C. Johnson Keeps Lip Zipped as Bengals Show Offensive Versatility
PITTSBURGH--Perhaps it's setting the bar low when an NFL player earns praise from his teammates--and from himself--simply for acting like an adult rather than a spoiled child.
But the Cincinnati Bengals will take their progress where they can get it when it comes to wide receiver Chad Johnson. Bengals players were more than willing to give credit to Johnson after Sunday's victory at Pittsburgh for keeping his emotions in check during a one-catch afternoon.
"I think Chad has grown up," Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer said. "He used to let these things frustrate him and get in his head."
The Steelers blanketed Johnson with defenders, part of their philosophy of taking away an opposing offense's top player. But Palmer and the Bengals had expected the Steelers to use that strategy and adjusted accordingly, and fellow wideouts Chris Henry and T.J. Houshmandzadeh had two touchdown catches apiece.
"We're an explosive team," Palmer said. "We've got a lot of explosive players and we've got an offensive coordinator [Bob Bratkowski] who lets it all hang out. When you take Chad away, you've got Chris Henry out there one on one and T.J. one on one, and I don't know if that's the best thing for a defense."
Johnson said proudly in the Bengals' postgame locker room that he hadn't complained at all during the game about the lack of passes coming in his direction.
"I didn't make a sound," he said.
He added, "We have a running game. We have the best offensive line in the business. I helped my team in ways other than catching the ball. It is what it is. It's part of being good."
The Bengals improved their record to 3-0 with the 28-20 triumph. They're tied with the Baltimore Ravens atop the AFC North. This is a solid team that might have gone deep into the playoffs last season if Palmer hadn't had his knee shredded early in a first-round playoff loss to the Steelers at home. Now the Bengals are back for more.
Palmer said he didn't have his injury on his mind Sunday. The defensive lineman who caused the injury by crashing into his leg, Kimo von Oelhoffen, no longer is with the Steelers, having signed with the New York Jets in the offseason. It was an uneven performance by Palmer, who offset his four touchdown passes by throwing two interceptions and fumbling three times (although the Bengals recovered two of them).
"I just thought I played bad," Palmer said. "It was ugly. Your quarterback can't play that way. I need to step my game up and play better.... [But] as hard as it is to beat this team in Pittsburgh, you'll take it any way you can get it."
The Bengals showed their offensive depth, versatility and opportunism. Tailback Rudi Johnson, like Chad Johnson, was mostly a non-factor. Yet the Bengals got by relying on Houshmandzadeh, who was playing his first game of the season after being sidelined by a heel injury, and Henry. When the Steelers lost a pair of fourth-quarter fumbles, the Bengals scored a touchdown on the first play after each turnover to turn a 17-14 deficit into a 28-17 lead, then hung on from there.
"We have a lot of weapons on this team," Rudi Johnson said. "T.J. hadn't been playing and he came in and made big plays. We expect to pull it out. We expect to win."
Bengals Coach Marvin Lewis said the victory didn't make up for the playoff loss to the Steelers, but he nevertheless was pleased with his club's approach.
"It's most important for us to win a divisional football game on the road against a very good team, the defending Super Bowl champions," Lewis said. "That's the key.... There were a lot of negatives and we were able to overcome that with a lot of positives, and that's the good thing."
By Mark Maske |
September 25, 2006; 10:16 AM ET
| Category:
Bengals
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Posted by: mm | September 25, 2006 10:43 AM
Now if TO, and all the other 'me' players could take a cue from this....
Posted by: Quietplease USA | September 25, 2006 11:03 AM
What do you mean?
C.J. is praising himself (as are other people) for doing something everyone should do; be a team player andnot throw a fit when you're not throw the ball.
In my book, he gets a gold star on the 'good boy chart' for behavior, but that's it.
He's still playing the "me" game by saying "hey, look, look what i didn't do. I didn't be a jerk!"
Posted by: Fitz | September 25, 2006 12:09 PM
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The Steelers gave that game to them as much as the Bengals won it.