Good Monday Morning!

Wondering today just how low the Bengals will be seeded in the upcoming playoffs. It went from best case scenario of #2 at 4p Sunday to worst case scenario of #4 today. No bye week and maybe the Broncos or Ravens in round one. Too early to determine who it'll be. Look at all those 7-7 teams in the AFC right now.

The Bengals are struggling. Their offense is stagnant, both in production and creativity. They can’t score points. To beat the Chargers today, they’ll have to score a lot of points, a lot more than the 17 or so they’ve been averaging over the course of the last two months.

And then, you mix in the death of Chris Henry this week. I don’t know whether or not you follow Ochocino on twitter. I do. He’s been a mess since Henry was injured in that truck accident on Wednesday and his subsequent death Thursday. It’s genuine, real grief.

Carson Palmer, who rarely shows his emotions, was shaken Thursday when he met the media. Palmer didn’t take questions, just made a 45 second statement. Palmer took a real interest in Henry this past off season. He truly believed that Henry was a life and a career that was salvageable. They worked out together this past spring at Palmers home in Southern California. They had a real bond.

Dealing with the death of a friend and channel grief is no small trick. You’ve done it. I’ve done it. You want to move on with your life, but not soon and not until the myriad of emotions have been dealt with, understood. The Bengals are far from that today.

The news of Henry’s accident came after the team had left practice on Wednesday. It was a series of cell calls and text messages that delivered that news. Then Thursday, Henry’s death was delivered to the team at 10am. Friday, the team boarded a flight to the west coast, where the team has historically played poorly.

Still ahead is Henry’s funeral on Tuesday in New Orleans. The cocoon of football, the focus on one of the most important games of the season will tough for this team to wrap itself around. Everywhere it goes this weekend, it’s reminded of Henry, right down to the sticker the Bengals players wore on their helmets Sunday.

Some thought that Henry’s death at an early age was inevitable. You’re reading and hearing a lot about that from national writers and broadcasters this weekend. Full disclosure, I thought the guy was a train wreck who only recently got his cars back on the track. I was happy for him, for that. But I wasn’t ready to canonize him lot a like of people around here have been doing this week. Henry was flawed, like a lot of us. He made some bad mistakes, like a lot of us. He cost himself some serious money by his bad choices. But like all of us, he was human. And sometimes, that what human being do. The ‘light bulb’ goes on for all of us at a different time in our lives. Maybe it went on for you at 17 or 18. For others, it’s in their 30’s. Some of us never have that moment, that ‘light bulb goes on’ moment when we finally ‘get it’. I think Henry had his ‘light bulb’ moment in the summer of 2008, when the Bengals cut him loose and no other NFL team wanted him. I think he finally figured out that the one thing he could do better than anything else had been taken from him, by his own doing.

Say what you want about Mike Brown, and most of us have. The guy probably saved Chris Henry’s life, extended for a year and a half by taking him back in August of 2008. Without football, a lost soul like Henry would have been long gone before now. Brown realized that, when most of us, me included, thought he was playing a fools game. But Brown helped Henry find his ‘light bulb moment’. It was in Brown’s DNA to do that. His father did the same thing with Stanley Wilson. Until last week, Henry appeared to be Stanley Wilson 180, someone who finally got it.

I don’t know what happened in those final few minutes of Chris Henry’s life. And you don’t’ either. I don’t’ know if his fiancée was at fault, or it Henry was to blame for his own death. And you don’t either.

But I know this: nobody should die at the age of 26. And because Chris Henry his team mates mourn.

Upcoming over night, my latest Broo View Podcast, available at http://www.kenbroo.com/. I'll have an indepth interview with the brains (ok, the brawn) behind http://www.bengals.com/, Geoff Hobson. It'll be on the front page of my web site and I'll also include a link to it on the blog as well.

Yikes, more and more bad press for you Cincinnati Bengals. Here's former NFL'er Matt Bowen with his take on the running Ocho Cinco sports opera.

ESPN.com is writing about what we all know here in the 'nati. Things are getting a little dicey for the Bengals.

I'm sure glad Walt Jocketty is somewhere talking about the future of the Cincinnati Reds. Apparently, it's in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he reveals the Reds are in fullfledged rebuilding.

Wait 'til 2010 isn't just the Olympic battle cry of NBC Sports. It's the cold, hard reality of baseball in Cincinnati.

He's one of our favorite guests on 700 WLW's Sunday Morning Sports Talk. Here's some more of profootballtalk.com's Mike Florio on the return of Chris Henry to the Bengals.

My over/under on Henry getting into legal trouble is November 15. I'm taking the under.

I'm absolutely astounded that the Bengals would consider bringing back Chris Henry. It's simply startling news tonight that this is happening. But, it is. Reports have Henry in Cincinnati, ready to sign with the team Tuesday morning.

His legal troubles are well documented. And Henry can't play for the Bengals until the fifth regular season game (he's sitting out yet another NFL suspension). Whether or not he's cleaned his act up, and I hope he has for his sake not any one elses, why on earth would the Bengals want to re-visted their troubled past? Why would an organization subject itself to the kind of ridicule and league scrutiny it will fall under? Do you mean to tell me the young wide receivers they drafted this spring aren't showing a scintilla of NFL hope? Is Antonio Chatman not capable of playing as a third down back? True, TJ Houshmandzadeh and Chad Johnson are both injured. Johnson may be out for an extended period. But are we to believe there are no other street free agents the Bengals can pursue now, instead of bringing back Henry? Will there not be a fairly large, if not talented, pool of receivers who'll be lopped from rosters in the next couple of weeks.

As late as last week, Marvin Lewis, for at least the third time in the last three months, said he didn't want Henry back. Maybe not in so many words, but he certainly left that impression. Now he's forced to take him back. This can't be his call. It smells of a front office maneuver.

If you're Marvin Lewis tonight, how do you save face. Do you even want to?

Let me know what you think. Comment away

It clear to me, the Seattle Mariners are infatuated with the thought of bringing Ken Griffey, Jr, back to their club. Monday, I gave you a link to "The Real McCoy", Hal McCoys blog in the Dayton Daily News. Now today, fresh copy and some confirmation from The Seattle Post Intellegencer.

But for every 'ying' there's a 'yang'. And the P-I's competition, the Seattle Times is pointing out that a lot of Seattleans (Seattleites? That would be too close to satetllites, wouldn't it?) don't recall Thomas Wolfe's You Can Never Go Home. Check out the Times' take on a Junior reunion in Seattle.

As for McCoy, Hal is barking today about breaking up the Reds, now! Must reading in today's "Real McCoy"

There could be some pressure not to do anything inside that Reds organization. Foxsports.com has an interesting post on how Dusty Baker could play into all of this. But remember, Bob Castellini wants to win now, as in last month.

The Bengals veterans, most of them, are in town for those 'voluntary but be here' workouts. As for former Bengals, my buddy Mike Florio from profootballtalk.com has some thoughts about where Chris Henry may wind up (no jail jokes, yet, please!). Check out his video

Maybe he's busy working out with Chad and TJ. You never know.

See you tonight at 6 & 11pm on WLWT on Cincinnati's channel 5. Check out my web site: www.kenbroo.com

As I watched the Bengals bag a rare win Sunday, here was the over whelming feeling I had: anger. I'm mad a Chris Henry.

In case you missed it, the troubled wide receiver caught four passes for 99 yards in his first game back from an eight game suspension for a garden variety of off field offenses. He looked like he hadn't missed a series of downs, let alone eight games. Henry out ran coverage for catches, made a toe tapping sideline grab and gave the injury depleted Ravens secondary one more headache to deal with. In a word, Henry was terrific. And that's why I'm angry at him.

Imagine Chris Henry on the field against the Seahawks, when the Bengals lost by three points. Imagine him on the field in Kansas City, where the Bengals lost by a touchdown or Buffalo, where they lost by 12. Do you think Henry would've have spun those close Bengals losses into Bengals wins? I do.

Imagine Chris Henry on the field last season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was sitting out a different suspension then. The Bengals lost by a point, 14-13 on a last second Tampa Bay touchdown. Don't you think that Henry would've help the Bengals to more than just 13 points? I do.

After watching him perform Sunday, we now know why the Bengals front office has been patient with Henry's off field antics. He's a gifted athlete who can help them win football games. They'll suffer public scorn for his behavior (we're not sure if Henry has suffered any scorn) in order to have his talent on game day. But there in lies a warning.

Bengals coaches can game plan for his talent, work on schemes with Henry's talent, allow him to match up against weak defensive backfields. But what they can't do is count on him. Not yet. The football world is littered with coaches who've placed their faith in star athletes who aren't around on game day. The practice all week, only to do something to keep them off the field. Cronic injury, the phantom knee or hamstring problem come to mind. But so does behavior that gets the star athlete in trouble with the law and then his league. This is why the Bengals coaches can't completely count on Chris Henry. Not yet anyway.

I hope that the light has gone for this guy. I hope he's finally realized that he not only is a vital part of one of the NFL's most lethal offenses. But it's only hope tonight. Chris Henry's recovery will take more than just four catches and more than just one game. I guess Sunday was a start.

But I'm still mad at him. I'll get over it.

When the news broke, mid day, about Chris Henry's alleged involvement in a parking lot altercation (just a day after getting reinstated from an eight game suspension) you could almost hear the howls all over town.


I don't know if Henry is guilty of anything this time. A 35 year old valet attendant claims Henry was physically and verbally abusive toward him. But I do know this: every move Henry makes for the rest of his NFL career will be scrutinized. His litany of arrests has guaranteed that. So, if he were asking for advice (and so far, he hasn't) I would suggest this: be the most polite person on the face of the earth. When you get involved in a disagreement, keep it short and civil. If there is going to be even a whiff of trouble in any situation you might be in, leave immediately. You have millions of dollars at stake in this fight. And if your football career comes to an end, what exactly are you equipped to do? That's what I'd tell him. But I doubt if Chris Henry is listening to anybody.


Now if he could play defense. Here's a big old 'ouch' for that Bengals defense from from SI.com.


Here's what the rest of that article should've said: the Bengals can't stop anyone when their top two picks from 2005 are out and their number two pick from 2004 has been cut. 12 of the 19 defensive draft picks in the Marvin Lewis era are either hurt, released or suspended. There are no secrets to success or failure in the NFL. Nothing happens by chance. The Bengals have picked their path and are now paying the price.

And then, there's the raw, unvarnished writing of my friend Chick Ludwig in the Dayton Daily News about the Bengals.

Check out my web site: www.kenbroo.com. I'll have the latest edition of "Bengals Report The Podcast" posted for your dowloading and listening pleasure around 1:00am Thursday EST