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September 28, 2007

Projo PatsTalk: Cincinnati has something to prove

Click here to listen to today's edition of projo PatsTalk with Art Martone and Shalise Manza Young. The topics: once again, calm confidence on the part of the Patriots; Randy Moss' locker-room persona; Bill Belichick's admiration for Chad Johnson; the problems with the Bengals; and what Cincinnati has to prove after last year's rout by New England.

Following are excerpts from Shalise's comments.

Moss in the locker room: "I've seen him talking to everybody on both sides of the ball, joking around with guys. I've seen Laurence Maroney sitting at his locker talking to him. I've seen him talking to Donte Stallworth and Jabar Gaffney -- of course they spend most of their time in this building together as receivers ... His locker is right next to Tom Brady's, so when they're both at their lockers they're chatting. He may not talk to us [the media], but he's definitely talking to everybody else with the team."

Belichick on Johnson: "I think, if you listen to Bill Belichick enough, when he's asked about players and he says they love the game of football, then that's something he definitely respects. I think he knows Chad Johnson loves the game of football, he loves to play the game of football, and that's just all it is. It's not like he's talking smack about teams and its negative ... People want to associate Chad Johnson with a Terrell Owens, because they're both loud and they both garner attention, but Terrell Owens garners attention in a diffferent way. ... When we talked to [Johnson] yesterday, we were asking him, 'What touchdown celebration do you have planned next week?' And he said, 'I'm not celebrating. We're 1-2, and this is not the time for me to be celebrating.' "

On the Bengals: "I think they're looked at at this point as just underachievers. It seems like going into this year, and last year especially, they were looked at as a dangerous team in the AFC, and they haven't been able to pull the trigger, for whatever reason. They make mistakes at bad times, or they can't come through at the most important times, as we've seen the last couple of weeks with their losses. They have Carson Palmer, they have their offensive weapons. I think their problem might be on defense; they just don't have that balance that you need to be successful in this league."

Posted by Pam Cotter  at 2:53 PM | Permalink