This and that (mostly Bengals)

• I'm actually surprised that no one is going out on a limb this morning and saying Marvin will be fired soon. I'm not saying he should be, but when you start 0-5, the writing is on the wall. I'd say the Bengals HAVE to beat the Jets at the Meadowlands this weekend or win at home against the 4-1 Steelers the following week. I think if they lose both games and fall to 0-7, that's when Marvin would be fired. No NFL coaches survive extended losing skids, and keep in mind the Bengals lost four straight after winning their season opener last year.

• This is mostly about the Cowboys (it is from the Dallas Morning News) but I found it interesting because a) it indicates how the Cowboys felt about the game being closer than expected and b) it describes the Bengals as "the best 0-5 team in NFL history, if you believe players and coaches."

• The Fort Worth paper focused on Wade Phillips post-game tirade. The Cowboys' head coach took offense to the following question from the media after the game:

Does all that matter here is the win, when it was a game where you played well in the first quarter, and then pretty much stunk the rest of the way?

BTW, I'd have probably gone off if I were Phillips too. It's OK for Phillips to say the Cowboys stunk, but for a member of the media to say that in asking a question just isn't cool.

• Geoff Hobson wrote about how Cedric Benson looked in the Bengals' loss. Expect to see MUCH more of Benson, by the way, as Chris Perry has proved to be inconsistent, and he's not going to continue to start at halfback if he keeps fumbling the way he has.

• How about Ball State, in the Top 25 for the first time, even without their star receiver, Dante Love of Withrow High School.