QB

Carson Palmer

(+) Palmer has a nice set of skill players around him, including the newly acquired Terrell Owens and Antonio Bryant to play next to Chad Johnson
(–) He has not been the same player since injuries riddled him (knee and shoulder) and the eyeball test for skills did not look promising last year
(–) Cincinnati deployed a run-first offense last year and found success.  Watch for a similar type game-plan this year, with possibly a touch more passing
(–) They have a tough passing schedule at 26th in the league, which does not bode well for the chances that Cinci will decide to air it out this year

RB

Cedric Benson

(+) Benson looked like a beast in the first half of 2009 and still has one of the best offensive lines in the game
(+) Cincinnati looks to have fallen in love with their rushing attack
(+) Ran for two separate 100-yard games against a Baltimore defense that never gives up 100-yard rushers and is coming off the most productive season of his career
(+) He’s looking to get paid (contract year), and due to his troubled offseason, he’ll really have to earn it
(–) Cedric is not a three-down back and the Bengals will use Bernard Scott more to keep Benson healthy all season (something he has never done)
(–) Has one of the toughest schedules against the run in one of the toughest defensive divisions in the league
(–) Could be looking at a suspension for getting arrested (again) in the offseason

Bernard Scott

(+) He’s playing on a team that decisively changed their offensive philosophy to a run-based system last year… and it worked
(+) Benson has a history of missing games (20 in 5 years), and with the heavy workload Cinci has planned for the backfield, it’s safe to say Scott will see the field a bunch… and may even start a few games
(–) Cinci deploys a featured-back offense and will feed Benson hard and heavy (when he’s healthy)
(–) The Bengals have a tough rushing schedule with Pitt and Balty in the fold for at least 4 matchups (26th in the league for rushing SOS)

WR

Chad Ochocinco

(+) Ochocinco is one of the most consistent receivers ever to play the game
(+) After an awful 2008 season, he’s re-dedicated himself to being an elite NFL player
(+) Has a WR2 in Terrell Owens, a WR3 in Antonio Bryant, and potential stud in rookie TE Jermaine Gresham to draw double-coverage away from him
(+) Most PYRO re-tweets by an NFL player
(–) He did the River-Dance.  ‘Nuff said
(–) Carson Palmer has regressed severely, which might be a major reason why Cincinnati has become a run-based offense
(–) 40-year old ex-NFL players did better than him on “Dancing with the Stars”

Terrell Owens

(+) Joining a nice crew of skill players, Ocho, A. Bryant, and Ced Ben, should go a long way for allowing TO to get open
(+) Retirement is looming, he’ll be plenty motivated to show the world he can still play
(+) We’re not over the moon on Palmer, but a huge upgrade over TO’s Buffalo Battery Mate
(–) Drops and unsuccessful targets are starting to rear their ugly heads
(–) Can TO and the rest of the NFL misfits co-exist?
(–) He’ll be the third option in the offense behind Ced Ben and Ocho
(–) Check out his PYRO avatar, that pretty much says it all

Antonio Bryant

(+) When he does get a chance on the field, he has two other great receivers in Ochocinco and Owens to take the coverage off of him
(+) Carson Palmer is a shell of his former Fantasy Stud self, but he has to be better than all the QB’s Tampa pushed out to deliver the rock to Antonio last year
(–) Even with the sad departure of Chris Henry, this is still a crowded and talented WR corps that includes Chad, Owens, Caldwell, and the newbies Shipley and Gresham
(–) The Bengals were 27th in the league in pass attempts last year
(–) Tough Pass Schedule at 26th in the league

TE

Jermaine Gresham

 (+) Jermaine was considered the best pass-catching tight end with the softest hands in the 2010 NFL Draft
 (+) He’s able to make plays down the field and is an awesome red-zone target
 (+) Has a nose for the end-zone, as shown by his 27 TDs in 27 games at Oklahoma between 2007 and 2008 (Bowl Games included)
 (+) Was drafted to a team without a solid tight end, so Gresham will start right away
 (–) The Bengals haven’t used the tight end in their passing game for awhile, so it will take them some time to get Gresham involved
 (–) Missed all of the 2009 season due to a torn ACL
 (–) Cincinnati is a run-based offense and has a tough schedule against the pass (26th in the league)

-  The Cincinnati Bengals came off the 2008 season in which they finished 4-11-1 and began the 2009 season with low expectations
-  The Bengals lost their first game but won 7 of their next 8 to put themselves in position for the playoffs
-  The Bengals finished the season first in the AFC North with a 10-6 record claiming a playoff birth in which they lost to the Jets
-  The Bengals scored 305 points while allowing 291 points against

Dave Rayner did not kick in 2009

Mike Nugent is also competing for this job...

(With Tampa, 6 games in 2009)

2009 Total Points Rank:           37th (26 tot pts)
2009 Average/Game Rank:     39th (4.3 pts/gm)

FR=Fumbles Recoverd, PA=Points Allowed, FP Rank=Fantasy Points Rank, FP/G=Fantasy Points per Game

2010 Bengals Defensive Outlook...  

It will be tough to move the ball on Cinci this year, what a miserable division to be in for the Cleveland Browns Offense.  Balt, Pitt, and now Cinci is stepping up.  We have Cincinnati with the 4^th best rush D and the 6^th ranked Pass D. 

The why are we ranking them low?  The 25 turnovers they tallied last year are thin putting them 20^th overall on that front, and they could only put a helmet on the QB 34 times last year which seats them tied for 14^th in sacks. 

The strength of this defese is at CB with Johnathan Joseph and Leon Hall, they are both young up and coming stars and each snagged 6 picks last year.  The word is Cinci is trying to tie these two down with contracts before the season, so we’ll reserve optimism unitl we see what they do after they get paid. 

Their a solid backup and decent sleeper to make some noise, but we’d advise some more fire power going into the season.

-  Dhani Jones led the team with 113 tackles, Chinedum Nduwke had 89
-  The Bengals had 34 sacks last season
-  Leading sacker was Antwan Odom with 8.0
-  How can the Bengals continu to improve their pass rush and overall defense
-  Leon Hall and Jonathan Joseph led the team with 6 INTs each
-  Team forced 11 fumbles
-  Team forced a total of 30 turnovers

Team PYRO is hyper about Offensive Lines!  Understanding who will be blocking for the players on your roster is vital to your teams Fantasy success.  We take many factors into account when we rank these units, including weight, height, starts together as a unit, starts per year played, rushing average, sacks allowed, draft position, contact situation, pro bowl/all pro honors, Adjusted Line Yardage (ALY) and Adjusted Sack Rate (stats found at the link below).  O-Line Rank is one more piece of the puzzle that directs us towards delivering you a Fantasy Football Championship. 

Here is another great resource for looking at O-Lines…    http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol

The fantasy lifeblood of the players sitting on your roster boils down to one EXTREMELY important stat.  Drum Roll please……………………………  ATTEMPTS!!!!  Ahhhh, there, we said it.  Before you can make a play, you gotta have the pill in your hands.  It’s pretty simple really, in the immortal words of the maligned Keyshawn Johnson… “Just give me the damn ball”.  There is no “I” in the word “team”, but don’t fool yourself, it’s in the word rotisserie twice. 

For the QB, it’s Pass Attempts, for the RB, it’s Carries, and for the WR and TE, it’s Targets.  If you look at the players in the league who are amassing large quantities of points, they are the ones who are seeing the rock come their way the most often.  Sure, you have to be good enough to do something with the p-skin when you get it, but never forget, you can’t make a play until you have the pill in your hands. 

The PYRO Offensive scheme charts aim to deliver you perhaps the most important information you could attain before and after draft day; Will my player get the chances they need to put out or will they be shut out?  It really boils down to what the offensive game plan on Sunday is.  These charts should provide some perspective on which teams are going to live by land and which are going to live by air. 

By Air

-  Carson Palmer is now not expected to hold the team up on its own now that they are a more balanced team
      running the ball
-  The Bengals finished last season ranking 26th in the league with 2,890 passing yards
-  Chad Ochocinco is a solid top ten receiver in the league and will again have help
-  Terrell Owens and Antonio Bryant were signed to add depth at WR, Andre Caldwell and Jerome Simpson, along with
      rookie Jordan Shipley will round at the receiving corps
-  The TE position was  shored up in the draft with the drafting of Jermaine Gresham

By Land

-  The Bengals ranked 9th in the league with 2,056 yards on the ground
-  The Bengals have Cedric Benson leading the way at the running back position, being  a solid contributor when he 
      is in the line up
-  Bernard Scott will serve as teams primary back up
-  Brian Leonard will play some full back and tailback for the Bengals

RZ Touches (Position Rank) = The first number you see is Red Zone Touches (a pass attempt, a carry, or a target inside the 20 yard line).  The number in the parentheses is where this player ranks amongst the rest of the NFL at that position.

% of Teams RZ Touches (Position Rank) = The first number is the players percentage of touches cut out against the total number of the Teams Red Zone plays called.  The number in the parentheses is where this player ranks amongst the rest of the NFL at that position.  So, if Thomas Jones received a touch in 45 percent of the Jets Red Zone calls last year, and Knowshon Moreno received a touch in 38 percent of all the Broncos plays last year, Jones would be ranked higher at his position than Moreno would be.

RZ TD Success Rate (Position Rank) = The first number is the percentage of which an individual player was able to score a TD against his total number of touches.   The number in the parentheses is where this player ranks amongst the rest of the NFL at that position.

Why Should I look at this Chart?

We couldn’t possibly take up a whole minute of your valuable fantasy football research time babbling about the importance of Attempts for your team and then leave out Red Zone Tendencies.

Yep, same drill with these charts, only a lot more important if scoring TD’s is what you’re leagues about.  The PYRO Red Zone Tendencies chart delivers a touchdown focused microcosm of the Offensive Scheme section.

To score a TD, your player needs a touch (pass att, carry, or target), and when they get a touch inside the 20, great things can happen for your Fantasy teams total points line.

It’s really easy, touches are King and converting a touch in the red is Fantasy Gold.

PYRO 2010 Bengal Leaders in the Red Zone... 

1. Cedric Benson
2. Bernard Scott
3. Terrell Owens
4. Chad Johnson
5. Antonio Bryant

Grade* = Team PYRO took this number directly from NFL.COM - not a number devised here by us, you know, your friends who don’t sleep?  In other words, proceed with caution knowing the source, but we thought it was at least a worthy effort and could help you gauge just how solid the teams draft was.  We hope it helps, we think it will.

Draft Bits...

TE Jermaine Gresham looks lost in the offense this preseason.   Another concern is all the offensive weapons that will need fed in this offense.  He’ll start slowly, but should start to see some soft coverages with defenses worrying about Benson and the three amigos at wide.

WR Shipley has a future in this league, but it’s not this year - barring some injuries.

Team PYRO considers our Strength of Schedule data an essential part of building you a Fantasy Championship.  This data is integral in helping us rank our players each year.  So far, so good.  We go to GREAT lengths to deliver you this PYRO nugget and we know nobody else in the industry is putting forth this type of effort, which puts you at a great advantage if you have been using us as your fantasy football research outlet.  Our SoS considers three factors when determining rankings for schedules for the upcoming year:

1) 75% weight is applied to the strength of defense from the previous season.  This is determine by fantasy points given up (run and pass).  Easy right? Here's where Team Pyro goes deep: before we get to that number, we factor in the quality of teams that these defenses had to face (essentially, a strength-of-schedule for the prior season).

 
2) 20% weight is applied to Free-Agent, Trade, and Injury Returns that will help or hurt the team for the current year.  We rank each players impact to their former team (2008), sum it all up, and then rank each team accordingly.

3) 5% weight is applied to the NFL drafincoming rookie impact.  It's a challenge to successfully gauge a rookie's effectiveness (too many Jamarcus Russells out there) which is why we valued it so low.  Some teams not only drafted highly touted defensemen this year, but will be immediately filling deficient positions from '09 with rookies, and usually, anything is an upgrade when you are starting a rookie.

Chart Key =

Ranking:  1=easiest  32=toughest

QB's, WR's, and TE's

(INDY) Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, and Dallas Clark have the EASIEST passing schedule in 2010

(BALT) Joe Flacco, Anquan Boldin, and Todd Heap have the HARDEST passing schedule in 2010

RB's

(SF) Frank Gore has the EASIEST rushing schedule in 2010

(MIA) Ronnie Brown has the HARDEST rushing schedule in 2010

July 23, 2010

Signed CB Brandon Ghee.

July 21, 2010

Signed C Reggie Stephens. Placed G Jason Shirley on the non-football injury list.

July 19, 2010

Released G Jason Shirley.

June 26, 2010

Signed WR Dezmon Briscoe.

May 7, 2010

Waived CB Antonio Smith.

May 1, 2010

Signed DE Rahim Alem, RB Cordera Eason, S Bryan Evans, OT Gabriel Manns, S Jeromy Miles, OT Andrew Mitchell, LB Vincent Rey, RB Joe Tronzo and LS Mike Windt.

April 28, 2010

Claimed HB Cedric Peerman off waivers from Detroit.

April 24, 2010

Signed PK Mike Nugent.

April 14, 2010

Re-signed CB David Jones.

April 12, 2010

Agreed to terms with G Bobbie Williams on a two-year contract.

April 7, 2010

Re-signed C Kyle Cook.

March 31, 2010

Re-signed DE Frostee Rucker.

March 30, 2010

Re-signed LB Abdul Hodge, S Kyries Hebert, G Nate Livings, QB Jordan Palmer and

OT Dennis Roland.

March 15, 2010

Agreed to terms with S Roy Williams on a one-year contract.

March 12, 2010

Signed WR Antonio Bryant to a four-year contract.

March 11, 2010

Signed DT Tank Johnson to a four-year contract.

March 4, 2010

Released WR Laveranues Coles.

February 24, 2010     

Named Kyle Caskey offensive quality control coach and Jeff Friday assistant strength and conditioning coach.