Why The Bengals Will Stumble

And other muddled thinking from a dude with Writer's Clamp

Happy Hour on the hotel roof. (Me)

Trying to shake off a scribbling slump. Let’s talk 49ers over the Men, the ‘24 Reds, a roadie to Tennessee and scary movies.

Writer’s Clamp is a condition familiar only to those who have experienced it. It’s not unlike a .300 hitter who suddenly goes 1-for-a-week or a yippie Tour pro who’d rather be a Democrat than stare at a 3-foot putt.

Clamp comes without warning and leaves without explanation. One day, the words flow like electricity from head to fingers to screen. The synapses fire like Junior Johnson’s '55 Ford on the back roads of Carolina. The next day, phrases such as “had went’’ are created.

That’s a hopeless explanation for what’s going on right here, right now. I had went from the kitchen to the home office. Somewhere in between, the C-clamp found my brain and squeezed.

Apologies in advance. I will endeavor, for as long as the Clamp lasts, to win without my best stuff.

THE BENGALS NEED TO REACQUAINT THEMSELVES with the big boys, and there is no better week to do it than this one, on Sunday at the 49ers. It’s often not whom you play that matters. It’s when you play them. Cincinnati gets the Niners without their starting QB, their most versatile and dangerous wideout and their future HOF left tackle.

It’s not official that Brock Purdy, Deebo Samuel and Trent Williams won’t play Sunday. But it’s very close.

Cincinnati has a month of Prove It games, starting with this one, followed by Buffalo and Houston here and the Ravens in Baltimore. All 3-3 has given The Men is a chance to make their capital-letters case as a Super contender.