Get Marvin Lewis Some Aspirin

On the early slate, no team looked worse than the Bengals, 17-10 losers in Baltimore. The Seahawks and Lions also suffered embarrassing losses, but Cincinnati was a living disaster. The offense sputtered, with less than 100 yards passing for Carson Palmer and only 154 total yards from scrimmage. The lone Cincy TD came on a fourth quarter Johnathan Joseph fumble return.

Other than that play, the Bengals D seemed slow and lazy. Joe Flacco rumbled for a 38-yard TD run. I mean, that says it all. Joe Flacco rumbled for a 38-yard TD run. The Ravens also pumped in 358 yards of offense, including 229 on the ground. Marvin Lewis' defense is ... not so good. And his offense is worse. It's going to be a long season, if he doesn't quit or get fired this month.

Elsewhere: half the Seattle offense went down in the loss to Buffalo, leaving QB Seneca Wallace returning punts and lining up in the slot in the fourth. Reggie Bush might be OK after all; he had a marvelous catch-and-run to give N.O. a lead it would not relinquish late. Chad Pennington closed out Miami's six-point loss with a tough interception in the end zone, but the Dolphins have to be encouraged overall. Atlanta closed out the Lions, and have met expectations for 2008 total wins already. In six years, Matt Cassel will get a supermodel pregnant and wear cashmere under his jersey. My area gets the lovely Arizona-San Francisco afternoon game, so tennis it is!

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.