We haven't talked much (if at all) of Carl-Johan Bjork -- the Swedish linebacker. It's true, Bjork, who got some preseason snaps including tackles against the Packers and Colts, is a preseason roster exemption because he's an international practice squad player. Likely he's not going to make the squad's 53-man roster, so let's quickly examine his role with the Bengals.

Bjork is an International Practice Squad player, allowing him a preseason roster exemption and a Practice Squad exemption. Whereas most NFL teams are allowed a maximum eight players on their Practice Squad, the Bengals are allowed nine.

However, Bjork's status does not translate to the 53-man roster; therefore there is no exemption allowed. And let it be known that I'm not sure if an IPS player is even eligible for the team's 53-man active roster. The exemption isn't the only difference between a Practice Squad player and an International Practice Squad player. An IPS player isn't allowed to negotiate an NFL contract with any club -- and can't be pulled like Matt Toeaina.

For the language, read Article XXXIV, section 1b of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, that reads:

"International Players shall be subject to the same terms and conditions of employment that apply to other practice players except that they (1) may not, during the term of their practice player contract, negotiate or sign an NFL Player Contract with any Club; and (2) may not practice with any Club following the last Conference Championship Game unless both Conference Championship teams have such a player. In addition, notwithstanding the provisions of Section 4 below, such International Player shall be eligible to serve on a Practice Squad for three additional seasons after the completion of the player's year(s) as an International Player. As set forth in Article XXXIV, Section 3, the weekly salary for such international players shall not be included in the employing Club's Team Salary and shall be deducted from the calculation of the Salary Cap in the same manner as any Player Benefit."

In the end, Bjork (IPS player or not) won't make the roster and will be placed on the Practice Squad.

Bob Hunter writes that Chinedum Ndukwe's recovery is going faster than expected. However, it's still expected that the second-year safety will miss the opener.

Chad Johnson is officially Chad Ocho Cinco. Yea. I know. Right or wrong, I'm still calling him Johnson.

ESPN ranks NFL fans. We, Bengals fans, are apparently one of the worst, ranking in at 26th. James Walker writes:

Bengals fans are disenchanted with their team. Cincinnati has just one winning season in the past 17 years, and during that span the city has grown accustomed to having a sub-par football team. Cincinnati historically is a baseball town, not a football town, and there is no natural pigskin rival to root against. If anything, Bengals fans spew most of their venom on their own. They're upset at star receiver Chad Johnson for his antics and wanting to get out of town. They turned on Carson Palmer recently for supporting USC -- his alma mater -- over Ohio State. A majority of fans turned long ago on the Bengals' front office led by owner Mike Brown. Granted, Cincinnati does draw well and has more loyal followers today than during the lean Dave Shula/Dick LeBeau/Bruce Coslet years. But Bengals fans remain very skeptical of their franchise.

Vic Carucci writes a good piece asking what the most important position is on defense. He argues that it's the defensive end, due to the impact they have that contributes to other positions on defense. Clearly the Bengals are still looking for that single player on defense that makes the biggest impact. Could it be newly acquired free agent Antwan Odom? Or perhaps first round pick Keith Rivers?

Pete Prisco believes that the Steelers are still the class of the AFC North.

Pat Kirwin ranks the leagues best defensive tackles. It's not surprising that no Bengals defensive tackle didn't even make the radar.

In connection with the upcoming campaigns for President of the United States, John Czarnecki goes through each team's NFL power structure. About the Bengals, he writes: "Owner Mike Brown. The power structure hasn't changed for the Bengals. Mike replaced his legendary father, Paul Brown, and nothing happens without his approval. This franchise remains very thin on front-office staff, as well as the personnel department. For example, Brown is the reason Chris Henry is back on the team. A family affair in Cincinnati."

Dawgs by Nation takes a stab at the Browns 53-man roster.

Baltimore Beatdown believes that Joe Flacco must start against the Bengals to open the season.

We were wondering during Thursday Night's preseason game how the Bengals running back roster would look kickoff weekend. Curnutte believes the Bengals will dump Rudi Johnson and keep Chris Perry, Kenny Watson and DeDe Dorsey on the roster, placing James Johnson on the practice squad after his performance against the Colts.

James Johnson's ran eight times for 54 yards against the Colts with a 42-yard play midway through the fourth quarter. Without that 42-yard run, Johnson rushes seven times for 12 yards. DeDe Dorsey had a nice night rushing for 4.2 yards-per-carry (38 yards, nine attempts), including a six-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter. Kenny Watson had the worst night among running backs (well, other than Rudi Johnson of course) with a 1.6 yards-per-carry average (10 yards, six rushes). In the game, the Bengals rushed for 171 yards on 38 attempts (4.5 average).

Ironically enough, Ryan Fitzpatrick finished the preseason out-rushing Kenny Watson and DeDe Dorsey.

The Bengals leading receivers this preseason were two guys not on the roster last season. Jerome Simpson caught the most passes (11) and recorded the most yards (157). Ben Utecht's 10 receptions and 108 yards receiving ranked second in each category. Glenn Holt is the only player to record more than one touchdown reception. In fact, he has two of the team's three total passing touchdowns with Utecht having the other.

Domata Peko is the only defensive lineman with more than one sack, with one-sack performances coming from Robert Geathers, Michael Myers, Jason Shirley, and Angelo Craig. Darryl Blackstock (2), Keith Rivers, Kyries Herbert, and Dexter Jackson also recorded sacks.

The preseason question of finding that number three receiver was answered, by signing Chris Henry. However suspended through the first four games, it would appear that Simpson has the edge at that spot; but Chatman could find himself there based on whether the Bengals feel confident that Simpson knows the playbook.

Kyle Larson punted a whopping 28 times (average seven-per-game) with a pedestrian 41.9 average.

Even I was pleased with the performance of Ahmad Brooks. But I don't think that the final preseason game against a team that played few, if any, of their starters is that much of a reason to keep him. I still think he's on the chopping block, and I think that if Brooks was good enough, that he wouldn't have fallen so far, so quickly, on the depth chart and been mediocre in the other preseason games. Then again, the Bengals coaching staff loves projects with players that have potential (see Eric Henderson and Stacy Andrews -- who actually worked out).

Are people actually considering Fitzpatrick the better starting quarterback in Cincinnati?

I really enjoyed Fitzpatrick's performance this preseason. He had the best quarterback play, recording a 104.2 passer rating, no picks and two scores. Along with his 218 yards passing (which is second, behind Jeff Rowe's 228), Fitzpatrick added 79 yards rushing (scrambling). However, we don't need is a scrambling quarterback. What we need is our two Pro Bowl wide receivers back without protection breakdowns that force our quarterbacks to scramble. All of which, I believe, will return by kickoff weekend.

Along with Keith Rivers, I think Corey Lynch is one of the most impressive defensive rookies. Even though Pat Sims didn't record those key numbers (which is normal for a defensive tackle), I liked his motor with his noticeable intensity. With Shirley coming on against the Colts, I think the Bengals are close to having a solid defensive tackle rotation. Given more experience with the rookies, and the noticeable improvement with Domata Peko, there's a lot to look forward to this group. Once John Thornton leaves after this season, the Bengals could either draft another defensive tackle in the 2009 NFL Draft, or develop Antwon Burton with the practice squad this season.

Secondary-wise, I think this unit is much better than last season -- or the year before that, or the year before that. Johnathan Joseph was an aggressive hitter during the preseason, coming up to the line of scrimmage when the opposing team rushed to his side. He played the island role, along with Leon Hall, as best as we could expect of them. While big-body wide receivers will generally always have their way with most NFL cornerbacks, I didn't think to myself that our young cornerbacks will be problematic.

My biggest concern wasn't the secondary against the rush, nor the play of our starting cornerbacks. It was our safeties against the pass, allowing the opposing wide receiver to stream past them. This didn't happen against the Colts as much as it did in the first preseason games. Still, Corey Lynch and Marvin White are young enough to learn from it and become better as the season wears on. Not to mention Chinedum Ndukwe missed the preseason.

I do believe, however, that our secondary is as deep as it has ever been during the Marvin Lewis era.

Like many of you, I just don't know what to expect this season. On one hand, this team is talented enough among their starters; everyone returns, the protection schemes improve and the rushing attack is actually meaningful. On the other hand, we could the regular season become an extension of the preseason becoming the worst season during the Marvin Lewis era. Either way, the critical aspect for success on this team will be the offense. An improved defense will be icing on the cake, that could find themselves in the role to win games if the offense sputters.

In the end, your guess is as good as mine.

For a time, I liked Rudi Johnson. Really. No, he's not the greatest running back in Bengals history -- though he's among franchise leaders in yards rushing (5,742 ranks third), rushing touchdowns (48 ranks second) and rushing attempts (1,441 ranks second). He owns the top two franchise single-season rushing records (1,454 in 2004, 1,458 in 2005) and his 12 rushing touchdowns from 2004-2006, is tied for third for most touchdowns in a season. Corey Dillon's 28 100-yard rushing games is the only career performance higher than Johnson's 19 100-yard rushing games. In 2004 and 2006, Johnson had five 100-yard rushing games which is tied with Ickey Woods, James Brooks, Harold Green and Corey Dillon for most in one season (Dillon did it three times, Johnson twice).

Earlier in his feature back career, Johnson was easily one of the league's best backs, rushing for well over 100 yards -- which he did in 19 times of 81 career games. Of those 19 100-yard rushing performances, 13 happened from 2005 and earlier. In six of those games, he rushed for 145 yards or more six times -- his best career performances.

Former center Rich Braham had his under-rated career suddenly end against Cleveland in 2006, the same game that David Pollack's career ended. Eric Steinbach was forced to play center and tackle, as well as guard, in that season. The offensive line was being patched, shuffled, and showed instability. Rudi Johnson came up nearly 150 yards short of his 2004 and 2005 performances. Then in 2007, a hamstring injury likely sealed any chance for Rudi Johnson to regain the form that set two franchise rushing records.

He recorded his last 100-yard rushing game in the 45-51 loss at Cleveland, September 16, 2007. His 5.1 yards-per-carry in that game was one full yard higher than his second highest yards-per-game performance against St. Louis. He ran below 3.0 yards-per-carry in seven of the 11 games he played in 2007.

Once it was known during the off-season that Rudi Johnson worked hard to regain his weight and lower body strength, it seemed that the team was on pace to regain a quality rushing attack -- severely missed in 2007. The coaches were just as impressed with Johnson as they were with Chris Perry during minicamps. Then everyone became deflated when Rudi suffered a hamstring injury on his other leg early in training camp, not seeing a snap in preseason and participating in two practices since the team's intrasquad scrimmages.

ESPN broke a story that the Bengals were shopping Rudi for a quality wide receiver. Marvin Lewis, it was reported, didn't really know this, and Rudi lost any interest being apart of this team. That didn't stop Lewis from promoting that Rudi would need to play in Thursday Night's preseason finale against the Colts to get an idea where his old running back was at; which never happened. Lewis said afterwards that "we wanted to make sure they were at full strength. They only had a week of practice, which is not exactly what you had hoped to have had. Actually two days of practice. That's not as though we had a full week. So now we have a chance to get everybody with a full week under their belt. Particularly coming off what they were coming off. You don't want to overstress the muscles."

This seems true enough because T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Antwan Odom were expected to get some snaps, and never did. I'm not exactly sure that Rudi is gone, either by trade (which I highly doubt) or a causality of cut-down day. Said Rudi Johnson, "keep your TVs and your cell phones on and all that good stuff and see what happens."

Info in comments...

Even though the Bengals play tonight, another local football team kicks off their season tonight. The Cincinnati Bearcats host the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, tonight at 7:30pm at Nippert Stadium. Brian Kelly's first season with the the Bearcats last season finished with a 10-3 record and a 17th ranking in the AP rankings. A total of 12 starters return on offense and defense (six each), including cornerback Mike Mickens who earned the first team all-Big East.

The Enquirer's Bill Koch runs through the Big East, listing the Bearcats fifth behind West Virginia, South Florida, Pittsburgh, and Rutgers. He writes that the "Bearcats enter Brian Kelly's second season as head coach well-equipped on defense with All-America tackle Terrill Byrd and two standout defensive backs in Mike Mickens and DeAngelo Smith. But there are question marks on offense, beginning at quarterback." While Ben Mauk continues his effort to have the NCAA reinstatement him after his eligibility was up, Dustin Grutza will have another opportunity to remain as the team's starting quarterback. Preview tonight's game here.

Naturally, I'm a Buckeyes fan first in the college ranks. But I like seeing the Bearcats succeed; and the start of a Brian Kelly era may be generating a ton of local interest. We'll talk about them throughout the year. For now, let's get on with the Bengals.

There's an increasing belief that Ryan Fitzpatrick might become the team's starting quarterback because of the lack of protection for Carson Palmer. Even though Fitzpatrick will start tonight, having an opportunity to shine, I doubt it means anything more than auditioning for next year's free agency, where he could become the most coveted veteran quarterback available. And yes, I mean veteran by having some NFL game experience -- though it's not a lot.

Through three seasons, Fitzpatrick has started three games (all as a rookie with the Rams) and played in one game in each of the past two seasons (one with the Rams, one with the Bengals), though not attempting a pass. As a starter with the Rams, Fitzpatrick is 0-3, recording only one touchdown and seven interceptions (five in one game against the Vikings). His last pass attempt in a regular season game happened on December 18, 2005.

I've always liked Rudi Johnson -- not for just his play, but he's always been a good guy for the community. However, I think he's doing a disservice to himself by publicly showing pity for himself. "It's already been decided; the game is irrelevant," Johnson said, "The situation has already been presented. The game doesn't really matter."

However, Marvin Lewis denied any trade rumor. James Walker isn't buying it, saying "Lewis also denied interest in Chris Henry and that the team was offered two first-round picks for Chad Johnson. So we know the drill." Apparently, "we" means James himself. Lewis was truthful about Henry, only to have ownership supercede his word. As far as Lewis is concerned with Rudi Johnson, he's probably still telling the truth and ownership is doing their own thing again; which word has it, Lewis was taken aback when he learned of the rumor too.

The Ravens don't expect Ed Reed to play kickoff weekend against the Bengals.

Paul Daugherty asks what football town this is, Bearcats or Bengals? I ask, why does that matter? And I'd say high school football should be weighed in also, for this area.

Carson Palmer is definitely out for Thursday night's game against the Colts.

Sean McClelland argues that Mike Brown undercutting Marvin Lewis means that the head coach's credibility is shot. In truth, I doubt that's totally true. Players unquestionably know what happened, how it went down. They're not stupid and they're likely seeing Lewis as more of a sympathetic figure that has their back -- meaning, they might work harder for him, rather than against him.

T.J. Houshmandzadeh on players coming back form injury: "My body is saying that I’m fine. I knew that but I just had to make sure of it. I felt good. I knew I would but there is always doubt with something like that. I think we’re all getting back in time. Chad will be back, Antwan Odom is getting back, Carson will be back, so I think we’re all coming around pretty good right here now."

Another issue we raised earlier in the week was how Rudi Johnson would react hearing his name apart of a trade-rumor. The issue isn't truly how he feels, rather his role in any locker room distractions or divisions. "They've been trying to get me out of here for years. Since I first got here. That's why nothing surprises me and I'm not worried. Every year. It night not happen. Every year."

Marvin Lewis points out that Rudi Johnson's chance to prove he's still the team's feature back is this Thursday. "He's still working, fighting for a job just like everybody else is, right? That's the way it is. This is his first chance this year. I haven't seen (him), so that's the big thing."

One has to wonder if Rudi doesn't play, or records a poor performance, he could be gone either by trade or simply releasing him. Personally, I would think that it wouldn't be a good idea. We need the position filled with the fear of injury to, at least, two backs have suffered injury -- not including Johnson. And I'm not of the opinion that James Johnson is much of an improvement over Rudi. Next year, who knows? But I believe the Bengals will dip into the draft pool for at least one power-back. But that's next year.

Either way, he knows that this is a business and this happens.

A quick site update: We will be conducting another Bengals Banter -- a back-and-forth with other Bengals bloggers on a variety of topics. This is where you come in. We need topics. Email me (joshkirkendall [at] gmail [dot] com) a one-line sentence on something you believe. If it's good enough, we'll throw that into the topic repository (big word = over-zealous writer).

Onto today's links...

Many of the players that have missed much of preseason are returning to practice this week, preparing for opening weekend. Those players include T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Rudi Johnson, Rashad Jeanty, and Antwan Odom. Pat Sims and Andre Caldwell are still sitting.

Johnson's response after the ESPN Report that the Bengals are shopping him: "I haven’t heard anything."

Ludwig writes his five problems the Bengals are facing: The health of Rudi, Palmer, and T.J., the offensive line, the running back, the defensive line and the secondary.

Ludwig also writes his projected 53-man roster. I disagree that Daniel Coats replaces Jeremi Johnson.

Houshmandzadeh on the question whether he's sandbagging his injury or not: "I don't care what people think about that. If I was a rookie, would I have come back and practiced? Yeah and I would have got hurt again."

Bengals have 5-1 odds of having the next player arrested in the NFL. Too bad they didn't include those odds when dozens and dozens of players were arrested since the last Bengals player was.

There's a worry that if Chad takes another hit, he could be lost for the season. The way we view is that if he has surgery now, he's lost for the season anyway.

Canal Street Chronicles breaks down Saturday's game from the Saints perspective -- First Half | Second Half

Chad Johnson is committed to playing the opener against the Baltimore Ravens, partially torn labrum or not. Already deciding to get the season-ending procedure after the season, Johnson was convinced of players that had similar injuries, yet successful seasons when they put the procedure off until the end of the season. "I need surgery, but there's still nothing wrong with me. I'm not going to have (surgery). For what? I've got a season to play."

Thus my head-scratching continues. Supposedly some believe that signing Chris Henry was in response to Chad Johnson's injury. I still don't view that a realistic possibility considering that 25% of Henry's season is aimed at serving his suspension. Furthermore, if Johnson is going to play, then that degrades the argument. Unless you're talking about an insurance policy -- which is an awfully lame excuse for destroying whatever perceptions were that Marvin Lewis was in control of the locker room. Sure, Brown is the owner and can do whatever he wants. Furthermore, Lewis was never titled as the General Manager -- but that was the kind of role we were originally led to believe.

On the bright side, T.J. Houshmandzadeh said during Saturday night's game that he'll work this week and see how his hamstring feels -- maybe even playing a series or two against the Colts Thursday night.