another lame CD thread

[DontPushMe]

Dillon's game face doesn't change

2/1/2005 - 6:30 a.m.

BY GEOFF HOBSON

Dillon leads Patriotic charge. (Harry How/Getty Images)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The name tag said “Corey Dillon” to the left of the brand of the New England Patriots and to the right of the Super Bowl XXXIX logo. But in his first media appearance of the week Monday, the stripes hadn’t changed since his days as the Bengals all-time leading rusher stepped politely but reluctantly into Super Bowl Week.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s like Hollywood,” said Dillon, who prefers the hills of suburban Los Angeles, as he stared into the glare. “This is a tremendous honor, but anyone who knows me they know that this is not what I like to do.”

The reporters who cover the Patriots every day treated his arrival to the podium like J.D. Salinger materializing out of the hills of New Hampshire, since he had been “invisible” for the past six weeks or so in an unsuccessful attempt to get to know New England’s latest sports star.

So what else is new?

Everything and nothing. He had always been a mystifying whir of contradictions. A tabloid headline here. A Hall of Fame effort there. A stiff arm here. A juke there. Same in Foxborough. The daily beat scribes moan about his eye-rolling responses. The national guys love the storyline. He says the Cincinnati jokes he’s getting from his teammates this week aren’t negative, but he won’t stop them, either.

“When I was there last year and all the jokes were on me, I didn’t see anybody coming to my rescue,” said Dillon, who says he wants to take the "high road" and leave the past in the past.

Everything has changed and nothing has changed.

Work in progress

Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, says Dillon is on the verge of being defined in history. Suddenly, early next year he’ll become the 18th player in NFL history to rush for 10,000 yards.

Al Roberts, who coached Dillon in college and the pros, says he’s still a work in progress.

“He says he wants to be a leader, but he really isn’t a leader. He says he’s an extrovert, but he really isn’t an extrovert,” said Roberts on Monday from Cincinnati. “He’s a high-maintenance guy. But a good guy who has been going through a maturing process and a guy who has come a long way and a guy who is going to get there. The Bengals didn’t do anything wrong or anything right or anything like that. We just weren’t in position to give him what he wanted.”

What he wanted all along was Monday. No, make that this Sunday against the Eagles. His first Super Bowl after 80 losses and nearly 9,700 yards.

He didn’t like Monday. Monday was the lights, camera, action, and if you ever needed proof that all he wanted was a bite of the apple instead of sound bites, this was it because he’s just not comfortable in the glare.

“We’ve got a lot of good players here. It’s not just one guy,” Dillon said. “It’s more of a team concept. That’s something I wanted to do. I wanted to be a part of all of it. I got my wish.”

He wanted to be in the sky, not the star, and he says he has no regrets how he got out of Cincinnati.

“None,” he said. “I don’t regret anything I’ve been through because that’s how I ended up here.”

But wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Dillon’s closest friend on the Bengals, thinks he does have regrets about the way it ended in Cincinnati with the bad blood, the demand for a trade, the ugly remarks on national television a month before the April 19 deal to New England.

The guy who doesn’t like the camera went national on FOX to force the trade with remarks that were slightly less toxic than an EPA alert.

"He didn’t want it to happen like that," said Houshmandzadeh, after watching Dillon’s press conference live Monday on the NFL Network. “I think he regrets how it all came down. I still think he’d be here if he didn’t get hurt (a torn groin in Week 3 of 2003) because not playing just built up the frustration. That’s all it was. Here’s a guy who was used to playing, and it was the first time he ever had to deal with that. And he did what he had to do to get out.”

No hard feelings?

Everything has changed and nothing has changed, right? Dillon continues to insist that losing is the only problem he had with Cincinnati.

“Whenever there was any negative situation down there it all stemmed from not winning,” Dillon said. “It was never a situation of me just going off for no apparent reason. It was never like that. It was due to a lack of winning, and that’s what I stated a long time ago. I don’t know if they tied it into me having a bad attitude or being a selfish guy.”

You can get some debate in his old locker room and on his old coaching staff about that. But the perception that will harden into reality after this week is that Dillon validated his Hall of Fame credentials with a winner late in his career.

“His legacy is not quite defined because it has been so much defined by the Cincinnati experience,” said Smith, now in Arizona and 11 years removed from his Super Bowl MVP with the Cowboys. “I think right now he has the unique chance to create a new legacy and get people to forget about the days in Cincinnati.”

Those were the days Dillon felt the crush of being the best player on a struggling team. Now he’s one of many Pro Bowl-caliber players, the low man when it comes to postseason accomplishment, and he says he’s feeding off them. He reiterated Monday he’s not an “I guy,” but he also admitted he had to prove to his new teammates he could fit into the Pats’ famed all-for-one depth chart.

"I'm not surprised," said Smith of how Dillon has fit in. “When you’re coming from an organization that I understood he’s come from and you come to a winning program, sometimes it’s not always you. The individual, as people make it out to be. It’s just the situation may not be the best situation for everybody. He’s been the only thing that Cincinnati has had for years. The most constant. It’s like Barry (Sanders) in Detroit. The most constant. And now he has an opportunity to break away and do his thing. People are really starting to see his talent. And not only that, enjoy his talent, and respect his talent.”

Dillon said he spoke to his teammates when he arrived, letting them know he wasn’t the ogre that had come through in the media. “They have received me,” he says, and those are the only people he cares about. In Cincinnati, he felt like he was “hated” by some teammates, and in New England he feels like he can hang with them instead of “branching off” like they did in Cincinnati.

“I like to lead by example. Just on work ethic,” Dillon said. “They get to see I was a good guy. It’s been automatic. It’s been a nice ride. All these guys in the locker room, they’ve got my respect and they respect me. It’s a good situation.

“(Other) people are going to view me how they want to and the way I look at it, people don’t think Jesus was Jesus. So who am I? That’s the kind of approach that I take and people are going to think what they want. I’m pretty sure it’s one of those things that is just word of mouth. Like I’ve always said, if you come and sit down with me one-on-one, you will get a different feel for me.”

Former teammates wish Dillon well

Some of his Bengals teammates never really got a feel for him, they will admit that. They don’t know why he felt that some hated him. Houshmandzadeh never had a problem from day one with Dillon, and he’s not sure why others didn’t embrace him.

“A lot of the time,” said center Rich Braham of the notorious players’ lounge, “he was playing Madden.”

Don’t get Braham wrong. He’s happy for Dillon that he’s here this week. Some old mates are furious that the Bengals traded Dillon to New England, giving him what he wanted as well as handing the Pats a third Super Bowl title in four years, and perpetuating the Bengals’ joke image.

But not Braham, Houshmandzadeh and Roberts. They hold no ill will. Braham is rooting for the Eagles simply because they haven’t been there. Roberts, the Bengals’ former special teams coach who coached Dillon during his one season at the University of Washington, loves “my son and my Bengals.” Houshmandzadeh has been talking nearly every day with Dillon, except for the last week because he knows everyone else is bugging him for tickets.

“As a team, we got what we wanted and so did he,” Braham said of the trade. “He didn’t feel like he wanted to be here and he demonstrated that in a few games. If a guy doesn’t want to be somewhere, you let him go.”

Braham heard of Dillon’s complaint last year that the Bengals blocked harder for Rudi Johnson than for him and Braham has only concluded, “it’s Corey being Corey. The linemen don’t know who’s in the game 90 percent of the time.”

They figure he just wanted out. Roberts wonders what would have happened if Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis had arrived before Dillon’s seventh season.

“He needed Marvin earlier in his career,” Roberts said. “He needed to hear that one voice. That’s all you hear. Marvin. And if he had that early on ... ”

But Roberts can also see some maturity. Such as in the AFC championship game as Dillon failed to reach the four-yard-per-carry mark against the Steelers. He could see the old frustration boiling.

“You could see it, but it wasn’t because of the score or the yards,” Roberts said. “It was because he was so close to the Super Bowl. And he was patient with it. I was there saying, 'C'mon, give me four,' and he kept going and got that big one for (a 25-yard touchdown run).”

Maybe Dillon didn’t stop the Cincinnati jokes, but he admitted he has learned some things.

“I’m more mature,” Dillon said. “I learned the hard way. Sometimes you need to learn the hard way to get it and now I really get it.”

Maybe he does.

“I’m a year removed from Cincinnati,” Dillon said. “It makes no sense for me to keep talking about them and them talking about me. It does both sides no good.”

Maybe he knows, at some point, the contradictions are going to fade and the numbers are going to stay. It looks like that’s where this week is headed.

The Patriots’ coronation and Dillon’s validation.

“If you go by the numbers, he’s in,” said Emmitt Smith, a first-ballot Hall of Famer when the time comes. “I know he’s a hard-nosed runner. I love it. He’s punishing. He’s bruising. He’s not one to back down from any challenge. He represents the running back group very well.”

After 30 minutes of staring into the glare, he was excused and bolted off the podium and into the hallway. A quick shake with a Cincinnati hand didn’t stop this line surge.

Everything is different, but it’s the same at Corey Dillon’s not-so-private Super Bowl.

-------------------------

great article, and you cant move this because its from bengals.com, so its bengal related

[HoosierCat]

great article, and you cant move this because its from bengals.com, so its bengal related

I can't, huh?

Watch, I can even edit the title...

[DontPushMe]

?

thats weird, i always thought you were allowed to post bengals.com articles on bengal message boards, ill remember that in the future

[bengalboomer7]

Blah blah blah blah. Whenever I read your posts all I can hear is the school teacher from Charlie Brown!!

[HoosierCat]

?

thats weird, i always thought you were allowed to post bengals.com articles on bengal message boards, ill remember that in the future

Post all the bengals.com articles you want. If they concern the draft, they'll be moved to the draft board; If they concern players who are no longer Bengals, they'll be moved to the general NFL board, etc.

boomer: I don't think it was blah blah blah, more "waah wa wa waaaah. wah wah. waaah waaah waaah." But...same difference, eh?

[jjakq27]

great article, and you cant move this because its from

bengals.com, so its bengal related

ha, ha, ha

Here is one from today's Enquirer:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...SPT02/502010385

Tuesday, February 1, 2005

Dillon appreciates his new job

By Mark Curnutte

Enquirer staff writer

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - In seven seasons with the Bengals, Corey Dillon won 34 games. If New England, his new team, wins the Super Bowl on Sunday against Philadelphia, it will finish the 2004 season with 17 victories.

And Dillon would have won half as many games in one season with the Patriots as he did in seven years in Cincinnati.

On Monday, in a pre-Super Bowl news conference, the former Bengals tailback said his first season in New England couldn't have gone better if he had planned it.

"To be honest with you, I knew that we were going to win some games," Dillon said to a pack of 100 reporters crowding his table. "But to be sitting here and having an opportunity to play in the Super Bowl?''

"I thought about that, but hey, until you go out there and actually do it as a team ... it's just an awesome feeling."

Dillon is the missing piece that New England didn't have in its two previous Super Bowl victories, following the 2001 and 2003 seasons.

Antowain Smith, now with the Titans, led the Patriots with 642 rushing yards in 2003. Dillon rushed for almost 1,000 more yards in 2004, running for a franchise- and career-high 1,635 yards on 345 attempts. He has added another 217 yards on 47 carries in two postseason games.

He could be play a vital role in the Super Bowl.

"He's still showing those young legs," Eagles defensive tackle Corey Simon said. "I think him getting to New England brought a resurgence to getting back to the way he ran early in his career in Cincinnati."

Dillon energized the Patriots. They finished the 2004 season with their highest yards-per-carry average in 19 years. They averaged 4.07 yards a carry, with Dillon running for 4.7 yards on average.

"Corey's come in and given us a lot of consistency at the running back position, and he's given us a presence in the running game," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said.

Dillon was especially consistent game to game. He rushed for 100 yards nine times, tying a franchise record by Curtis Martin in 1995.

Dillon's presence has balanced the New England offense. Three times this season, Dillon had 100 rushing yards in the same game that wide receiver David Givens had 100 receiving yards. Those three 100-yard dual efforts were the first for the Patriots since 1997.

Dillon is thankful to be where he is. His choice is to finish his career with the Patriots.

"This is it, the last stop for me," he said.

There were questions, though, whether he would fit the Patriots' team-oriented personality.

"I think people labeled me as selfish and a 'me' guy, which is totally not true," Dillon said. "We made it work, and it's a great situation for me."

Dillon thought he was headed for Dallas or Oakland.

But the wait was a long one. The Bengals finally traded Dillon to New England on April 19 for the 56th overall pick, which the Bengals would use a week later on Maryland safety Madieu Williams.

The reticent Dillon will be required to speak again today at media day at ALLTELL Stadium. His availability Monday was a surprise.

"Normally, I just like to go out there and go to work and go home," said Dillon, staring into TV lights and cameras. "This is just something else. Just from talking to people, they say to cherish it because you never know when this opportunity might come around again."

A year ago, Dillon was in a place where he thought he might never get to a Super Bowl. He had essentially lost the starting tailback job to Rudi Johnson at the end of the 2003 season. Dillon tossed his equipment into the Paul Brown Stadium stands after what he said would be his final Bengals game.

He alienated some teammates with the gesture. He cleared out his locker the next day. His reputation hit a new low.

"No doubt, I mean, whenever there was any negative situation in Cincinnati, it all stemmed from not winning," he said.

Still, he said, he hears regular jokes about the Bengals from his New England teammates: "They think they are funny."

Dillon said he put Cincinnati behind him after the Patriots and Bengals played Dec. 12. He's not looking back and is at peace, even when pressed on whether his negative reputation was unfair.

"People are going to view me how they want to, and the way I look at it, people didn't think Jesus was Jesus. So who am I?"

[TROLL]

great article, and you cant move this because its from bengals.com, so its bengal related

Even the "official" Bengals website can't get over him! And all along I thought he was a 'bad' guy the Bengals franchise and its fans wanted to forget. Now I see they want to remember and commemorate all that he has done.

[HoosierCat]

There are CD stories everywhere, courtesy of media day. If you go to www.theredzone.org you can find links to many of them (and if you don't mind going through the registration process for 100 different newspapers, you can even read them!). But they're all much of a sameness.

[bengalsfan33]

Guys, these Dillon threads are really getting old IMO. Please take them to you're respective Pats board...'Cause we don't give a hell about him anymore...

[TROLL]

Guys, these Dillon threads are really getting old IMO. Please take them to you're respective Pats board...'Cause we don't give a hell about him anymore...

You're "official" Bengals website apparantly thinks you care.

[not-another]

Guys, these Dillon threads are really getting old IMO. Please take them to you're respective Pats board...'Cause we don't give a hell about him anymore...

You're "official" Bengals website apparantly thinks you care.

As I said, you guys are really CD stalkers.

Guys? Thumper, trolly, and pushme are the same person. A guy, obbessed about Cory, posting on another teams message board; proclaiming his love for CD.

But, then again. Cory wanted fame, and fame comes with stalkers. So ta-da! There came along thumpertrollpushme. The homo stalker guy.

[TROLL]

As I said, you guys are really CD stalkers.

Guys? Thumper, trolly, and pushme are the same person. A guy, obbessed about Cory, posting on another teams message board; proclaiming his love for CD.

Me? A stalker?

Take a look at this site itself, and you'll find countless threads about Dillon, most started by Bengal fans, some having absolutely nothing to do with the Bengals.

Corey Dillon is on MY New England Patriots, but I have found more Dillon talk here than anywhere else. And you call me the stalker.

My advice is that you, the Bengals franchise, and all the other 50-something Bengal fans to "let go". He's not on your team anymore, deal with it.

But, then again. Cory wanted fame, and fame comes with stalkers. So ta-da! There came along thumpertrollpushme. The homo stalker guy.

-----------------------------------------------------

Rules for the Bengalszone Forums.

1. Don't attack each other.

Specific types of personal attacks are but are not limited to the following:

Racial, sexual, religious or ethnic slurs or attacks directed against another member.

Profanity directed against another contributor.

-----------------------------------------------------

Don't get yourself banned.

[DontPushMe]

Guys, these Dillon threads are really getting old IMO. Please take them to you're respective Pats board...'Cause we don't give a hell about him anymore...

You're "official" Bengals website apparantly thinks you care.

As I said, you guys are really CD stalkers.

Guys? Thumper, trolly, and pushme are the same person. A guy, obbessed about Cory, posting on another teams message board; proclaiming his love for CD.

But, then again. Cory wanted fame, and fame comes with stalkers. So ta-da! There came along thumpertrollpushme. The homo stalker guy.

Well i dont know about the other 2, but i am not the same person as them. I am a long time poster at the Insiders and the football huddles. Just thought id check this board out for a bit, and not to my surprise, i found a bunch of dillon haters here, so i countered that.

[Ox]

As I said, you guys are really CD stalkers.

Guys? Thumper, trolly, and pushme are the same person. A guy, obbessed about Cory, posting on another teams message board; proclaiming his love for CD.

Me? A stalker?

Take a look at this site itself, and you'll find countless threads about Dillon, most started by Bengal fans, some having absolutely nothing to do with the Bengals.

Corey Dillon is on MY New England Patriots, but I have found more Dillon talk here than anywhere else. And you call me the stalker.

My advice is that you, the Bengals franchise, and all the other 50-something Bengal fans to "let go". He's not on your team anymore, deal with it.

But, then again. Cory wanted fame, and fame comes with stalkers. So ta-da! There came along thumpertrollpushme. The homo stalker guy.

-----------------------------------------------------

Rules for the Bengalszone Forums.

1. Don't attack each other.

Specific types of personal attacks are but are not limited to the following:

Racial, sexual, religious or ethnic slurs or attacks directed against another member.

Profanity directed against another contributor.

-----------------------------------------------------

Don't get yourself banned.

Wow, it's almost as if the last three threads about Leon were created by Patties fans! Oh whoops they were! Doh!

Alright folks there is an easy solution to this, every time our homeboys Pushy, Troll, or ISuckLeonsC*ck post a thread about Dillon, noone reply. TADA!!

You guys are pretty funny though. Let's just hope Corey doesn't fumble and contribute to a loss Sunday, or the wheels are gonna fall off the Dillon wagon in Boston. I have a feeling your opinions would change when the blame game starts from him.

[TubThumper]

As I said, you guys are really CD stalkers.

Guys? Thumper, trolly, and pushme are the same person. A guy, obbessed about Cory, posting on another teams message board; proclaiming his love for CD.

Me? A stalker?

Take a look at this site itself, and you'll find countless threads about Dillon, most started by Bengal fans, some having absolutely nothing to do with the Bengals.

Corey Dillon is on MY New England Patriots, but I have found more Dillon talk here than anywhere else. And you call me the stalker.

My advice is that you, the Bengals franchise, and all the other 50-something Bengal fans to "let go". He's not on your team anymore, deal with it.

But, then again. Cory wanted fame, and fame comes with stalkers. So ta-da! There came along thumpertrollpushme. The homo stalker guy.

-----------------------------------------------------

Rules for the Bengalszone Forums.

1. Don't attack each other.

Specific types of personal attacks are but are not limited to the following:

Racial, sexual, religious or ethnic slurs or attacks directed against another member.

Profanity directed against another contributor.

-----------------------------------------------------

Don't get yourself banned.

These Cincinnati cats say they get it, but they obviously don't. People in Porkopolis wonder why the town gets such a bad rap. Such myopia! And what double standards! Amazing!

I find it ironic that the narrow, petty mentality around town is turning me into a reluctant Corey Dillon fan, because otherwise I could give a $#!% about Dillon.

[DontPushMe]

As I said, you guys are really CD stalkers.

Guys? Thumper, trolly, and pushme are the same person. A guy, obbessed about Cory, posting on another teams message board; proclaiming his love for CD.

Me? A stalker?

Take a look at this site itself, and you'll find countless threads about Dillon, most started by Bengal fans, some having absolutely nothing to do with the Bengals.

Corey Dillon is on MY New England Patriots, but I have found more Dillon talk here than anywhere else. And you call me the stalker.

My advice is that you, the Bengals franchise, and all the other 50-something Bengal fans to "let go". He's not on your team anymore, deal with it.

But, then again. Cory wanted fame, and fame comes with stalkers. So ta-da! There came along thumpertrollpushme. The homo stalker guy.

-----------------------------------------------------

Rules for the Bengalszone Forums.

1. Don't attack each other.

Specific types of personal attacks are but are not limited to the following:

Racial, sexual, religious or ethnic slurs or attacks directed against another member.

Profanity directed against another contributor.

-----------------------------------------------------

Don't get yourself banned.

Wow, it's almost as if the last three threads about Leon were created by Patties fans! Oh whoops they were! Doh!

Alright folks there is an easy solution to this, every time our homeboys Pushy, Troll, or ISuckLeonsC*ck post a thread about Dillon, noone reply. TADA!!

You guys are pretty funny though. Let's just hope Corey doesn't fumble and contribute to a loss Sunday, or the wheels are gonna fall off the Dillon wagon in Boston. I have a feeling your opinions would change when the blame game starts from him.

...

im not a patriots fan, im a bengal fan, but i am rooting for the patriots in the playoffs this year because we arent in it (surprise) and i want dillon to get a super bowl ring

[jjakq27]

im not a patriots fan, im a bengal fan, but i am rooting for the patriots in the playoffs this year because we arent in it (surprise) and i want dillon to get a super bowl ring

Think he'll show it to you when you guys are chillin' together?

[BengalNation1281]

Think he'll show it to you when you guys are chillin' together?

I don't think you can hang out after receiving a restraining order...unless you count DontPushMe standing outside Dillon's house with his "I Love Corey Dillon" t-shirt and hand-painted signs and screaming his name into the sky as hanging out.

BN1281

[DontPushMe]

Think he'll show it to you when you guys are chillin' together?   

I don't think you can hang out after receiving a restraining order...unless you count DontPushMe standing outside Dillon's house with his "I Love Corey Dillon" t-shirt and hand-painted signs and screaming his name into the sky as hanging out.

BN1281

[jjakq27]

Think he'll show it to you when you guys are chillin' together?   

I don't think you can hang out after receiving a restraining order...unless you count DontPushMe standing outside Dillon's house with his "I Love Corey Dillon" t-shirt and hand-painted signs and screaming his name into the sky as hanging out.

BN1281

Hello police department, this is Corey Dillon....there's this 19 year old groupie hanging out in my front yard and I am afraid to go out of my house. Can you come over and take him away 'cause I'm skeered.

[redsfan2]

I find it ironic that the narrow, petty mentality around town is turning me into a reluctant Corey Dillon fan, because otherwise I could give a $#!% about Dillon.         

Sorry, but this just cracked me up. What I'm reading into this is that you just plain like taking the opposing view... playing devils advocate so to speak.

Gotta ask ..... If you had walked into a CD lovefest here, would you have been saying all ( or most of ) the negative things that are being said about whatsisname ??? Just curious .....