Well, it’s the Bye Week. Last year at the Bye Week, Cincy Fans collectively felt, “Oh thank God, we don’t have to watch these losers this Sunday.” This week, Fans are thinking, “Damn, I wish we could keep playing.” As mentioned in the last blog, I’d like to bottle this lightning and save it and use it for the rest of eternity. Seriously, I don’t think the Bengals could play any better. Of course, it’ll be good for the players to rest up during this week, such as Bernard Scott, Tank Johnson, Domato Peko, Roy Williams, and Chris Henry. All have been nursing injuries of some type or another, so hopefully this will be a good recovery week for them.

Anyway, I have several random topics to address and discuss with you guys, my loyal readers. In no particular order, here they are:

1. There May be a Tubs-of-Fun Sighting Come Nov. 8: Whom could I possibly be talking about? If you are wondering, you obviously haven’t been paying attention to my blog and Bengals news. It’s Andre “I’ve lost a ton of weight but still look like the ‘Before’ picture on Jenny Craig” Smith! Apparently he’s healthy and Marvin Lewis has said he’ll probably be “probable” for the Nov. 8 game against Baltimore. Despite my constant derision of Smith’s weight (I made fun of him for not one, not two, but THREE blogs in a row. Yes, it takes that many words to describe his chub-a-rific body), I’m kind of looking forward to seeing him get some playing time. The only things is, though, is that our offensive line has done fairly well without him. Palmer has only been sacked 11 times. Dennis Roland has filled in nicely for the struggling Anthony Collins. Roland and Collins have mostly shared the right tackle duties. Our offensive line coach has said that Smith needs to come in and earn his playing time, which is all that you can ask for. If Smith is better than Roland, then play him. If not, sit him down. Even though he is a first-round pick, he hasn’t earned anything yet. The O-line has chemistry now and Smith has twinkies (not as many twinkies as before, it seems, which is a good sign). We’ll see if Smith can jell with the line too.

2. Two-Game Tornado: I’m talking about the two games after the Bye Week: Ravens and Steelers. I haven’t seen a two-game stretch like that for the Bengals in forever. If they win both games, I’d say they would have a 90% chance of making the playoffs. The rest of the schedule is fairly easy: Raiders, Browns, Lions, and Chiefs (except for the Vikings and Chargers). If we’re playoff-worthy, we should plow through all those opponents like we did the Bears. We’ll see.

3. Chad, Chad, Everywhere: On Ochocinco’s Bye Week he is doing the following: releasing his second book about his favorite subject (himself), argued with Skip Bayless of ESPN on Second Take, did a bit for Sportscenter AND NFL Live, appearing on David Letterman reading the Top Ten List, and fathering about three or four more kids. I’m kidding about that. But about which one? Hey, Chad can do just about anything he wants to as long as he stays in the Pro Bowl form.

4. Daniel Coats Out, J.P. Foschi In: Coats lost his starting job after he made about 500 hundred drops and/fumbles in the past three games. Thank God. Foschi at least caught a TD last week against the Bears. I don’t know if he’s the answer to the Bengals’ tight end woes, but it’s at least a start. I’m still pining for Chase Coffman to get in, but I guess we’ll have to see about that.

5. Cedric Benson is the Man: Who would have thought that he would be leading the NFL in rushing after seven games this year? Not a single soul. He continues to be amazing, and he’s becoming one of our most valuable players behind Palmer. I love having a consistent rushing attack, because gives Palmer even more protection to make big plays.

6. The Nit Picking of Nit Picking: Okay, I know we’re 5-2, and I shouldn’t complain after we soundly beat the Bears, but where’s the Long Ball? The coaching staff talked about focusing on the Big Play. We haven’t had many huge plays this year, and we didn’t have a single one against the Bears. It seems like we’ve been fairly tentative this year with the Long Ball for some reason. I’d like to see if we can unleash a few big ones on the Ravens and the Steelers after the Bye Week.

7. Fan Reaction: Cincy is becoming a football town again! I know I complained about the fickle fans here, but I attribute that to two main factors: 1) Team has sucked for so long, they don’t know what a good team is. 2) Exorbitant ticket prices. Anyway, I’m seeing a lot more random people with Bengals stuff on. I think this town is slowly realizing that they have a good team. I just hope the Bengals won’t let us down in the second half of the season.

8. Shout out to my Dayton Flyers Peeps: Dayton basketball is ranked #22 in the ESPN poll! Go Flyers!

It’s going to be a long week of waiting for the next game. I can’t wait!