don't want me for a sunbeam

It's becoming difficult to not feel very pessimistic about the rest of the Bengals' season this year. With their tough schedule, they'll be lucky to finish at .500 if they don't stop playing at the sub-par level they have been. There are only three teams with losing records left on the schedule, one of which is Pittsburgh, who probably won't have one by the time we play them. There have been five problems that I think are most in need of fixing:

• The offensive line is not protecting Palmer and is not opening holes for the running game. How many times have we seen Rudi waiting behind his blockers for a hole that never opens or getting swallowed up for a loss as soon as he gets the ball? Palmer has already been sacked almost as many times as he was last year.
• The defense cannot stop the run. I guess some things never change. I don't think Sam Adams has quite had the impact they hoped.
• Poor pass rush. We have not pressured and sacked quarterbacks well since Week 1. Of course, we all know what happened the last time we sacked the quarterback...
• Palmer's inconsistency. Carson has obviously not been back to last year's form. There have been way too many times that the ball has either bounced at the feet or sailed over the head of receivers.
• Conservative play-calling. Anyone else tired of the Run, Run, Pass, Punt formula the offense seems to have perfected so well? We aren't taking enough shots down the field. That's the only way to spread the field and give Rudi room to run. Sure, there were the long bombs to TJ and Chad last week, but those were the exception. Sadly, we're stretched so thin at wide receiver right now that we probably won't have many chances to do so this week.
  

The most obvious culprit for these problems is the vast number of injuries this team has sustained. The team's depth at linebacker and wide receiver is now paper thin after all the injuries and suspensions have taken their tolls. The defense has suffered its share of casualties, losing David Pollack for the season, and being without Dexter Jackson, Brian Simmons, and Rashad Jeanty. Chris Perry has missed the first five weeks. Losing Rich Braham at center has been a huge problem and now it looks like we'll be without Levi Jones for several weeks. That doesn't bode well for an offensive line facing four of the best pass rushers in the next four weeks. With Chris Henry still suspended and Tab Perry and Kelley Washington injured, the team will have only Chad, TJ, and Chatman as healthy veteran receivers. Let's hope Palmer doesn't get hurt, with Anthony Wright out for several more weeks after an appendectomy.

But there is some good news. Antonio Chatman looked healthy last week after missing the first four games. Brian Simmons should be back and hopefully Dexter Jackson will be too. Chris Perry should return this week as well. I thought Ahmad Brooks made some good plays last week after not seeing much playing time. Hopefully we can figure something out with our skeleton crew of a roster and weather the coming storm of Carolina, Atlanta, @ Baltimore, and San Diego.