Paul Daugherty

pdaugherty@enquirer.com

The Morning Grump is feeling unusually cheery today. Don't ask why, just roll with it. Along those lines. . .

Having witnessed witless Black Monday in the NFL once again, I'm thinking we should call a one-day ceasefire on all the Bengal bitching, and come to the hard-to-swallow, yet apt conclusion that this has become a fairly well run franchise by NFL standards.

Yes, it has.

Yes. . . it has.

Think of where you could be.

Cleveland . Three players suspended for the last game of the year, including J. Football, who celebrated his raging NFL rookie success with a party Friday night, then was late getting his hamstring treated. Josh Gordon, their best wideout, is a perpetual screw-up in waiting. And so on. The Browns are the NFL's answer to the Cubs.

Atlanta. How'd you like to lose by 31 at home with a division title on the line?

Washington. MRWS reside at the corner of Dysfunction Junction and Misery Way. You might stay irritated with The Men and The Fam. Have you ever taken pleasure in seeing them lose? I do that now. Weekly.

Oakland. Thank goodness the Raiders thought it was smart to fire Hue Jax, who somehow got them to 8 Ws in his one year as their head coach.

Tampa, Jacksonville, Chicago, Tennessee. The Jets. St. Louis .

The Chargers, rumored daily to be migrating two hours north.

And so on. Fully one third of the socialist NFL has teams with issues. The Bengals biggest issue is an inability to get it right in January. Is that annoying? Sure. So is poison ivy and slow traffic. Does it rank with what occurs every fall in DC or Oakland?

We know that sort of misery here. It's in the rearview mirror. We should be glad we have a perennial playoff team to moan about.

I know, I know. I hear you. If we didn't care, we wouldn't care. There is nothing wrong with shoving feet to the fire. I agree. I do it myself,with the quarterback, mostly.

Might I suggest a moratorium?

The fact is, the Bengals have a stable, mostly productive organization that has churned out quality players and coaches consistently for five years at least. Some of us remember the days of Jeff Query and Derrick Fenner, and assistant coaches who left here and disappeared. Doesn't happen anymore.

The second fact is, it's very hard to sustain in the league. Even the best organizations not named New England stumble on occasion. The Steelers just ended a two-year playoff absence. The Ravens limped into the postseason, but they kinda suck right now. A line from Grantland:

Things really do change fast in the NFL. Two years ago, the Falcons were a play or two away from the Super Bowl. Now, the loss to Carolina means Mike Smith is out of a job and Atlanta is decidedly a team in transition.

The hop should be back in the local collective step by now. Sunday's bludgeoning should mean nothing. The Oct. 19 Loser At Lucas Oil is irrelevant. Different team, on both sides of the ball. Life will be changed up there this week, with J. Hill and a D that will get after A. Luck as if its season depends on it. Which, in fact, it does.

If the Bengals lose again, if they keep postseason despair alive, then we can let them have it. K? Even then, we might want to complain with a little perspective. We don't live in Cleveland.

Now, then. . .

THE MORNING CHARITY EXTENDS TO THE QB. After Sunday's L, The Morning Man has decided to no longer expect better-ness from Dalton. I've been kinda critical because I thought he could be better.

Maybe he can be. More likely, he's a finished product, and he ain't bad. The weekly critiques will be less harsh. If you've proven to be a B-minus law student, no one should expect you to ace your bar exam, right?

Sportswriters who can write like Hemingway don't stay sportswriters . Quoting a famous sailor with vegetable-enhanced biceps: I yam what I yam.

On further review, Dalton's bad first half Sunday did cost his team dearly. But INTs are almost never one player's fault. And they weren't in this case. AJ Green has to fight for that first pick. If he is the best wideout in football – and he's in that photo – he has to come down with the second pick.

It's the intangibles as much as anything that cause pause with Dalton. He doesn't inspire confidence. You can be a B-minus QB and still have the right postseason stuff. That describes Flacco. Intangibles can be learned, but only when accompanied by big moments in big games. No one puts Roethlisberger in the same breath with Brady, Manning and Rodgers, when it comes to elegant quarterbacking. But none of us would mind having Ben with four minutes to go, down six and 80 yards in front of him.

So, let the ripping of Andy cease. Sixty-seven starts into his NFL career, he is who he is.

ANNNND … All that said, if you want to see a decent example of how a QB elevates his team, watch A. Luck starting at 1 Sunday.

HERE'S A STORY from Grantland that uses fancy numbers to debunk coaching changes as a cure:

These types of findings lend credence to the theory that NFL coaching changes offer franchises little more than the illusion of control over their future. While it may feel satisfying to fans and owners to fire a coach after a disappointing season, it's tough to quantify the real benefits of such a move — if any even exist.

I love the word "debunk'' , by the way. Go debunk yourself, pal.

WHY IS THIS A DEBATE ? Aaron Rodgers is the MVP, not JJ Watt. The only defensive player I've ever seen deserving of the MVP was Lawrence Taylor. He not only changed the way football was played, he changed the way it was thought. Read The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game for irrefutable proof.

Watt is a great player, but he does not impact a game at least 30 times , the way any QB does. Teams can do things to calm Watt. The Bengals did it, simply by rarely putting Dalton in spots where he might feel Watt's breath: Shotgun, one-step drops, screen passes etc. There really is no calming Aaron Rodgers.

ADAM JONES JOINS US TONIGHT at 7, at the big beer restaurant on the river. Come watch Dehner, Skinny and Lindsay use probing questions to reveal Essential Truths. I'll be there, offering cogent remarks on the house sodas.

BECAUSE TV IS MY LIFE . . . Finished the final season of Sons of Anarchy on Netflix last week. One of the most underrated series in awhile. Great shows are ones that make you care about the characters, and sad when they leave your screen for good. I felt that way about Jax Teller, classic bad boy with a good heart. Always half a step away from doing the right thing. Exited the show the only way he could.

I'll miss him. Is that weird?

I missed the Tim Riggins character from Friday Night Lights. I wondered what was next for Jesse Pinkman, after Breaking Bad ended. When Mad Men winds up next spring, I will mourn the passing of Roger Sterling.

You have shows and characters that strike you the same way?

Meantime, I'm trying to get into Netflix' newest, Marco Polo, but other than the prospect of awesome, flaming-arrow battle scenes, I'm not yet moved.

INSIDE SCOOP. OR SOMETHING . The Reds would have signed Aoki by now, if he weren't holding out for three years. The closer we get to March, the better chance he eases that requirement.

The Reds, I think, will sign him.

If that thrills you.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE AMATEUR ATHLETICS RANCH . . . Jim Harbaugh is going to coach Michigan football for a reported $48 mil over six years. That's an average $8 mil per, for you journalism majors. Good to see that M has its priorities in order.

In response, Nick Saban is thinking of asking for the whole state of Alabama and rights of first refusal on Key West and Captiva.

TUNE O' THE DAY . Every once in awhile, The Man strays from the rez, and mixes in one of his all-time classic faves that none of youse have ever heard of. This one, from DC-legendary Root Boy Slim and, yes, The Sex Change Band, is awesome. Give it a listen and see if you agree. So weak, it's strong.

I'm just a lonely man, and you're still in hiiiiiiigh school.