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Palmer takes advantage of tall receiver's mismatches against smaller defenders. Chris Henry goes by the nickname "Slim 15," but he sure had a big, fat Sunday. The Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver caught five passes for 41 yards, including two touchdowns in a 30-0 victory over the Cleveland Browns. Both were acrobatic, tippy-toe numbers, proof of how devastating Henry is near the goal line.
Quarterback Carson Palmer launched a 7-yard rainbow to Henry in the back left corner of the end zone at 12:02 of the second quarter, then pitched a 10-yarder to Henry in the deep right corner of the opposite end zone with 14:56 remaining. "It's a big part of my game, down in the red zone — anywhere on the field, really," Henry said. "It was a good job on Carson's part, just throwing the ball up and letting me make a play." Cleveland's top three cornerbacks — Daylon McCutcheon, Gary Baxter and Leigh Bodden — are out with injuries. That left a pair of 5-foot-10 corners — Daven Holly and Ralph Brown — plus 6-foot Jereme Perry to deal with Henry, Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh. "Chris is a 6-4 guy going against smaller corners," Palmer said. "It's tough not to get a mismatch. If you're the defense, who do you put out there? A safety? A corner? A linebacker? It's all a mismatch unless their corner is 6-2." Henry faces a tougher test Thursday night when Baltimore invades Paul Brown Stadium. Ravens cornerback Chris McAlister is bigger, stronger and tougher than Cleveland's corners. "So the mismatch isn't so great," Palmer said. "Against teams like (the Browns), when they're on their third, fourth and fifth corners, and you get Chris over there, it's an easy touchdown." On his first TD, Henry went in motion from right to left. "It seemed like there was a little bit of confusion on the other side of the ball, so I knew I was going to be open," he said. "It was a perfect ball. I just had to go up and make a play." Henry didn't have enough room to check if his feet were in-bounds on the second TD. "I was just kind of hoping," he said. Henry's only sin was getting flagged 15 yards for unnecessary roughness for jumping up and shoving the pesky Brown after snagging a first-down pass late in the first quarter. "You know how it goes sometimes," Henry said. "There's pushing and shoving in there. It was really nothing." Dayton Daily News |
