Bengal Exciting Comeback Win Blacked Out

Irony reigns at Paul Brown Stadium or is it karma?

The hard core Bengal fans are still showing up at Paul Brown Stadium but more of the casual fans are staying away.

The last two weeks the Bengals have been blacked out in Cincinnati.  I was able to watch an exciting comeback on a rogue website at an unnamed location.

The Bengals came back to defeat previously undefeated Buffalo on a last second field goal by Mike Nugent out of Centerville High School and Ohio State out of a hold by Kevin Huber from McNicholas High and the Universtiy to Cincinnati.

Against the odds an offensive coordinator, Jay Gruden, who was in arena football of all things, most recently and sawed off rookie quarterback Andy Dalton, who is very generously listed at 6'2", engineered a late drive to tie the score.  Without the benefit of mini camps which were cancelled by the labor dispute.

An inspired defense stepped up to give Dalton and his offense a chance to move into position for the last second, game winning, 43-yard field goal.

At one time I worked in one capacity or another every Cincinnati Bengal game from 1968, the teams first year of existence through 1978.  I was able to return every week for another 16 years until the wire service that employed me sold to a competitor that already had staff in place.

During my years of coverage, I tired of the NFL brand of football.  I prefer the high school and college game over the NFL.

Still I am amazed at the accomplishments of Dalton and Gruden.  As a sports fan, I am encouraged by the new blood in the organization.  I have been around the Bengals on and off for over 40 years and am definitely not a fan of Mike Brown and his management style but these guys are pretty easy to root for, at least from a distance.