THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

It's Wednesday! Go out and party...

Here's what I want to see Friday night when tbe Bengals actually hit some people other than the folks they shower with: Carson Palmer upright. If that happens, it 's a major improvement over last year's exhibition game against the Saints. Remember that one? That's the game where former Bengal, Kevin Kaesviharn sacked Palmer and bloodied his nose. What prelude to a bummer that was.

Palmer is the franchise. This team has little chance of contending for a playoff spot, in my humble opinion. But it has no chance without Palmer playing every game. For the record, see how things worked out last season in October and November with Ryan Fitzpatrick.

It's always what's up front that counts. And if this offensive line isn't any better this season than last, we'll all be immersed in Reds hot stove talk by Halloween. Does anyone else find it a little disconcerting that aside from Bobbie Williams and Andrew Whitworth, there isn't a single member of that offensive line that's logged appreciable time blocking an NFL defensive lineman.

And speaking of that, here's something else I'm looking for Friday night: heat on the Saints quarterback. The Bengals couldn't rush a fraternity last season. And despite all the happy horse s#@t we're hearing about how well the defense played last season (most of those stats were padded against bad teams at the end of the season) last year we saw this group get dragged up and down the field far too often. The heat is on (no pun intended) defensive ends Antwan Odom and Robert Geathers to get into the opposing quarterback's face.

Pre-season games are interesting for about ten minutes. Let's see if your Cincinnati Bengals can squeeze their 15 minutes of fame into that time period.