If Ochocinco scores, don't expect any elaborate celebrations ... not from a guy on a 2-11 team.
View full sizeBengals quarterback Carson Palmer has thrown more touchdowns to opposing defenses (5) than to Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco (No. 85), who has four."Aw, man, it's been tough," he said. "It's been tough just trying to find ways to continue to keep myself motivated, continue to keep myself smiling. I'm trying to be part of the solution and not the problem. I'm doing everything I can to stay positive. It's really hard, especially when you lose week in and week out. It's really stressful, man."
So nothing fun planned for the Browns' defensive backs? No special celebrations for the game?
"We're 2-11," he said. "Ain't nothing I can do that's going to get me motivated or to have fun, it's backwards."
But 85, we've never heard you like this before.
"It wears on you after 10 years," he said.
But wait, aren't veteran players supposed to keep everyone up at a time like this? Are you struggling with that?
"Not at all," he said. "You watch me practice, you'll be into it. My mouth is still running. I'm doing all the talking out there on the field. Nothing has changed, I'm just more subdued when I'm off the field, which I have to be because I have nothing to feed off of."
Coach Marvin Lewis chuckled when told how dejected Ochocinco sounded.
"I did a good job with him this morning, huh? I appreciate that," Lewis said with a laugh.
Browns defensive coordinator Rob Ryan also didn't buy Ochocinco's midweek Tweet that he was nervous about his ankle injury heading into today's game.
"You hoped Christmas was coming early with him on the injury report, but I'm not believing it," Ryan said. "We always take him away. To me I think he's the best receiver in football and I'll always believe that, so he's always going to have a hard, long day against us. It would take more than some injury report to convince me that guy's not great and we're just going to take him away every time."
The Browns did just that in the first meeting, holding Ochocinco to three catches for 59 yards. But it left the door open for Terrell Owens to pile up the second-most yards in his 15-year career -- 222 yards on 10 catches, including a 78-yard touchdown. This season, he has 72 catches for 983 yards and nine TDs. Ochocinco has 65 catches for 795 yards and four TDs.
"We don't want [Owens] to catch that many this time. That 80-yarder helped him," Ryan said. "We're going to make it a much tougher day on him. He's back to his old self playing like T.O. We just needed some convincing and believe me, we believe now. He's not going to have the same day he had last time, that's for sure."
One major difference for the Browns is that rookie Joe Haden will be in the starting lineup this game.
"I think Joe Haden, the way he's playing, that's definitely going to make a difference," Ryan said. "That's the real Joe Haden. I think we had the young one early in the season and he still played pretty well in that game. This one here is up for a challenge. If it was up to him, he'd stay out there in man-coverage all day long. It's not up to him right now but wow, what a player."
Haden, who leads the Browns with five interceptions, said Ochocinco is the best receiver he's faced this year.
"When he was running routes, he was just breaking down and coming out of breaks like nobody else did," Haden said. "He can go vertical and drop his weight and come out of his breaks better than anybody we've played against."