The Bengals got dragged right back into the “cheap” conversation after an empty chair at Gillette Stadium set off a fresh round of social media sniping.
During the Patriots-Steelers game, Massachusetts sports reporter Chris Mason noted that the Jacksonville Jaguars had an advance scout in attendance for New England, while no Bengals scout appeared to be listed for Pittsburgh.
“Random: There are usually two advance scouts at Gillette games. One from each team's next opponent. There's a Jags scout here for the Patriots, but no Bengals scout for the Steelers on the seating chart.
Guess Cincy thinks they just know Pittsburgh well enough at this point.”
Mason later pushed back on a commenter who suggested he may have simply missed Cincinnati’s scout, saying, “ In my experience, they've had seats in the press box. Usually listed on the seating chart.
Easier to work there (and free). Dunno about a requirement though.”
He then added, “FWIW, Bengals also have the smallest scouting staff in the league,” linking to a Paul Dehner article about Cincinnati’s scouting department.
That was enough to send the familiar narrative spinning again. Henry McKenna of Fox Sports reposted Mason’s observation and wrote, “Good catch from Chris. This also lives up to the Bengals' reputation -- which is that they're notoriously cheap in terms of staffing and traveling scouts.”
The reaction was immediate, and plenty of the pushback centered on the same basic point: an empty seat on a seating chart does not prove a scout never existed. The Bengals could have had someone in another spot, or there could have been a last-minute reason that person wasn’t there at all.
Still, the “cheap” label has proven hard for Cincinnati to shake, even after the organization spent heavily in recent offseasons. The source of the criticism keeps changing, but the theme stays the same.
The Bengals’ win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1 and their victory over the Houston Texans in Week 2 only made the whole thing look even more awkward. Those results have already given Cincinnati more ammunition against opponents, even as the front office continues to take hits for its scouting setup.
And if the Bengals did not send an advance scout to Pittsburgh, that only feeds the bigger issue: once that reputation is out there, almost anything can be turned into proof of it.
For now, the conversation rolls on, with Cincinnati once again stuck defending itself against a label that seems to show up every time someone notices an empty chair.
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