Brash Bengals talk the talk

[oldschooler]

Brash Bengals talk the talk

Thurman gives defense a voice

By Paul Daugherty

Enquirer staff writer

CLEVELAND - Just when Marvin Lewis thought it was OK to put away the gags and muzzles, along comes Odell Thurman, yakking like a canary in the cat box. The rookie middle linebacker talks the way he plays: Non-stop. Or, as Thurman himself put it, "All day, baby."

The Bengals handled the Cleveland Browns just the way they should have Sunday. The 27-13 win was not without blemishes - at one point, the Brownies' latest league-wandering QB, Trent Dilfer, had completed 11 of 14 passes - but mostly the visitors came in and took care of outcomes.

The postgame locker room hopped and danced, thanks mainly to the rookie with the big smile and public speaker's gift of run-on sentences. One Chad Johnson isn't enough? Not with this club. And, contrary to Lewis' sentiments, big talkers are a good thing for a club that for years never had much call to say anything.

As Johnson himself described his protégé Thurman, "My mentality on the other side of the ball. We need that kind of confidence."

It's not exactly a new day for the Bengals. They've been turning the corner for awhile. It is a new chapter, though: Brasher, more confident, more Chad- and Odell-like.

"I talk a little trash," explained Thurman. "If you back it up, you can talk a little more. The better I play, the more y'all will hear me."

The second-round pick had seven tackles (six solo, including a monster hit on tight end Steve Heiden) and an interception.

When someone asked him if the regular-season game spun his head a little, Thurman said, "Not really." When someone asked him if the big crowd made him anxious, he said it was smaller than those he played for at Georgia.

He even took complete blame for Cleveland's only touchdown, a 68-yard catch-and-run from Dilfer to wideout Frisman Jackson.

"All on me," Thurman said. "He just beat me."

It didn't matter much. The Browns are still the Browns. You can't change who you are the way you change shirts. Bengals fans can tell you that. Cleveland has a new coach, a new general manager, a new quarterback, a few new offensive linemen, etc., etc. They are the same old Browns, owners of a 9-23 record the last two years.

The Browns tried to do some good things. It was like pushing floodwaters up a windowpane. Dennis Northcutt's 73-yard punt return TD that was ruined by an illegal block. Leigh Bodden's 38-yard touchdown on an interception return was called back for an illegal use of hands penalty.

Dilfer lost a fumble that led to a Bengals field goal. Cleveland had to kick a 35-yard extra point, because of a roughness penalty. And so forth. If you thought you'd seen this game before, you had. Every week for 10 years. Only now, the spike is on the other foot.

That left Lewis nit-picky in his criticism.

"Sporadically, we did a lot of good things," he said. Lewis and Carson Palmer agreed the young QB messed up the fourth quarter, by losing a fumble and throwing an interception. Ah, c'mon.

For three quarters, which was all it took, Palmer got surgical on the Browns defense. This is not last year's Carson Palmer. This guy plays with a veteran's decisiveness, checking down, taking short gains when the long ones aren't available, seeing things he didn't see last September, rarely making the stupid throw. What we saw by the end of his season last year showed itself even more Sunday.

And my goodness, what an arm. On consecutive plays in the second quarter, Palmer threw radar-gun fastballs. The first, 43 yards to Chad Johnson, a line drive, was called back; the next was a 35-yard rope across the middle to T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Soon, Bengals receivers will be requesting a catcher's mitts.

It helps to have every guy this year that he had around him last year. It also helps to have Chris Perry. Palmer's newest toy caught five passes Sunday. Most were security-blanket check-downs when the big stuff was covered.

Mostly, the game featured a team that feels good about itself. If a few players enjoy expressing that freely, all the better. It has been so long. You can tape shut a player's mouth (or try), so long as you don't bust his spirit. That didn't happen to Chad Johnson. It's unlikely to happen to Thurman.

"If I stop talking," he said, "I'll stop playing." That would be unfortunate. "I'm in the NFL now," Thurman concluded. "It don't get no better than this." Oh, yes it can. Check back with us in January.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...COL03/509120380

[Stripes]

"I'm in the NFL now," Thurman concluded. "It don't get no better than this." Oh, yes it can. Check back with us in January.

Hell yes. Even the rookie has the passion to get where team hasn't been so very long. Odell is quickly moving up everyone's favorite player charts, and deservedly so.

Derrick Johnson who?

[ShulaSteakhouse]

"I'm in the NFL now," Thurman concluded. "It don't get no better than this." Oh, yes it can. Check back with us in January.

Hell yes. Even the rookie has the passion to get where team hasn't been so very long. Odell is quickly moving up everyone's favorite player charts, and deservedly so.

Derrick Johnson who?

Well, he didn't actually say the 2nd part, the writer interjected that in there on his own, he just said, "it don't get no better than this."

[Stripes]

"I'm in the NFL now," Thurman concluded. "It don't get no better than this." Oh, yes it can. Check back with us in January.

Hell yes. Even the rookie has the passion to get where team hasn't been so very long. Odell is quickly moving up everyone's favorite player charts, and deservedly so.

Derrick Johnson who?

Well, he didn't actually say the 2nd part, the writer interjected that in there on his own, he just said, "it don't get no better than this."

Oh.

Well crap! Nevermind my previous post.

[longcut]

I like this kid . BE THE HAMMER NOT THE NAIL .

[turningpoint]

does any1 else get annoyed bye paul daughtery's band wagon esqua articles.... i sware if we lose this week to the vikes he'll rip us a new one.

[bengalindian]

Ummm, that was cheap, Paul. I said yesterday right after the game that the Browns looked like the Bungles of old, and you go and turn a profit by writing it in an article? WTF, mate?

I am oh-so-happy that Marvin got Odell, it makes me all giddy inside.