Sunday, December 2, 2007

John Madden is Not Impressed by Chad Johnson

The 4-7 Cincinnati Bengals face the 8-3 Pittsburgh Steelers tonight at Heinz Field. The Bengals need to run the table to have any realistic chance to make the playoffs, while the Steelers are trying to maintain their AFC North lead over the 7-4 Cleveland Browns and possibly catch the 9-2 Indianapolis Colts in the overall AFC playoff race. Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson says that his squad has an "excellent chance" to win five straight games but Hall of Fame Coach John Madden, who will be calling the Pittsburgh-Cincinnati game for NBC, is not impressed: "This isn't a talk league, this is a do league and it's not only a do league but it's when you do it. With all due respect to Chad Johnson, it doesn't make a difference what they say, they have to go to it. They have to go do it in the fourth quarter of the season." The Pittsburgh Steelers are a tough minded, physical team that has been dominant at home this season (6-0), while the Bengals are a mentally weak team that is 1-4 on the road. That means that tonight you are much more likely to see another Chad Johnson temper tantrum directed at quarterback Carson Palmer and/or the coaching staff than a Cincinnati win.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post. Brought to light a comment I hadn't heard about. Madden has hit the nail on the head.
"85" is an entertaining guy, but he's crazy to think this team can 5 in a row, and to even "put it out there."

jimmccoy22

madnice said...

Johnson's first antics of endzone celebrations were fun but now its annoying, especially since they are losing. He should just play and shut up. But the Bengals off the field issues has messed up the psyche of that team. I wouldnt be surprised is Lewis is fired at years end.

David Friedman said...

Madnice:

I don't find Johnson's celebrations more or less annoying than those of TO or anyone else. What I don't understand is why Johnson is largely praised by the media while TO almost always gets blasted.

Johnson also gets a free pass for being disruptive to his team in terms of confronting the coach and other players and he has never been productive on a winning team (by which I mean conference championship game level) like TO and Moss have.