There are many reasons the Cincinnati Bengals have long been viewed as one of the league's biggest laughingstocks. A lack of success on the field. Inept ownership and personnel evaluators. And a habit of overlooking character issues in their players. On Tuesday, they handed their critics even more ammunition when they announced the return of wide receiver Chris Henry.

You remember Henry, right? The guy who was released in April following the latest in a long series of arrests?

And do you remember what head coach Marvin Lewis and owner Mike Brown said about the situation over the summer? Let me refresh your memory.

“There is a responsibility to be a NFL player,” Lewis told reporters when asked about a possible return by Henry. “It’s a privilege, not a right.”

President Mike Brown echoed those sentiments by adding, “We don’t want that kind of behavior.”

It seemed at the time as if the organization actually had developed some principles and that maybe they were tired of the franchise being dragged through the mud because of the antics of a handful of their players.

In all fairness to Henry, charges were dropped after his latest trial ended in a hung jury (let's not confuse that with an actual acquittal, however). But that's beside the point. The Bengals cut Henry as a matter of principle and now they are unwilling to stick to their decision either out of fear that he will find success with another team, because Chad Johnson's injury is worse than has been reported, or their understaffed scouting department just isn't capable of finding someone else to fill the No. 3 role. Perhaps it's a combination of all three, I don't know. Either way, they now look even more foolish than before.

In all fairness to Lewis as well, it doesn't seem like the coach is on board with the reunion. About a month ago, Lewis proclaimed that bringing back Henry wasn’t “productive" for the team.

On Tuesday, he told the media, “I obviously know at the end of the day the owner has the final say-so on whether he wants to give a guy an opportunity or not.

So it sounds like Lewis was overruled on the matter. It also seems to me like the Bengals have an owner and coach who are no longer on the same page, which means Lewis could find himself coaching somewhere else in 2008 and the Bengals could be searching for a new head coach next offseason.

Photo: Andy Lyons / Getty Images

If the NFL season just isn't long enough to satisfy your football cravings, relief may be on its way in the not-too-distant future. It seems the National Football League is more open than ever to expanding to a 17- or 18-game format, and there are some who seem to actually be pushing for it to happen.

Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe says a change could be coming quicker than many are anticipating, and quotes New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft as saying, "The bottom line is that I think you'll see us going to 17 or 18 regular-season games in the future."

Driving the discussion is an uncertain labor forecast with players, who continually want a bigger piece of the pie while owners try to figure out a way to keep more of the profits in their pockets. Lengthening the schedule means increased revenue which would ultimately benefit both sides... and could help make the next round of Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations a little more amicable.

Expanding the regular season, though, doesn't necessarily mean the preseason will be shortened to accommodate it. But it's certainly a possibility. In my opinion, a drop from four to three practice games would make little difference since most teams use their starters very sparsely in their final tune-up. I'm not sure, however, that the NFL would want to expand the regular season on the front end, which would put the season opener on or before Labor Day weekend. Instead, I'd look for them to tack a week or two onto the end of the season and push the Super Bowl back into the middle of February.

For what it's worth, Reiss quotes NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell as saying that owners "find a longer season to be attractive" and that "we've made accommodations with our Super Bowl dates that we can move them later in the year."

But what will the players think of the additional games and the longer season?

Obviously, they'll want to be paid more, which makes sense. More games mean more revenue, but also more wear and tear on the body.

The owners, however, may not be so quick to see it that way.

Quarterback Brett Favre made his debut with the New York Jets Saturday night against the Washington Redskins, completing five of six passes for 48 yards, with one touchdown and no interceptions. But, while he looked sharp, we really didn't learn a whole lot in the brief time he was in the game. Jets fans, I think, should be happy, though, with what they saw during the two drives in which the future Hall of Famer was in the game. Favre looked sharp and in control of the offense for the most part.

While the former Green Bay Packers QB was getting his start in The Meadowlands, current Packers starter Aaron Rodgers was going through an outing that was a little on the shaky side. (yes, it's a little early to compare performances, but you know it's inevitable, so why not start now?) Rodgers, who played the entire first half against the San Francisco 49ers, completed a respectable nine of 16 passes, but most were of the short-range variety which is reflected in his 6.4 yards per completion average as compared to Favre's 9.6. The Packers offense managed just three points while Rodgers was in the game, and those were set up when the team failed to punch the ball into the end zone following a fumble recovery on the 49ers 7-yard line.

In all fairness to Rodgers, though, his offensive line struggled in pass protection, giving up four sacks during the first half alone. Regardless, this obviously wasn't the performance head coach Mike McCarthy was looking for out of his offense in its second outing. The play from quarterback all the way around has to be a little unsettling considering Rodgers two backups, both rookies, combined for just 66 yards passing over the second half. All told, Green Bay produced an anemic 124 yards through the air and converted just two out of 14 third-down situations.

It's too early to panic in Green Bay, though. It is, after all, just the second preseason game of the year. But the loss certainly did nothing to take the pressure off Rodgers and the heat off McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson.

Something tells me it's going to be a roller coaster ride for those guys this year with Rodgers latest performance leading the current direction of travel.

Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

For those of you still preparing for the fantasy football season -- which is pretty much most of us -- About Football's collection of cheat sheets have been updated:

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