The answer: yes... if they're winning and no if they're losing. I bet you saw that coming. I think everybody probably did. I am of the belief that if a team is losing a lot, nobody on that team really works together well. Well Mike Florio and Joe Bracato question whether the two friends can co-exist on the football field together, especially after TO was the target of a few passes from Carson Palmer and Chad Ochocinco was "ignored" (their word, not mine).
Though not much can be gleaned from a team's first preseason game, the fact that the Bengals repeatedly targeted receiver Terrell Owens (a/k/a Batman) and largely ignored receiver Chad Ochocinco (a/k/a Robin) on Sunday night could be a sign of things to come.
Sorry for beating a dead horse. I know that this has been questioned over and over again since the very idea of TO as a Bengal was introduced. But, here's the question they ask:
What will the Bengals do, there's only one football, and as good as Carson Palmer is at the quarterback position, how can they possibly keep TO and Ochocinco happy?
In the Hall of Fame game, TO had two catches for 18 yards but he was targeted by Palmer on two or three other passes. Ochocinco had no catches or passes thrown his way. One would think, since TO and Ochocinco both have dynamic personalities, that if one of them was ignored throughout the season, they would be very unhappy and could possibly poison the locker room.
Well Marvin Lewis could play the part of Bruce Dickinson, wearing his gold-plated diapers, and say something like, "I have a fever... and the only prescription.... is more winning." Winning is what keeps everybody happy, whether they are in the spotlight or not. Chad and TO are no different. If the team is winning, everybody will be happy. That's what Florio thinks:
It works if both guys are getting a lot of passes thrown their way, win or lose. Or, if one or both of them feels neglected but they still win. And that's the sound byte that we always here, well not always, I think some receivers don't care if they win, they just want their catches. But, I think in this case, with Ochocinco and TO, the sound bytes we would hear will be along the lines of "We're winning, that's all that really matters". Once game Ochocinco will get his catches and in the next game Owens is going to get his.
If you watched the video, did you catch it? They posed the question of whether or not this is the best wide receiver duo in the NFL. It could be. We'll have to wait and see.