Frostee Rucker becomes yet another Bengal player suspended in the upcoming season. He’s only suspended for the first game but it still makes the third Bengal player with a suspension.

This stems from a June 2006 incident involving and ex-girlfriend where he plead guilty to charges of false imprisonment and vandalism.

He has appealed the suspension so we’ll have to wait and see but I imagine it will hold up.

The Bengals have claimed kicker Aaron Elling off waivers from Jacksonville. Elling has played 4 years in the NFL and is 19 for 28 on field goal attempts. He has played for Minnesota, Tennessee and Baltimore.

This move is probably just for insurance in case Shayne Graham’s injury lingers a bit but we’ll keep an eye on things.

I was flipping through the channels last night and saw what I thought was Court TV talking about all the Michael Vick drama. A few minutes into it, I noticed a Bengals game playing in the background. So I thought they were just doing a quick report and would get back to the game but they just wouldn’t shut up. I think everyone saw the Vick apology or read about it online. How many times did they really need to bring it up and talk about it during the game last night?

I would see someone interviewed about the Vick situation and then see them interviewed again by someone else later and they gave the exact same response. It was horrible. The Bengals aren’t on television all that much (especially where I am) so when they are, I’d actually like to watch it.

Sure, it was a preseason game but it still made me mad. They should just do a report and then shut up. If anyone really wanted news on it, they could flip over to ESPN News.

On a different note, DeAngelo Hall’s haircut was funny. If you didn’t see it, he had “I Own U 85″ shaved into his head to show he’s better than Chad Johnson. Well, Chad ate him up all night so I’m sure Hall will be cutting his hair differently today since it sure didn’t work for him.

- Shayne Graham suffered a hip pointer but he’ll be ok. The team said that if it had been a regular season game, he would have come back.

- Levi Jones saw a decent amount of action so that is a very good sign.

- Carson Palmer looked good. He was 15 of 22 for 136 yards and two scores.

- Rudi Johnson ran for 69 yards at 5.3 yards per carry.

- Chris Henry scored another touchdown. I sure hope he stays out of trouble and is ready to play after his suspension is over.

- The defense didn’t look too bad but there were several missed tackles. Poor tackling really hurt the team last year and hopefully that can get cleaned up before the season opener. The defense seems to be getting to the quarterback though.

Chick Ludwig of the Dayton Daily News had a few quotes from some players about the Vick situation.

Ed Hartwell was Vick’s teammate the last two seasons with the Falcons.
“My heart goes out to him. I’m praying for the brother. He’s going through a lot, and he’ll go through a lot more. He’s just got to stay strong and get through this. Hopefully, the league will let him play again. The city loses a great man that it really leaned on, and the team loses the same thing — a great player. He’s a big figure in both aspects.”

My take - Nothing wrong with praying for someone to make it through a hard time but I’m not sure how you call a man who has allegedly killed dogs in pretty gruesome fashions a “great man”.

Shayne Graham was a college teammate of Vick’s and is a friend of his.
“He was always a good guy to me. But I love animals. I love dogs. I hate that it was him that was (linked to dogfighting), and that it happened in the first place for the animals’ sake and for everyone who cares about animals as well. My heart goes out to his family for what they’re going through and will have to go through — the embarrassment, the anguish and the hurt. Hopefully, he’ll be able to make the best of the remnants of what happens afterward. You hate to see it happen to anybody. But you’ve got to be accountable.”

My take - This is a pretty good answer. He didn’t make anyone look bad, including himself. And hopefully Vick will make the best of things and get his life straightened out going forward.

Chad Johnson never hides from the camera and he chimed in with his own comments.
“I love Vick. Everybody makes mistakes. The president of the United States made a mistake. To everybody that gets to see this: All y’all have made mistakes. Maybe not as big as this one. But we all make mistakes. We all have grown to love Vick the football player. I still love Vick the football player. I love Vick the person. He made a mistake. I’m going to support him regardless. And he will be back, man. You know he’ll be back playing. He’s one of the greatest athletes to ever play the game — ever. He’ll be back, and he’ll still be able to do the same things he’s done on the field.”

My take - If this is his true opinion, he’s entitled to it but he doesn’t even sound like he thinks Vick did anything very wrong here. Yes, we all make mistakes. But you have to be accountable for those. You don’t lie about it to everyone when you’re guilty. That was probably the worst thing for Vick. You look pretty bad when it’s found out that you lied to the world.

Chad is probably right about Vick playing again. I’m sure some team will take a chance on him at some point. I’m not saying you shouldn’t show some support for him but you can’t just blow off what he did either.

The Bengals have signed recently released Lemar Marshall from the Redskins. It’s a one year deal and he is a hometown player.

He can play several positions so he definitely helps depth-wise. He was also on the Redskins roster when Marvin Lewis was there so Lewis is familiar with him.

Today, the Bengals waived tight ends Bobby Blizzard and Sean Mulcahy. Both have been injured and could be kept on the injured list if another team doesn’t pick them up.

Marvin Lewis will have surgery on Wednesday to some torn tendons in his left ankle.

This shouldn’t affect the team schedule. Lewis said he’s having this done now so that he can be fully productive during the regular season.

Levi Jones is back at practice this afternoon and is wearing braces on both knees. He did not practice with the first-team offense.

The team doesn’t think he’ll practice every day but it’s encouraging to see him on the field. They even said he would play in the next preseason game against at Atlanta.