Recipe For Bengals Offense: 2 Cups Patriots, 1 Cup Colts, Dash of Madden

No Carson, touchdowns don't come from on high, but they are divine.  They were also hard to come by in 2008 for the Cincinnati Bengals.  The Bengals were last in the NFL in points scored (12.8 per game,) and it wasn't even that close (14.5 next lowest) and it's embarrassingly far away from the league leading Saints (28.9.) Something has to change...It's time for Bob Bratkowski, offensive coordinator, and the Bengals to take a few pages out of other team's playbooks.

The Bengals need to look no further than the team that has dominated the past decade, the New England Patriots.  Not that the Bengals need to mimic the offense of the 3 time Super Bowl Champs, but they need to look at the adjustments those teams have made. 

The Pats won their first couple of championships with merely adequate offenses.  There were a group of possession receivers, a stable running game, and great QB play.  Two seasons ago when New England had a perfect regular season, they had a record setting offense.

What the Patriots do that the Bengals need to copy is changing the play calling and overall offensive philosophy based on the talent on the field.  In 2005, it seemed like the Bengals had done that, but in the past few years the play calling has become more and more conservative.

With the talent on this team; Pro Bowler Carson Palmer at QB, Pro Bowlers Chad 85 and Laveranues Coles along with extremely talented Chris Henry at WR, Under rated Ben Utecht at TE, the Bengals should look to air it out a little bit more on 1st and 2nd down.  I can't remember how many times I've watched the Bengals run right up the middle for 1 yard, right up the middle for 2 yards, and then be in a 3rd and long. Throw the ball! Stretch the field!

Some will argue that you need to establish the run before you can open up the passing game.  For those people I say go look at game film of the Colts and Peyton Manning over the past 5 years.  The Colts use the pass to set up the run.  With the no-huddle set up, the Colts dictate the pace of the game and open up the run by quick, short passes.  A short 5 yard pass is just as good as a 5 yard run.

Palmer is not Manning, but he is smart enough and talented enough to run the no-huddle.  85 has the talent to be better than Reggie Wayne, we'll see if he is smart enough to play in the no-huddle.  Coles is just as good, if not better than Marvin Harrison and there is no doubt that Henry is more talented than any Colts 3rd receiver (Stokely or Gonzalez.)  Hell, Utecht has played in that system for the last 4 years.

Give Palmer the reigns and see where he can take this team.  A quick, short passing game would take some pressure off the rebuilt offensive line.  With the emergence of former 4th overall pick Cedric Benson, the running game can be just good enough to make opposing defenses stay honest.

After watching this Bengals offense for the past few years I'm not convinced Coach Bradkowski will change anything about his approach.  All I'm saying is there are a couple successful blueprints to work off of in this league.  If that doesn't work Coach Kow could always just pick up the latest version of Madden and run the offense from Madden's Picks, it can't be much worse than last in the league, can it?