chad cools it

Dec 21, 2006 05:12:15

Maybe the New Chad is here to stay. While everyone in America took shots at offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski’s game plan, Johnson, the one guy who never shied away from ripping it when he didn’t have a big day in a big game, quietly called it “fine” during the postgame autopsy of the 34-16 loss in Indianapolis. Gone were the tears from Jacksonville, the frustration from the playoffs, and the profanities of Baltimore after the feared Bengals passing game threw just eight passes in the first half. Johnson said he could understand it, given that the Jaguars had rushed for 375 yards against Indy the week before. But with their depleted safety spots down to special teamers Matt Giordano and Dexter Reid, a guy on the street a month ago, even the Colts seem surprised the Bengals didn’t take their shots downfield. "Those guys didn't throw it as much as we thought they would,” said Colts coach Tony Dungy. “Watching them on tape this week, they were scary, and they were red-hot." Maybe Johnson played it cool because he knew the Bengals tried to get him the ball and he dropped three, one of which would have been a huge 21-yard pickup. “We had dropped balls; I think that's the biggest thing,” said head coach Marvin Lewis. “When you have a couple of drops, it throws you off rhythm and that makes a big difference in the game.” A big game by Johnson would be a big boost in Denver and he’s got a history against Broncos Pro Bowl cornerback Champ Bailey dating back to his 149-yard day on Monday night in the Bengals 2004 victory. That would also quiet some murmurings about Johnson in big games. But if he dropped some balls and had just 59 yards in the playoff game last season and had 29 yards in the 2003 regular-season finale and just 52 in Jacksonville in ’05, he also had 117 against Buffalo at home last year, 99 in the division clincher in Detroit, 161 against Baltimore’s top five defense in 04, not to mention this year’s hellacious five-game stretch when the Bengals were on the brink of playoff elimination and they have needed every yard. Yet he’ll be under the microscope this week for those drops and for missing a chunk of the third quarter getting an I.V., which has almost become a weekly event. Unfortunately for him it came on a night ESPN aired a feature that followed him through his daily ritual of a McDonald’s drive-thru, and that opened up the crew to question his diet.