Cincinnati Bengals: Loss of Jonathan Joseph Devastates Team's Chances of Success

The Bengals have made a few moves this week, and most were for the good of the team. They addressed the Carson Palmer issue by getting a new veteran quarterback. They shipped Chad Ochocinco to New England.

However, they let Jonathan Joseph go to Houston to join the Texans.

Joseph was one of the top priorities of the organization. They needed to get a deal with him done, because of the importance he had to this team defense. Leon Hall and Jonathan Joseph were the key points of this defense.

With both of them doing their jobs, and doing them well, it opened up the ability for the Bengals to be able to open up Mike Zimmer’s blitz packages.

Now that Joseph is gone, who will be able to take his place?

Adam “Pacman” Jones is thought to be kicked out of the league completely after his latest arrest. Even if Jones doesn’t get kicked out, he would still face suspension from the league. He is not a person that the Bengals can put their trust in.

They have Morgan Trent who has shown some ability, but I highly doubt that he can do as well as Jonathan Joseph this season.

The Bengals are in a predicament. They have a new offensive coordinator bringing in a new offensive system. They have a rookie quarterback and a veteran, with a question mark as to who will start.

This team needed a strong defense to keep them close in games until the offense could get rolling.

They no longer have the luxury of having a defense to fall back on, because now the defense will need to step it up as well.

The loss of Joseph will have a trickle-down effect on the entire team, and may slow progress of the team’s chances of winning games this season. This is a deal that should have been done, with a player that we didn’t want to lose. Fans can just thank Mike Brown for screwing us over once again.