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Johnson plans jump into Pound if he scores Sunday! Chad Johnson can discuss his Hall of Fame credentials if he leaps into the Dawg Pound in Cleveland Browns Stadium. Dawg Pounders, consider yourselves warned. Bengals receiver Chad Johnson is coming. Johnson said he plans to do a Lambeau Leap into that end-zone section of Cleveland Browns Stadium if he scores Sunday. "I'm jumping in the Dawg Pound," he vowed. "It'll be fun, man. I love the Dawg Pound. I talked to a gentleman -- I'm not sure what his name is -- but he's sat there every year since my rookie year. Before every game, I go up to him and talk to him, a heavyset guy who wears a mask. I told him I'm going to jump in there."
Johnson said Dawg Pounders trash-talk him the way they do most star players. "They let me have it -- Mama, kids, me," he said. "They let it rip. But it's love. They love me." Johnson said he wasn't worried about what might happen if unfriendly fans got their paws on him, but his teammates aren't so sure. "I hope he doesn't do it because there are some crazy fans," quarterback Carson Palmer said. "They might tear Chad apart. So I hope he makes it back in one piece." Wouldn't Palmer try to rescue his star receiver? "No. I'm staying away from the Dawg Pound," he said with a laugh. Levi at peace
Left tackle Levi Jones was the only offensive player who didn't play a snap Monday in the win over the Baltimore Ravens. "Whatever they want," he said. "However they want to spend their money." Jones signed a six-year contract extension worth more than $40 million before the 2006 season. He missed 10 games last year because of knee problems, which lingered into this summer. After playing in two exhibition games, he pronounced himself fit. "I said two weeks ago, it was a nonissue," Jones said. Despite that, second-year lineman Andrew Whitworth has retained Jones' spot. "It'd be one thing if I wasn't trying to get back and trying to play, but it's what they wanted, so what can you do about it?" Jones said. He added that he has "no idea" why he's not playing. "I'm not going to stress about something they wanted to happen," he said of Whitworth taking over. Asked about Jones, coach Marvin Lewis said, "I believe Levi will play and I believe Levi will probably start at some point." Palmer disses on Smith Palmer said he's looking forward to seeing former teammates Eric Steinbach and Shaun Smith in Cleveland. Steinbach and Palmer were roommates as rookies in 2003. "I definitely miss him. And Shaun, I know he's going to be in my ear the whole time -- if he's in there," Palmer said of the talkative backup defensive lineman. "He'll be going at it and jawing the whole time, and hopefully he's a little bit out of shape. We'll be running around a little bit and he won't have enough air to be talking too much." Told that sounded like uncharacteristic trash-talking, Palmer didn't back off. "I'm just being honest," he said. "I'm not trying to stir him up or anything. I think if he ends up reading this quote, he's going to say, 'You're right. He's not talking trash.' "I'm just being honest, speaking the truth." Columbus Dispatch http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2007/09/14/bengals0914.ART_ART_09-14-07_C5_9C7T98M.html?sid=101 |
