team with a great quarterback, a handful of outstanding players and a whole lot of headaches after that. The headaches would be either injuries or suspensions. But this is anything but a championship calibre team.

We should have seen this coming. Since 2003, the Bengals have lost an inordinate number of top draft picks to injury, suspension or ineffectiveness. Their inability to run consistently has led to defenses playing 'cover two', or two deep safeties. The Bengals inability to find an effective third wide receiver, while Chris Henry sits out his suspension, has led to a struggling offense. Defenses have let TJ Houshmandzadeh and Johnson to run up their personal stats, without affecting the outcome of a game. Think I'm wrong? Check third down efficiency and time of possession stats. The Bengals are converting only 33% of the time on third down. And in time of possession, they've lost the battle in three of their first five games.

Their schedule gets easier now. But at 1-4, who of their opponents is looking at their game against the Bengals and are saying 'We can't win this one". My guess, not many.

The lastest "Bengals Report Podcast" is posted and ready for your downloading or listening on line pleasure. It's on the front page of my web site: http://www.kenbroo.com/.

Now, some quick hits. I love the Rockies story this season. Winning 21 of 22 in a row and making it to the World Series on a $35 million budget. But can they consistently win with that low a payroll. In a word, no. So enjoy it now Denver.....Why am I afraid that a talented, promising career in the person of golfer Michelle Wie has been ruined?......The longer it goes on, the more it looks like Joe Torre stays with the Yankees....The NBA is playing exhibition games in China this week. For what? Do you honestly believe there are 18,000 people in China who could afford an average NBA ticket price of $100.00 per game? So if expansion to Beijing is out of the question, what are you doing there? Promote you wheezing game in the USA, in markets that can't see live games....like, oh...Cincinnati? Don't tell me this is to pump the Olympics. Please....Speaking of the Olympics, will we ever watch those games again without wondering which athlete is on the 'juice'? .....Here's what the UFC will allow local television stations to photograph at their event in Cincinnati Saturday night: video of what goes on between the fights, but not the actual fights....like what, guys burping in between swigs of beer? Or maybe the line to get into the mens' room.....But they'll beg you for pre fight coverage....If that's the way "Vegas type events" operate, please stay in Nevada.