Simpson Doubles Career Catches Against Browns

Heading into Sunday's game against the Browns, Bengals wide receiver Jerome Simpson had one career catch for two yards. That catch came in a 38-10 loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008. That was Simpson's rookie season. Since that catch, Simpson has only played in six games with the Bengals with zero catches.

Then, when the Bengals were facing extending their losing streak to the longest in franchise history at the hands of the Cleveland Browns Jerome Simpson doubled his career reception stats.

In the Bengals 19-17 win over the Browns on Sunday, Simpson had two catches for 30 yards, one of which was a 15-yard catch on the sideline during the Bengals 81-yard touchdown drive.

"The offensive line blocked great and Carson threw a great pass," said Simpson, who had just one career catch for 2 yards entering Sunday. "The only thing I had to do was catch the pass."

While a two-catch, 30-yard game may not be considered a "good outing" by Chad Ochocinco's or Terrell Owens' standards, it's something to write about when it comes to Jerome Simpson, who was taken three picks before DeSean Jackson in the 2008 NFL Draft.

Now that TO is done for the season, it is likely that Simpson could add a few more catches and maybe even a touchdown to his stats before the season ends. But what happens next season?

It is likely that the Browns game was the last game that TO will play in a Bengals uniform. Will the Bengals continue to hold on to hope that Simpson could step up to become Ochocinco's eventual replacement or will they finally send Simpson the way of Dezmon Briscoe and Matt Jones?

If Simpson gets some extra playing time due to TO's season ending injury, the way he plays the last two games could tell us everything we need to know about his future in Cincinnati.