Jackson denies anything happened. Believe him or Shaun Smith?

by Josh Kirkendall on Mar 10, 2008 9:54 AM EDT in Chad Johnson Campaign

So the Bengals refused comment on Shaun Smith's little speech. Hue Jackson then declined that anything happened.

"Chad Johnson never hit Marvin Lewis. Chad Johnson never hit me. Chad Johnson never put anybody in a headlock. Chad Johnson was very emotional at halftime of that game. The true story to all that was Chad had an IV in his arm and me, and him were talking about plans for the second half and he got emotional because he said, 'Hey, coach, without Carson (Palmer) I'm not going to be able to get the ball.'

"And that's what it was and I told him, `Well, then you need to tell (offensive coordinator) Coach Bratkowski that.' And he ripped the IV out of his arm, and it's like anything else, you see blood coming out of a person's arm people think the worst. And he went from there to go into the locker room to let Coach Lewis know that, 'Hey, look, I want the ball.' And that was it. And when he opened the door he stumbled out of the training room so he was flailing and people think that he was swinging on people. Chad wasn't swinging on anybody. Chad would not hit Marvin Lewis, and Chad sure would not hit me. So that is not what happened and I'm very disappointed that now, even after two years, we have to discuss this again. But that is exactly what happened."

So who do you believe? Shaun Smith? Hue Jackson?

Tweet Comment 3 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

to be honest with you...

I am sick of the whole Chad Johnson debate. It is like a soap opera for guys.

by goffchile on Mar 10, 2008 11:55 AM EDT reply actions

ditto...

Seems like Jackson is covering his backside.

However, who doesn't love soap operas?!?

rsiii26

by rsiii26 on Mar 10, 2008 6:36 PM EDT up reply actions

At this point

First I thought the name was "Hugh" and that "Hue" was either a tint/color or a city in Vietnam- and pronounced "Way" but that's neither here nor there. First off, 2005, the infamous playoff game that took Carson's knee, was long before Chad was doing anything other than being goofy with TD celebrations, before he'd become the malcontent he is now, just as he was starting to show up on the national radar. If Smith had said this incident had happened, say, at halftime of this past year's New England game, it would have made sense. But 2005 just doesn't ring true. And as immature, hypersensitive, and vain as Chad may be, I've never thought him to be violent. I'd expect him to be more likely to snipe and grouse behind someone's back than to confront them directly, let alone physically. That being said, there's no point in keeping someone around who's made it abundantly clear that he doesn't want to be here. You want out, Chad? Fine. Let's get what we can for him, whether a move up in round one and/or a couple later picks. Hell, send him off to disgruntled receiver bootcamp with Bill Belichick. His behavior is bush league and reminiscent of the '90's/pre-Marvin team and I don't want to go there.

by IgnatiusJReilly on Mar 10, 2008 6:58 PM EDT reply actions