Cincinnati Bengals: Replacing Cedric Benson with Larry Johnson Is Sideways Move

Before you consider the latest news and excitement coming from inside the Cincinnati Bengals camp, please answer the following:

The Cincinnati Bengals are lousy because:

A: Ownership is clueless.

B: Coaching is beyond lousy.

C: Questionable personnel moves.

D: Poor scouting.

E: Crappy drafting.

F: All the above.

Thought so.

That sound you hear is a lot of folks shouting "F" from the rooftops around Cincy.

Now on to the latest Bengals business at hand.

Seems the Bengals brought in the old familiar Larry Johnson on Tuesday for a look-see, figuring that they'll need another set of legs in place of Cedric Benson.

You have to hand it to the Bengals, they take the path of least resistance, and it probably helped that they have Johnson's cell phone on speed dial. This wouldn't be the first call to L.J.. He graced the building in 2009 and ran for a couple of hundred yards.

There were plenty of Johnsons available. There is James X., Jeremiah and Stafon, but the Bengals opted for Larry.

Didn't anyone tell Mike Brown and Marvin Lewis that Tiki Barber is looking for work. For goodness' sake.

Larry Johnson? What does that say about Bernard Scott? For that matter, what does that say about the Cincinnati drafts?

Not much.

If anything, Johnson is simply a giant Band-Aid, a sideways move, a hot serving of mashed potatoes, no gravy.

If that's what Marvin Lewis wants, well, then he should know best. He's tearing it up again, he's 1-2 on the heels of that outstanding 4-12 season. How does this guy still have a job?

The answer is "F."

Marvin's feeling pretty good about life at 1-2, however.

Buffalo's coming to town on Sunday, that's unbeaten Buffalo, but Lewis has other thoughts:

"We're early in the year. We've got a lot of season ahead of us. And you know, at the end of the week when we're 2-2, there's going to be probably the other third of the league that is going to be in the same situation. So I think we have to understand that."

Now there's cause for celebration, a reason to show up on Sunday.

The Bengals are going to take down the unbeaten Buffalo Bills.

That should really raise a few Buffalo eyebrows.

We're lost for words to describe Lewis' confidence. Maybe it was the Johnson workout that has him puffing his chest.

If the Johnson thing doesn't work out, and if by some miracle the Bengals don't beat the Bills on Sunday, well don't panic.

There's always Tiki Barber.