clark-judge

Let's hear it for the Cincinnati Bengals. Cutting Chris Henry was not only the right thing to do; it was the only thing to do. I was at the team's training camp a year ago when I suggested releasing the guy to coach Marvin Lewis. My point: Why put up with a serial lawbreaker? All he does is disrupt the team and bring trouble to a locker room that can't handle it. Lewis' reply was that Henry had been punished and that the club wanted to see what it had after he returned from a half-year suspension. Well, it saw all right. Chris Henry is the same guy he was last year and the year before that and the year before that. He's trouble, and until or unless the league gets rid of idiots like him it's going to continue to have an image problem. Maybe someone should tell Dallas he's available. The Cowboys were interested in Pacman Jones. Hey, they get Jones and Henry, and they can resurrect the White House for old times sake. I like what Cincinnati owner Mike Brown said of Henry: "His conduct can no longer be tolerated." My question: When could it ever be tolerated? The Bengals go to the head of the class for today's action. I just don't understand why it took them so long to get there.

So the NFL passes the radio helmets for defensive players. Great. It still won't eliminate the need for hands signals, and leave it to Tony Dungy, head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, to tell us why. As Dungy explained it, an offensive coordinator could notify its quarterback it will run a change of players on to the field with 17 seconds left on the play clock, then run them to the line of scrimmage -- too late for the defense to make adjustments. The reason, of course, is that the radio signal goes out with 15 seconds left on the play clock. Thus, when the defensive coordinator sees a change in the offensive package it's too late for him to switch his call, meaning he would have to do it with hand signals. "There will be times where there still will be signals," said Dungy. "There will be times where (linebacker) Gary Brackett, say, will come out and we don't give Bob Sanders a helmet. So we'd just go ahead and signal." Of course, there's always the issue, too, of how radio equipment will hold up to the incessant pounding it might absorb when a linebacker or safety makes tackles. "That," said Dungy, "is an unknown. I know when this first came up four or five years ago they said they couldn't guarantee it."

Commissioner Roger Goodell today reiterated that he has no fixed timetable for reinstating Pacman Jones, whom he suspended all of last year. That's important because Dallas is interested in acquiring Jones, with talks continuing between the Cowboys and Titans. Goodell did, however, seem to indicate that Jones has a better than even chance of returning to the NFL season when he said he was "encouarged" by recent comments Jones made on the radio. "I will make a decision prior to training camp," said Goodell. "I always said he has to accept responsibility for his actions, and when he does I will reconsider his status." Goodell also said that if a trade is consummated for Jones that the club acquiring him runs the risk of acquiring a player who may not play in 2008. However, most persons believe Jones will reappear this season, and that Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones knows it. Now, if he can only work out the terms of compensation for the guy.