Cincinnati Bengals Go From Hard Time to Hard Knocks

If you're HBO, it's hard to think of a team you'd rather have on "Hard Knocks" more than the Cincinnati Bengals. You're guaranteed to have at least one Chad Ocho Cinco meltdown, it might explain what Mike Brown does, or doesn't do, for his general manager's bonus and with this roster there's likely to be some Andre Smith man-boob action. And that doesn't even count the possibility of a Bengals' arrest--which is always a pretty good possibility.

But it's hard to figure out why the Bengals would want to get the Hard Knocks treatment, because you're guaranteed at least one Ocho Cinco meltdown, it might explain what Mike Brown does, or doesn't do, for his general manager's bonus and with this roster there's likely to be some Andre Smith man-boob action. And that doesn't even count the possibility of a Bengals' arrest--which is always a pretty good possibility.

But the Bengals are bringing on the spotlight. Since Hard Knocks is shot by NFL Films, this is going to be a relatively benign treatment, but still, it is a spotlight for a team that hasn't exactly reacted well to spotlight in recent years. It will be great for Ocho Cinco, but it's hard to see how Marvin Lewis can be helped by more distractions.

Former Ravens coach Brian Billick actually thinks it's a good idea because the Bengals need to change their image, just like the Ravens did when they hosted the first season of Hard Knocks.

"One of the major reasons we did it was people thought of us a certain way. People felt like we had a bunch of characters but I wanted to show that we were a team of character," said Billick, now an NFL on Fox analyst. "I don't know if people saw them that way, but what they did see was the human aspect. Having Cincinnati on this year may have the same possibilities for them. Some of what they dealt with off the field might be belied by being on Hard Knocks. It does have an impact."

So it's a gamble that could have a payoff. But there haven't been a lot of things that have gone according to plan for the Bengals in recent years.