Chad Johnson's antics have riled his opponents, but for tonight's game, he is staying low-key.
By Associated press
Published October 25, 2004
CINCINNATI - Chad Johnson leaned toward the tape recorders, ready to make another prediction.
"Do you want to hear one?" he said.
The Bengals' chatty receiver paused a second for drama, then shook his head.
"Naw, I'm going to keep it quiet this week," he said. "Next week I'll be back to my old self."
No teasing with antacids, no take-it-to-the-bank boasts. Leading up to the Bengals' first Monday night game in a dozen years, the gifted receiver with an affinity for the spotlight decided to keep it strictly low-watt.
Some of it has to do with his horrible performance in his last game. Some of it might also have to do with what's in store when the Bengals (1-4) play the Broncos (5-1) tonight, a game more intriguing for its subplots.
This one tops the list: Champ Bailey covering Chad Johnson.
Champ vs. Chad. Pro Bowl player vs. Pro Bowl player. Shutdown cornerback vs. the receiver who never shuts up.
Johnson and Bailey were among the NFL players who worked out with cornerback Deion Sanders in the offseason, learning a few tricks from the master. They also learned a few things about each other.
Johnson found out that Bailey, a four-time Pro Bowl cornerback obtained by the Broncos in an offseason trade, deserves all of the accolades. He's strong and fast and tough to fool.
Bailey learned a thing or two about Johnson, who's big and fast and tough to silence.
"I think that's just his personality," Bailey said. "He loves to have fun. I've been around him. I know what type of guy he is."
Johnson's teammates saw a different side of him last week.
Known for predicting victories and tweaking opponents, Johnson was humbled by perhaps his worst overall game in four NFL seasons Oct.17. He had sent Pepto-Bismol to four of Cleveland's defensive backs with a note warning they would need it when he got done catching passes against them.
While dog-masked fans howled in delight, Johnson dropped three passes and made three harmless catches in Cleveland's 34-17 victory. A chastened Chad took full blame for the blowout and started quietly looking for answers.
"Nobody stopped me but myself," he said. "Nobody covered Chad. Chad dropped the ball."
He thinks he has found out why. Johnson got into a rhythm with quarterback Jon Kitna last season, timing passes so perfectly that he was able to look upfield as his hands closed around the ball.
Carson Palmer, who took over at quarterback this season, throws a much harder pass. Johnson found himself looking upfield as his hands started closing on the ball, only to have it bounce off his fingers or chest.
Johnson made sure to watch every pass into his hands during practice last week. He figured the one adjustment was all he needed to get rolling.
Johnson respects cornerbacks, but insists there's not one who can shut him down. As he looked for an explanation to the Cleveland game, he asked teammates if they'd ever had such a bad showing. He wondered aloud if Michael Jordan ever stunk it up.
"Michael Jordan had a bad game? For real?" Johnson said.
Told that Jordan scored acareer-low six points in a game in December 2001 and followed it with a 51-point performance, Johnson pondered for a moment.
"So, maybe I could go from three (catches) to 13?" he said.
