This Thursdays Rams game looks like it’s going to be blacked out. Things are not going well, as far as Bengals fans are concerned.

A blog called WhoDeyRevolution is taking action against Mike Brown, most recently in the form of flying prop planes with messages demanding results and a GM. They also called for a boycott, and ticket sales are definitely down this year. The only home games that sold out are the Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Chicago games – which the visiting fans ostensibly helped sell out.

I wanted to add something jsl wrote. Support for the team is still pretty high and you have understand something. There’s kind of this kinship among Bengals fans for our team — yea, we support the same team, but we can acknowledge each other with a sigh and nearly 20 years of frustration can be expressed within that sigh.

However, there is increased optimism this year. Along with the draft that many fans approved of, the Bengals are getting Carson Palmer and Keith Rivers back. Plus we’re going to see what we have with Cedric Benson for a full season, as well as your former boy Brian Leonard.

But jsl is right. There is no longer a season ticket holder waiting list and several games are at risk of being blacked out. However, once the team starts winning this year, I believe fans will return in droves. I know how that sounds — kind of a bandwagon thing. But there’s this deep resentment with the owner Mike Brown and many fans believe that if attendance figures are down, that the team will change it’s operating philosophy. Once the team wins, people will stop caring about that and return to the stadium.

Well, you did. Here’s a shot version (we had a long debate about this today at CJ). Al Davis screwed the slotting system by giving Heward-Bey a ridiculous contract that far exceeded the typical year-to-year increase. The 5th overall pick, Matt Sanchez, is a quarterback. Sanchez’s contract is worth up to $60M., Heyward Bey’s is worth about $38M. Smith’s agent, Alvin Keels, is apparently looking for $40M, which would be more than Heyward-Bey’s 7th overall contract (Smith was the 6th pick, screw Al Davis). Katie Blackburn and Mike Brown have shown no interest in paying Smith according to his slot this year (something like 45M) because the contracts he’s between are exceptions, not the norm.

So we’re at an impasse where Bengals fans are blaming everyone. Some are blaming Mike Brown for not ponying up the money. Some are blaming Andre Smith for not taking a contract so he can play football, even though the Bengals best offer is something like $33M (less than Heyward-Bey). I personally blame Davis for creating this situation. But the Bengals seem to be the culprit in not getting the deal done. Keels seemed really peaved – I really don’t think the Bengals are budging.

It’ll be a while if he gets signed at all. Unfortunately, a lot of us won’t be surprised if he gets traded or sits out this season. That would be a lose-lose, because Smith is not going to get any money next year at all, and the Bengals are out another first round draft pick.

“”http://twitter.com/AlvinKeels/statuses/3514563647" target="new">Can you explain why they are $4 million under last year’s pick Gholston? I am being the creative one here. “fair is fair”"

But I’m not that far from siding with you. I think there should be some sort of compromise, but the Smith ought to be paid more than Heyward-Bey, and that’s going to be the crux of the debate.

But that’s not saying much, because Ryan Fitzpatrick is absolutely terrible. Well, he was for the Bengals anyway. JTO has looked solid in the preseason, but there’s pretty much no way the Bengals will be competitive if Carson goes down. Hopefully he recovers from his ankle sprain in time to play in the fourth preseason game and develop a little rhythm with our resurgent and emergent receivers.

If JTO ends up playing QB for us this season, I’d say all hope is lost. We might win 5 games again, since he has some downfield arm strength and Chad Ochocinco and Chris Henry have looked absolutely phenomenal so far.

They need to open the season strong, because I agree that this is a rough stretch. If they can be 3-1 heading into week 5 (which means upsetting either Green Bay or Pittsburgh), I think we’ll be in decent shape. I’d say best case in that stretch is 3 wins. I’d hope the floor is 2 wins out of those games, though I suppose it’s possible that we only pull one game out. Chicago is not really a big threat this year, even with Jay Cutler and Matt Forte. The defense has been getting worse every year for the past several years.

Houston will be better this year, and they play the Bengals really tough. Baltimore and PIttsburgh are always tough.

Luckily, after those games, we get @OAK, CLE, DET… then we go to Minnesota and San Diego, which won’t be a picnic. I’d optimistically guess at a 9-7 season, with the potential for 10 wins. More likely is a 6 or 8 win season.

I believe we sent Orrien Harris? He’s currently 2nd on the depth chart.