Carson Palmer, Cincinnati Bengals / Image: Zuma Press

After the game, quarterback Carson Palmer credited his team’s work in the trenches:

“We kept grinding, and at the end of the day, I think the offensive line won that battle up front and pushed them around and gave us a chance to finish off that last drive with a field goal. We had a couple of nice first downs on some runs, and kept battling. And if you’re winning with field goals, you win. If you’re winning with touchdowns, you win. We’ll take a win any way we can get it.”

Check out these facts. It was the first time since 1998 the Bengals have season-swept the Steelers. And they essentially opened a two-game lead on Pittsburgh because they own the tiebreaker, should it come down to that. Plus, for the first time in the team’s history, the Bengals are 5-0 in the AFC North. Who dey! Who dey! Who dey think gonna beat dem Bengals? In the AFC North, nobody.

Sources: Bengals.com, NFL.com

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Bengals Take Control of AFC North

Brett Favre / Image: Zuma Press

He also confirmed that he did have surgery to repair a partially torn biceps tendon last month. And if the surgery is deemed a success, he will probably “unretire” for a second time and play quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings—the only team he has talked to about joining this season:

“First and foremost, you can’t go past the arm. If that’s not up to par, when the time comes, then I can’t play. I went through it last year, and yeah, I gutted it out, or whatever. But it affected me, and it affected our team, and I don’t want to do it again, and I won’t do it again. That is why I went ahead and had the surgery. I had the procedure done and as I rehab and if it ever gets to the point where it feels like it did before it started hurting, then we’ll see where it is ….. It’s more or less how my arm feels and we’ll go from there.”

My guess is that Brett will find a way to get that arm in good enough shape to play this season. As long as the desire is there (and obviously it is), I believe he will be ready to quarterback the Minnesota Vikings.

Source: HBO/You Tube

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Brett Favre’s Return Depends on Health

Cincinnati Bengals / Image: Zuma Press

A lot of teams would consider this type of coverage more of a distraction than anything else, but Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis isn’t one of them:

“I think our football team is beyond that point. I think we’ve got a mature group of guys that are fighting for jobs. They won’t notice the cameras. We know there will be special things that guys will be a part of; I think that way we’re mature enough. Steve (Sabol, NFL Films) has approached me before and we didn’t come to the same conclusion. This time I did because I think we’re in a different step in the team’s maturity and where we are. I think it’s great for our fans. I felt like we could handle this.”

I love this show. It’s easily my favorite reality series and it typically offers a very unique look inside an NFL organization. As a fan of the league, you’ve got to love that. You get to know a handful of the players quite well and it’s usually very compelling from week-to-week. Hard Knocks launched with the Baltimore Ravens in 2001 (still the best season to-date), followed by the Dallas Cowboys in 2002. After an unexplained five-year layoff, the series resumed in 2007 with the Kansas City Chiefs (blah) and the 2008 edition, which received a Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Post Produced Audio/Sound, featured the Cowboys for the second time.

I have to think the Bengals were way down on the list of teams HBO and NFL Films wanted to see on the Hard Knocks series. I mean, the Bengals are coming off a 4-11-1 season and I have little reason to believe they will be much better in 2009. I’m so discouraged by the choice, I wonder if we’ll see another season of Hard Knocks after this one? The reason is I’m not sure there will be any teams willing to allow this kind of insider coverage anymore. I hope I’m wrong, but by choosing the Cincinnati Bengals as their featured team, I think NFL Films is sending a bleak message: We couldn’t get anyone else to do it!

Nevertheless, I’ll be watching. Receiver Chad Johnson Ochocinco will keep things interesting and should be worth the price of admission alone. And it will be intriguing to see Dhani Jones back in his natural environment after observing him in his “world traveler” role on The Travel Channel’s Dhani Tackles the Globe. But the Bengals aren’t even close to having the cast of characters the Dallas Cowboys showcased last year. Not that the show needs that, but I’m wondering how entertaining the Cincinnati Bengals will be.

Source: Bengals.com

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Bengals Land HBO ‘Hard Knocks’ Series

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast

Hard Knocks: Training Camp With the Dallas Cowboys debuts tonight on HBO. The first sports-based reality series — and one of the fastest-turnaround reality series — kicks off its fourth season at 10 p.m. ET. Subsequent hour-long episodes air each Wednesday at the same time, culminating in the September 3 season finale, with regular encore plays on Thursdays. HBO playdates for episode one: August 7 (3:30 p.m., midnight), August 8 (11:00 p.m.), August 9 (10:00 a.m., 11:40 p.m.), August 10 (11:30 a.m., 11:15 p.m.) and August 11 (10:30 a.m.). HBO2 playdates for episode one: August 8 (8:00 p.m.), August 15 (7:00 p.m.) and August 23 (11:30 a.m.).

The five-episode cinema verité series will focus on the daily lives and routines of players and coaches as the Dallas Cowboys prep for the 2008 NFL season. A 24-person NFL Films crew will live at the Cowboys’ training camp, shooting more than 700 hours of video over the course of the series. Camera and sound crews will be given unencumbered access to the players and coaches meeting rooms, training rooms, dormitories and practice fields. The Cowboys are training in Oxnard, Cal., right now and will return to Dallas in mid-August.

Source: HBO

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HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks’ Debuts Tonight

Blogcasting the National Football League, Blogcasting the NFL

The Dallas Cowboys‘ 2008 training camp in Oxnard, CA, will once again be featured as part of the HBO series Hard Knocks. With its reality TV appeal and rare insider access, Hard Knocks has easily been one of my all-time favorite television programs. It has not been a regular series, but NFL Films’ previous work with the Baltimore Ravens (2001) and Cowboys (2002) was brilliant. Sadly, last season’s return (they had mysteriously taken four years off) with the Kansas City Chiefs was forgettable.

Some people can’t miss an episode of Lost. Others wait all week for another dose of American Idol. For my money — and I am paying because it’s on HBO — it just doesn’t get any better than Hard Knocks. And even though I’m not a Cowboys fan, with the likes of celebrity NFLers like Tony Romo, Terrell Owens and Pacman Jones in camp, it’s sure to be an interesting journey. It will also give owner Jerry Jones an opportunity to present his warm, fuzzy side to a national viewing audience for five episodes beginning August 6. Who among you can resist?

Source: cbs11tv.com, Photo: Newscom

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Cowboys to Star in HBO Series ‘Hard Knocks’

Some people can’t miss an episode of Survivor. Others wait all week for another dose of Amazing Race. For my money, it just doesn’t get any better than HBO’s NFL reality series Hard Knocks. After a four-year hiatus, the series finally continues with Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Kansas City Chiefs. The previous installments featured the Baltimore Ravens (2001) and Dallas Cowboys (2002) and they were some of the best “insider” television shows covering the NFL I have ever seen. I would literally cancel any plans to see this show. The HBO cameras, in association with NFL Films, will be given exclusive access to meetings and practice for the Chiefs’ five-week training camp in River Falls, WI. The series starts August 8. I’m counting the days.

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HBO to Feature Kansas City Chiefs on Season 3 of ‘Hard Knocks’

In the violent world of the NFL, helmet-crushing hits that sometimes cause concussions are commonplace. Research has shown that multiple concussions can cause permanent brain injuries, possibly leading to debilitating memory loss, confusion, dementia and even suicidal depression. A host of former players and one unlikely advocate from the world of pro wrestling have turned to the NFL for answers, but have been disappointed with the response. REAL SPORTS correspondent Bernard Goldberg investigates this volatile topic.

It was very much a slam on the NFL’s concern regarding concussions, but that is simply not justifiable anymore. If there was, in fact, previous disregard by the league on this subject, it looks like that’s about to change. Earlier this week at the NFL’s Spring Meetings, Commissioner Goodell reviewed with NFL clubs consensus medical recommendations regarding the management of concussions.

The standards are based on extensive medical research and discussion. They were recommended by the NFL’s independent committee on mild-traumatic brain injury (MTBI) chaired by Dr. Ira Casson of the Long Island Jewish Medical Center and the Albert Einstein School of Medicine, and Dr. David Viano of Wayne State University. Commissioner Goodell said:

“NFL clubs do an excellent job in the care and management of concussions that affect NFL players. It is important that we articulate for our clubs and players, and for the broader medical community, the standards our clubs are applying as we work together to protect the health of our players. The overriding principle governing management of concussions in the NFL is that medical considerations must always have priority over competitive situations.”

The recommended standards include the following elements:

• Medical decisions must always override competitive considerations.
• Neuropsychological baseline testing will be required for all NFL players beginning this season, using a standardized test to establish an individual functional baseline. Neuropsychological testing is one tool a physician can use to assist in the management of MTBI. It cannot be used by itself to make clinical decisions. For players removed from games due to concussions, repeat testing will be done during the season to track recovery and to help decide when they can return to play. These players also will be re-tested against their baseline performance the following season at training camp.
• An NFL MTBI conference will be held on June 19 in Chicago for all NFL team physicians and athletic trainers to share the most up-to-date information on state-of-the-art care and management of concussions.
• The MTBI Committee will continue to operate as an independent group. Three non-NFL affiliated physician have been added to the committee (Joseph Maroon, Joel Morgenlander, and Thomas Naidich). The goal of the committee remains the advancement of scientific knowledge of MTBI through well-conceived research to protect the health of NFL players and improve the safety of the game.
• To promote the use of best practices by all teams, the evaluation procedures used by NFL teams will be shared among all medical and training staffs.
• A brochure will be developed and distributed to NFL players to help educate players and their families about concussions, including how to recognize the symptoms of a concussion and recommended treatment procedures.
• Return-to-play decisions should continue to be made by team medical personnel using their expertise and professional judgment.
• The NFL rule requiring every player to wear a chin strap that is completely and properly buckled to the helmet will be strictly enforced. Teams and players will not be permitted to modify the attachment of the chin strap to the helmet or improperly modify the helmet in any other way. The longstanding safety-related rules related to the use of the helmet also will be strictly enforced.
• The NFL will establish a “whistle blower” system so that anyone may anonymously report any incident in which a doctor is pressured to return a player to play from a concussion or that a player with a concussion is pressured to play. The NFL will investigate any such reports and take whatever action is necessary.

I will be curious to see if anything develops further after the NFL MTBI conference in a few weeks, but these above-mentioned elements are strong in outlining the care of concussions and treating them with the seriousness in which they need to be treated.

The NFL MTBI Committee is nothing new. It was established in 1994, but they’ve launched a new study to determine if there are any long-term effects of concussions on retired NFL players. I think it’s pretty clear after watching the HBO piece that there are. Retired tight end John Mackey is pretty much a basket case, sadly suffering from a form of dementia that has removed nearly all of his short-term memory. Ted Johnson (former Patriots LB) now forgets people’s names, misses appointments and suffers from depression and an addiction to amphetamines. He said coach Bill Belichick subjected him to hard hits in practice while he was recovering from a concussion, which was against the advice of the team’s top trainer.

The studies will continue, but one thing we can be sure of is that the NFL is taking a proactive approach to ensure the safety of the players.

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NFL Outlines Standards for Concussion Management