THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

For openers, the Bengals were putrid Sunday. They couldn't block and they couldn't tackle. Maybe they looked good getting off the team bus. This, I'm afraid, is going to be a long season.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way. The Bengals didn’t look so hot during the exhibition season. In fact, they looked bad. The line couldn’t keep the other guys off Carson Palmer’s nose. The defense still hasn’t figured out how to tackle. And a lot of Bengals were hurt. Indisputable facts, part of the fabric the Bengals brought with them to their opener against the Ravens.

For the record, the Ravens are hurt, didn’t score a whole lot of points in their exhibition games and they started a rookie quarterback today. Amazingly, well maybe not so, the Ravens managed over 350 yards of total offense, 229 of those yards were on the ground.

All of that is the obvious. Let’s get into this season a little deeper, put a little more thought into it. I like lists. You like lists? Check things off as you go? I do. It’s a fascinating study of the Irish: make a list, then worry about it the rest of your life. But that’s another story for another day.

Here are 10 things I need to see happen, this season. We’ll do it in David Letterman descending order…

10: Press coverage from the Bengals cornerbacks. If I see Leon Hall or Jonathan Joseph backing off the line of scrimmage like they did last year, I’m throwing a shoe through my television set. Remember, this Mike Zimmer guy, the new defensive coordinator, is supposed to be more aggressive than Chuck Bresnahan. And if you don’t press coverage the Ravens pedestrian wide receivers, who are you going to cover that way?

9: Tackle. End plays with the other guy on the ground. And I’ll call out the guy I want to see this from: Marvin White, the safety. Big hits are great. Shoulders into receivers are electrifying. Now try wrapping up the guy and not let him run by you. Remember the exhibition game against the Packers?

Me too.

8: I want to see Chris Perry carry the ball at least 20 times a game. If he’s carrying the ball that many times, the Bengals are winning. But more to the point: Perry appears to be the kind of back who has to carry the ball a lot to get into a rhythm. And don’t give me: he’s too fragile to carry it 20. If he is, why did you let Rudi walk?

7: I want to see Ocho Cinco get hit hard and get up. I want to see if his torn labrum can stand a hit. Because if it can’t, why didn’t you go out and sign a street free agent on cutdown day…like Ashley Leslie? I need to know Ocho’s shoulder will stand up from the abuse you know the Ravens are going to bring today.

6: I want to see Carson Palmer standing after every play. The offensive line was abysmal this exhibition season. It couldn’t stop tackle stunts, it couldn’t stop edge rushers and it allowed Palmer to be sacked, hit or pushed around on virtually every play this summer. This is a group that’s on the spot all year. And so are the smart guys in that Bengals front office. You know who you are. You let Eric Steinbach take a hike to Cleveland and you just cut Willie. OK smart guys, this group you got better start behaving like an NFL offensive line.

5: I want to see if TJ Houshmandzadeh’s leg problems are over. Because, I’ve got to tell you, without him, this team is out of business. If you’ve got them projected for six wins, it’ll be four without him. He’s the best receiver on the field and the double teams he draws opens up everything else. No TJ, no Ocho Cinco, no running attack, no good.

4: I want to see Jerome Simpson do something. It’s not his fault the Bengals spent a second round pick on him. But it’s his problem now. He got second round money and he’s had a largely unheralded summer. This is the guy who the Bengals think will be their #1 or #2 wide receiver in a couple of years. He’s a #3, at best now. He needs to get open and get up and catch the ball.

3: I want to see Ben Utecht catch the ball, five times, minimum per game. This has been a chronic problem with the Bengals offense since, oh Tony McGee ran out of gas? Utecht needs to show that he wasn’t a product of great players around him in Indianapolis. And Bengals offensive coordinator, Bob Bratkowski needs to show us that he knows what to do with a tight end, now that he’s got a legitimate one.

2: I want to see the interior of that Bengals defensive line shut down anybody’s running attack this season. John Thornton is still on the roster and Domata Peko got a hefty contract this winter. Great, now stop somebody. If the interior defensive line doesn’t play better against the run this season, we’ll all be talking about the Reds on November first.

1: I want to see this team begin behaving like it belongs in the NFL. I want to see discipline on the field, and off. I’ve had enough of false starts, off sides and delay of games. It’s the troika of bad football and we’ve had enough of that since 1990. Off the field? Build homes, go to schools and read to kids, take your kids to Skyline, call you parents, help your wife paint the house. Do anything but go trolling for the night life on your day off, or worse, the night before a game. We’ve had that, too.

I don’t think this is a particularly good football team right now. But it has a chance to be, as the season progresses. I’m willing to watch and give it a chance. I’ll bet you are too. Now let’s see if it’s worthy of our time and patience.