"I expect them to be ready to play, but they weren't able to go full speed today for the entire practice So they go onto that list of who didn't practice today."
- Marvin Lewis on T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Johnathan Joseph playing Monday Night. [Curnutte's Blog]
Lewis: "No, I will not. ... What tackles?"
Why we love Chad Johnson. [Canadian Press]
On celebration: "This will probably be one of the greatest celebrations of all time. It's more of a let-you-know ahead of time what will come in the future for 85. It's going to be a good one. You'll like it."
Marvin Lewis on his weekly chats with Johnson: "Ninety-five per cent of it is not about football. That's what's funny. He just calls me to talk about whatever else. But this time, we got on football and he said this crazy stuff and I said, 'Suppose you all don't score.' And I shouldn't have said that, because I didn't get off the phone with that guy for an hour-and-a-half."
Johnson and the highly regarded Baltimore [defense] have exchanged trash-talk for years. Johnson insists it's good-natured fun - except when Scott gets involved.
"I'm trying to talk to everybody, and Bart's cursing me out, telling me (to) get back in my huddle. I'm just trying to make friends, man. That's it. Serious. Bart is mean," Johnson said. "It's not funny. And if this year he tries that again, I'm going to hit him in the mouth."
Told of Johnson's assertion, Scott laughed.
"I'm a nice guy," he said. "Whenever I see Chad, I'm always shooting him comments like, 'Nice goat. Hey, you look good in blond. Cool mohawk. Gwen Stefani's mohawk is nothing compared to yours."'
Scott also shrugged off Johnson's threat of violence.
"Aw, that's Chad. He's such a nice guy," Scott said. "He wouldn't bust a grape in fruit fight. ... He's non-stop entertainment. I wish him the best in his career outside of football when he gets on the comedy stage."
Johnson kiddingly said he was going to seek out Reed, who scored a touchdown on an interception return against the Bengals last season.
"Ed is on my hit list," Johnson said. "Ed almost knocked me out last year on that first play of the game when they intercepted it and took it to the house, so I owe him one."
Johnson said his yapping on the field is all about having fun. His main focus is on making plays.
"My trash talking is not about your mamma, about your kids. It's not like that," he said. "I don't even know how to explain it. Whether I get in (your) head or not, you're not going to win the battle. That's my thought process, that's how I think - period. Regardless of what I say, you're not going to stop me. One person, two people, three, I don't care."
Shifting depth chart for linebackers [Curnutte's blog]
Newly acquired Anthony Schlegel is second-string middle linebacker behind Ahmad Brooks.
Lemar Marshall is backing up Rashad Jeanty on strong-side.
Weak-side linebacker is Landon Johnson (starter) and Caleb Miller (backup).
Bootsy is ready to fire off his best Bengals song yet, "The Bengals Rock". Well done, Bootsy. Well done.
"It's tough to show what you can do when my only real opportunity was in the last (preseason) game and I played pretty well. I don't know what happened. All I know is that I worked my tail off for them. I can look myself in the mirror and say I did everything I could for that organization."
- Anthony Schlegel on the Jets before being cut.
''For guys who play in sports, it's something that means something. It's a sense of accomplishment, and it's a thing that separates them from everyone else.''
- Marvin Lewis on the 1981 Idaho State football championship in Division I-AA -- his first year as the linebackers coach.