How Nice it is

Six wins and two losses. Who would have imagined?

The old Bungals have not sat this nicely in a season since the classic (well, classic for Bengals fans anyway) season of '88 when they started 6-0 and finished with the league's best record at 12-4 and lost the Super Bowl thanks to the greatest qb ever to play (sorry Faver) Joe Montana when he engineered a two minute 92 yard drive that just carved the hearts out of Bungals everywhere.

But 6-2 is very nice. And the schedule is favorable too. The Steelers and Vikings are the only real formidable foes left. After the Steelers, the Bengals play (not sure about the order) Oakland, Cleveland, and Detroit. Then they finish the season against the Chargers (not easy) and NY Jets (not easy either since the Bengals have lost to every rookie or first year qb they seem to have!).

But this win over the Ravens is worth savoring.

While I think he is a Hall of Fame player, I loathe Ray Lewis. You can justifiably bash the Bengals for their criminal records over the years (none for the past two, though). But Lewis was involved in a murder and guilty of lying to authorities and spent time in jail.

No one every brings that up.

Plus, he acts like an arangutang prior to games.

So it was nice to see the Bengals - led by Cedric Benson and Carson Palmer - and just ram the ball right down their throats and score on their first two possessions. Plus, the Ocho just had to stir the pot and send deodorant to the key Ravens defenders because either A) they'd work up a sweat trying to cover him all day or B) they stink.

A player who I would love to have on our club is Ed Reed. I think the only safety that could even come close to his talent and career is Ronnie Lott. But Lott was a maniac hitter, but he never made the plays Reed does. For the second time this season he hit Ochocinco and caused a pivotal fumble (it was actually the second time in THIS game that Reed did that, but the first was negated by a penalty). He always seems to return a punt for a score when they need it or take a pick or fumble all the way back.

With Reed and Lewis, no wonder the Ravens have that vaunted defense.

Well, used to have that vaunted defense.

Here are the highlights --