Henry, Thurman Hang Lewis Out To Dry

During all those years Marvin Lewis tucked himself into bed and went off to sleep with visions of being the head coach of one of the NFL's best teams, think he ever had anything like Chris Henry and Odell Thurman traipsing through his mind.

Only if it was a nightmare. Sucks for Lewis, doesn't it? He's got a 3-0 team that is the class of the league offensively and is widely regarded as classless off of it.

Lewis talked about that yesterday on a conference call when he was asked by the New England media if he felt too much was made of his players' behavior

"No, I don't think too much is made of it," said Lewis. "I think they have a responsibility to act as good people and good citizens. We're disappointed with some of these actions and there's been some poor decisions made and there's been some things that still haven't been decided. When those things play out then it's a little but sometimes guys are put into these situations and they're completely innocent which we also have had. So that's the other part of it. It's unfortunate what has happened and we want to learn from it and not have any of them. But for whatever reason we went on a bad run and particularly with one or two people. Those people ... they have a tough road, but it has not affected our football team."

Good for Lewis for saying it matters. But come on with the not affecting the football team stuff. You walk into work and see one of your fellow employees whose performance you depend upon hung over to the 9's or with an ink-stained thumb from another night of finger-printing, it's a distraction.

Said Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer yesterday, "Coach Lewis is fed up with harping on Odell Thurman about doing the right thing at the right time and not being at the wrong place at the wrong time. At some point, I think Marvin's done with it. I saw (Thurman) clear out his locker. I think everybody saw that and realized at some point you're not going to get a second chance, a third chance, or a fourth chance."

Well, with Thurman gone there's one stooge down. What about wide receiver Chris Henry (check out his priors here)

"I've talked to him," said Palmer. "I think a lot of people have talked to him. He's just a guy who’s been in the wrong place at the wrong time a couple times. This is another incident of that. I just hope he learns his lesson, moves on and continues to make plays on the field."

Wrong place, wrong time is on the sidewalk when a plate-glass window blows out of a skyscraper. Yakking out the passenger's side window while riding shotgun to your drunken (soon-to-be-ex) teammate? That's aggravated stupidity.

How can these guys look Lewis in the face after doing stuff like this? And how can Lewis, who busted his ass, worked long nights, moved his family around the country and dealt with the unique and stomach-churning uncertainty of being a football coach refrain from punching guys like Henry in their face he sees them.