“I saw that and I was thinking, ‘What are the Bengals doing? It’s like they’re putting together an all-star coaching staff,’ ” he said this weekend. “They’re stacked.”

Houshmandzadeh, who jump-started his career in his fourth season when Jackson became the Bengals wide receivers coach, thinks it makes plenty of sense to fit Jackson in on the defensive side of the ball as an assistant secondary coach. In a part-time role for him during the last half of 2011, Houshmandzadeh saw what Jackson did this past year in his only season as the Raiders head coach with an injury-riddled offense in transition.

With quarterback Carson Palmer not arriving until the sixth week of the regular season and No. 1 running back Darren McFadden missing the last nine games, the Raiders still finished ninth in offense and a win away from taking the AFC West title.

“Hue knows offense. He knows it as well as anyone in the league. He’s one of the best offensive coaches there is,” Houshmandzadeh said. “He can help the defense get ready for that. He can help the defense break that down and he can help the DBs with what to expect. And he’s got Mike Zimmer and I think he’s the best defensive coordinator. I was really impressed with him the one year I was there. And you’ve got Marvin (Lewis) on defense, too.”

Houshmandzadeh’s last season with the Bengals was 2008 and even though that was two playoff appearances ago, he thinks he’s still got a pretty good feel for the guys that he worked with, such as running backs coach Jim Anderson and quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese.

“I worked enough with Kenny to know he’s a good one and you know J.A. has to be good at what he does because he’s been doing it so long (29 years),” he said. “Obviously I wasn’t there with (offensive coordinator) Jay Gruden, but for them to do what he did in his first year, you know he’s got to be a good coach. And Darrin (Simmons) is one of the best special teams coaches in the league.”

Heading into his 10^th season, Lewis not only has developed a young crop of players that has already made the playoffs, but he’s put together his biggest named staff. There is a former head coach (Jackson), a coach that interviewed for two head coaching jobs last month (Zimmer) and a coach that turned down two interviews for head coaching jobs (Gruden).

Houshmandzadeh thought Jackson had the Raiders on the verge of big things with the acquisition of Palmer, but he wasn’t all that surprised when new general manager Reggie McKenzie fired Jackson.

“Hue did a great job in one year and you have to figure it was only going to get better on offense,” Houshmandzadeh said. “But at the same time I can understand that the guy wants to be comfortable with his head coach and wants to make sure he gets a guy that’s on the same page.”

Houshmandzadeh, who turns 35 the third week of this season, says he wants to keep playing and is looking. If not, expect him announcing for somebody.

With the Pro Football Hall of Fame recognizing the steel-belted 4.0-yards consistency of running back Curtis Martin on Saturday, rewind to a week before the 1995 NFL Draft.

Penn State’s Ki-Jana Carter is clearly the highest-rated running back in the draft and the Bengals, picking No. 5, are desperate. They haven’t had a 100-yard rushing game in the past two seasons and they need a gamebreaker to go with wide receivers Carl Pickens and Darnay Scott not knowing if long-ball artist Jeff Blake is the long-term answer at quarterback.

They know Carter is going to be gone by the time they pick. But they like another Carter that is going to be sitting there. Kevin Carter, the Florida defensive end-tackle. Plus, they think they can get a good running back in the second round with the 36^th pick in the tradition of Ickey Woods and Harold Green.

A kid out of Pittsburgh named Curtis Martin.

If they come out of it with the other Carter and Martin, they think that sounds good.

The rest is…

For the only time the Bengals traded up to get Ki-Jana Carter at No. 1 for those No. 5 and No. 36 picks and it turned out they could have gotten Martin at No. 69 in the third round because the Patriots didn’t pick him until No. 74.

Who knows what happens if Carter doesn’t blow out his knee on the third snap of his NFL career? Who knows what kind of career Martin would have had if he had started with Blake as his quarterback and not Drew Bledsoe in New England?

The Bengals were certainly looking at the right guys if they didn’t pull the trade. Martin made the Hall rushing for more than 14,000 yards while averaging 1,281 yards in his 11 seasons. Kevin Carter had 104.5 career sacks and went to two Pro Bowls.

Every draft, every situation, every year is different. But if you’re looking for two reasons not to trade up, there are two of them.

Who knows?

By the way, if Martin is in, should the back the Bengals ended up getting two years later in the second round, Corey Dillon get in the Hall, too?

Martin played one more season and is fourth on the all-time rushing list while racking up 90 touchdowns. Dillon is only 17th on the list, but he scored 83 TDs himself on inferior teams, has a better yards per carry (4.3), and got the Super Bowl ring Martin didn’t get with the Patriots.

You can debate it, but Dillon is clearly borderline. He needed 12,000 yards to be a lock. Plus, Dillon can’t get in before Jerome Bettis and he’s still waiting.

INDIANAPOLIS  — Patriots wide receiver Chad Ochocinco  arrived nearly 30 minutes late for his press availability Wednesday morning, but he still offered a pretty good 23 minutes as the Pats prepared for Sunday’s Super Bowl (6:30 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Channel 5)  against the Giants

Here are a few highlights with more to come:

On his 10 seasons in Cincinnati and Bengals president Mike Brown, head coach Marvin Lewis, and former offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski:

“They gave me life. … Mike was good to me, the city was good to me, the media—we had our ups and downs—it made it fun. The fans were epic 10 straight years. Of course, I had my rifs, my raffs. I’m like any other human being.  I’m not perfect. There’s nothing bad I can actually say.”

On his future:

“I want to be back (in New England) … (I can play) 10 more years. I’m Brett Favre. Without the pictures.”

On making the Super Bowl while having the worst season of his career:

“It’s a blessing to be on the stage to get to the stage. So many players play this game for such a long time. The greats. The (Dan) Marinos. Barry Sanders. I don’t think he was ever able to break the stage. Just to be able to be here is a blessing …

“Being here is like watching porn. There’s nothing bad about it at all.”

If the Patriots win, will you feel a part of it?

“I’ll feel a part of it … I learned three, four, five years ago to stop fussing about things that are out of your control. That’s what I’ve done. That’s why I was quiet this year. When my number was called, I did my best.”

Here’s hoping Bengals tight end Jermaine Gresham takes heart watching San Francisco’s winning drive Saturday. The one where 49ers tight end Vernon Davis took over the last 97 seconds and personally willed his team into next week’s NFC title game.

Davis accounted for 61 of the final 85 yards, giving him a monster 180 in a playoff masterpiece that has to conjure up memories of the Kellen Winslow Game 30 years ago without the Miami dehydration but with the Dwight Clark-like heroics.

Gresham can be that guy for the Bengals. He’s been frustrated in his first two seasons with promising yet sporadic production. But he is a Davis in the making. Offensive coordinator Jay Gruden wants him to be that guy and the fact Gresham is going to be in his offense for a second straight year should really help him.

Like the 6-3, 250-pound Davis, the sixth pick in the 2006 draft, the 6-5, 260-pound Gresham, the 21^st pick in 2010, had to deal with a change in quarterbacks and systems early in his career. Truth be told, Gresham’s first two seasons have been more prolific than what Davis did in ’06 and ’07. Gresham has caught 108 balls for 1,016 yards and 10 TDs compared to Davis’s 72-774-7.

And Davis didn’t pass what Gresham did this past season (56 catches for 596 yards and six TDs) until his fourth season when he broke out with 78-965-13.

Gruden believes that not only will another year in the system benefit Gresham, but his first offseason with it is going to make a difference.

“We’ve started to get more out of Jermaine. The more he practices and the more he hears about the game and the concepts, he’s going to get better and better,” Gruden said last week. ”Because he’s as athletically talented, gifted tight end as there is in the league. From the standpoint of experience running these route concepts, he’s a little bit behind.

“But he can get up to speed in the offseason and next year we have huge, high hopes for him. That will take a lot of pressure off A.J. (Green) when they start doubling him with a safety on the outside, that will open up the field for a big guy like that.  It will be huge.”

All Gresham has to do is take a deep breath and look at Davis on Saturday and realize he’s got better numbers than he did at this age.

And he won’t turn 24 until after the second set of OTAs in June.

Courtesy of Associated Press

Tim Tebow’s 316 passing yards in Sunday’s AFC Wild Card Game against the Steelers in the wake of Denver boss John Elway’s “Pull The Trigger” plea earlier in the week may be a harbinger for Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton’s sophomore season.

While Cincinnati lost six of its last nine games, offensive coordinator Jay Gruden often talked about the fine line between being careful with the ball and taking risks with it in order to make big plays. He even admitted there were times he wanted Dalton to take some chances rather than checking it down or throwing it away after his QB opted for the more conservative route.

First of all, Gruden should be named the NFL’s assistant coach of the year for getting an offense with a rookie QB and rookie No. 1 receiver to the playoffs without the benefit of OTAs. He did it by keeping things sane, simple and vanilla for Dalton. And it is exactly what he had to do against a schedule that in those last nine games featured six against the top five defenses of Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Houston.

But even before Tebow stunned Charles Richard LeBeau and his Steelers, Gruden showed signs on Saturday he was beginning to take the wraps off Dalton. In a road playoff game he had him throwing 18 times in the first half and it worked for the most part. If not for J.J. Watt’s vertical show and a missed field goal, he easily could have walked out of there with a 13-10 halftime lead against the NFL’s second-ranked defense.

But what Tebow did to the Steelers No. 1 defense is mind-boggling. Here is a guy that had a worst completion percentage this season than Akili Smith had as a rookie (52-45) completing four throws of at least 40 yards against a defense that allowed just two plus-40s all year.

Dalton and A.J. Green had one of those against the Steelers, a 43-yarder in the 35-7 loss in Pittsburgh. That, their 36-yard TD connection in the first game, and a 25-yard throw to Andrew Hawkins were the only balls of at least 20 yards caught by the Bengals wide receivers in two games against Pittsburgh.

Of course, Tebow was going up against a much more diminished defense than Dalton. On Sunday the Steelers didn’t have safety Ryan Clark all day and defensive linemen Casey Hampton and Brett Keisel for much of it.

And maybe the biggest reason of all the Broncos were able to chuck it is that they ran it for 131 yards (Tebow only had 50 of them) even with the Steelers daring Tebow to beat them. Until the Bengals get their running game straightened away, Dalton won’t be able to do much more than he has in the AFC North.

There is that one big looming question. If Gruden gets the head coaching job in Jacksonville (and that is looking like a longshot), what happens to Dalton’s development? Do they promote from within? Do they keep Gruden’s West Coast offense?

But what we do know is that, at least for one day, pulling the trigger paid off. With 17 games under his belt and after watching what Tebow did to their rival, you know Dalton and his coaches must have an itchy finger.

But I’m not talking about the bus ride following Saturday’s playoff loss to the Texans.  I’m talking about the ride to the Detroit airport after the preseason opener against the Lions.

Remember Detroit 34 Cincinnati 3?  Were you thinking 9-7 and a playoff berth?

Me either.

Let’s face it:  The 2011 Bengals topped everybody’s exceptions but their own.

“I don’t see this as exceeding expectations,” said Andy Dalton.  “I felt like we could get here and we have to do the same thing going into next year.  There’s a lot of motivation and a lot of good things to take away from the season.  We just have to keep getting better.”

Saturday’s 31-10 loss in Houston was bitterly disappointing because the Bengals proved four weeks ago that they are capable of beating the Texans.  Cincinnati led the rematch for much of the first half before defensive end J.J. Watt’s interception and 29 yard touchdown return gave Houston its first lead.

“I’m sure he was just trying to bat it down,” said Chris Crocker.  “It was one of those plays where you just say, ‘Wow.’  You can’t plan something like that.”

“That interception and touchdown was a big play,” said Rey Maualuga.  “That hurt us, but you’re supposed to be able to come back in the second half and stop them.”

The Bengals forced a punt on Houston’s first drive of the third quarter, and Crocker nearly had an interception on the Texans’ second drive.  But two plays after that missed opportunity, T.J. Yates threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Andre Johnson that gave the Texans a commanding14-point lead.

“I know it’s a different ball game if I catch that pass right there,” said Crocker.  “I had a huge opportunity and I just didn’t make the play.  I’ll still hold my head up and my teammates will.  We played a lot of good football this year, but you remember what you did last, and I’ll think about this for the rest of the off-season.”

It’s an off-season that promises to be eventful for Cincinnati.  With an extra first round draft pick and salary cap flexibility, the Bengals have a unique opportunity to add to their talented young nucleus.

“I’m excited about the upside of this team,” said Nate Clements.  “I’m hurting right now, but looking at the big picture, I’m excited about what’s to come.”

“There’s a lot of promise on this team and a lot to look forward to,” said Crocker.  “Now you move forward.  You figure out what you’re going to do in the off-season and get better.  The future does look bright.”

“Hopefully we can build off of this year – I know we will,” said Maualuga.  “We’re going to get back to the playoffs and we’re going to win some games.”

But much like that preseason bus ride in Detroit, the Bengals were not savoring their promising future after Saturday’s loss.  They were lamenting that this season’s surprising playoff run is over.

“We made the playoffs and that was our first team goal, but we didn’t get over the hump this year,” said A.J. Green.  “We had an OK season, but we have a lot of work to do.”

“The anticipation leading up to the game was such an emotional high and to not pull it out stings right now,” said Clements.  “It’s definitely a learning experience.”

“That’s the hardest thing about losing a playoff game – the season is done,” said Crocker.  “You go from preparing for your next opponent each week and we all had plans to keep moving on.  That didn’t happen.  It’s not easy to get to the playoffs and I realize that.  This isn’t guaranteed.  It’s tough to get here so you want to make the most of it.”

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Andy Dalton

HOUSTON — A few thoughts heading into Saturday’s Wild Card Game (4:30 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Channel 5) in Houston:

No doubt about it. This is Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton’s show.

Starting from when the Bengals knew they were in the playoffs coming off the Paul Brown Stadium field last Sunday with a game in Dalton’s hometown. Then the Wednesday practice he missed with a 24-hour bug. The scene Friday night in the hotel lobby with his family before he went into meetings.

(They were all business this week. Dalton put the word out. No media interviews for his family, which, really, was smart because they would have been swamped. They know what a big game means. Both Dalton and dad Greg quarterbacked high school playoff wins in the Astrodome.)

All the while he has shown that signature unflappability and, why not? This is his fourth game in Reliant Stadium, going back to when he became the first high-schooler to throw a touchdown pass in the place as a junior for Katy High School head coach Gary Joseph.

“Very poised. He executed as a junior but the real pressure was when he was a senior,” Joseph said earlier this week. “That’s when you have to really perform, when you’re a senior and you’re one of the leaders.”

Dalton executed in both seasons and raised his record to 3-0 in Reliant when he led Texas Christian to a win in the Texas Bowl over Houston.

With indications that Texans coach Gary Kubiak is going to keep the roof closed to emphasize the homefield advantage, this one is going to be a lot tougher with the noise factor and a defense that held Dalton to a second-half field goal the last time the Bengals and Texans met.

“There’s a lot of excitement around here; tickets are scarce,” Joseph said. “People are excited about Andy. They want to see him do well. He’s kept in touch and been around our guys before the season.”

The week after the Bengals took him in the second round Dalton went to the school and threw to receivers as well as talked to the team. The Bengals expect that cool kid next door to show up Saturday.

“I have all the confidence in Andy. Andy is a real composed guy, he (doesn’t) get rattled by too much. He loves to win and he likes the pressure. So that’s a good thing. I think Andy will hold up real good,” said cornerback Adam Jones. “I’ve been playing with him for 17, 18 weeks, and I was here with him the whole summer. Just being around the guy. I talk to him, and the way he carries himself, he’s a winner. He’s not a flashy guy, but he loves to play football.”

Or as left tackle Andrew Whitworth observed, “Pressure isn’t really an issue for him. The greatest competitors are the ones that want to win. They want the heat. Pressure is a good thing. It only drives them to be better. I think Andy is one of those guys.”

WALKING THE LINE: Dalton is walking the line here. Since throwing three interceptions against the Ravens Nov. 20, he’s thrown just one interception in the last six games. He’s taken to heart in the stretch run to make sure he doesn’t lose a game.

But there’s also the growing sense after these slew of close games that he may have to start taking more chances. Under most circumstances the quarterbacks that win in the playoffs take shots. Dalton has taken shots, but in those six games his yards per attempt is just 6.3 yards per game and that’s not going to win a road playoff game. Offensive coordinator Jay Gruden has been talking about how there are times he’s wished Dalton has tried some throws when he’s taken a checkdown instead. But he also appreciates Dalton trying to avoid the big mistake.

Walking the line.

The health of Pro Bowl wide receiver A.J. Green is related. Since he sprained his shoulder against St. Louis 10 quarters ago, Green has caught six balls with the longest of them just 18 yards. He told ESPN Friday night his range of catching the ball has been limited since the injury, but he also has been saying for the last couple of week it feels better than when it first happened.

Texans safety Danieal Manning told ESPN that his defense was surprised when it went back and looked at film of last month’s game. He said they were surprised at how many wrong reads Dalton made and the indications were that the Texans were going to try and confuse him.

Dalton was certainly lucid in the first half while running back Cedric Benson was running for 92 yards. He completed nine of 17 passes for 112 yards and a touchdown for a 93.3 passer rating.

The TD came in the red zone on a 17-yard laser to wide receiver Jerome Simpson, where Dalton has really avoided the big mistakes. Inside the 20 he’s got 15 touchdowns and no interceptions. But the Bengals are 26th in the league scoring red-zone TDs.

Walking the line.

Ironically, it was the red-zone work that Dalton missed on Wednesday. But given that the Bengals already have a game plan against the Texans from 27 days ago and the work he put in the other five days of the week, they don’t expect a problem.

YET ANOTHER MATCHUP: The Bengals haven’t been able to stop Texans tight end Owen Daniels in their two games against Houston. He had two TDs in ’09 and 100 yards last month and Bengals radio analyst Dave Lapham says Bengals outside linebackers like Thomas Howard are going to have to be on their game. Safety Taylor Mays played well against Daniels in the second half last month but he’s probably not going to play with a hamstring injury.

Lapham noticed the Bengals played a lot of man under, which means there was man-to-man coverage under the zone and wonders if defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer is going to change it up on them.

BIG PLAYS: The last game against the Texans was defined by two plays in the last 45 seconds. Texans quarterback T.J. Yates scrambled on third-and-15 for 17 yards, and then he threw a six-yard touchdown pass with two seconds left.

The scramble hurt the Bengals even more because right end Michael Johnson led a charge that had Yates sacked, but with the secondary’s back turned, Yates was off.

“I mean, we had the guy sacked, he got out of it,” Zimmer said. “This is going to be a different game and I anticipate plays like that will win the game for one or the other.”

ESPN analyst Eric Mangini isolated the last play to show that the Bengals got beat when they covered the multiple Texans receivers that went vertical into the end zone but didn’t cover Kevin Walter’s crossing route.

Weber

The Bengals on Friday signed free agent K Thomas Weber to a Reserve/Future contract. Weber is not on the active roster for 2011 postseason play and will be added to Cincinnati’s offseason roster entering the 2012 league year. Weber was with the Bengals in the 2011 preseason and went two-for-two on PATs with no field goal attempts. He was waived by Cincinnati on Sept. 4 and was not with an NFL team during the regular season. He is classified a first-year NFL player for 2012.

What does Hawkins remember about that day?

“It was cold,” the rookie receiver told me.  “I remember thinking, ‘I hope I can run a good 40 out here in the snow.’  I was just excited about the opportunity.  I remember being surprised that Coach Lewis was out there, and the owner was out there, and the offensive coordinator was out there…I didn’t know that everybody was going to be out there for the workout.  I was a little nervous, but here we are today and everything worked out.”

Hawkins is one of the best feel-good stories in the NFL this year.  The former factory worker (cleaned engines), caddy (all-time best tip $50), and reality TV show participant (4^th and Long hosted by Michael Irvin), not only made the Bengals roster, but ranks 5^th on the team with 23 receptions.

“I’m not surprised,” said quarterback Bruce Gradkowski who played with Hawkins at the University of Toledo.  “Hawk is such a competitor and handles his business the way a professional should.  He was like that in college and he’s like that to this day.  You know he is going to work his tail off and know what to do.  His athletic ability sure puts him above the rest.”

Although he is an NFL rookie, Hawkins has playoff experience.  He earned a pair of championship rings as a member of Montreal’s Grey Cup-winning teams in the Canadian Football League in each of the last two seasons.

“I have one ring with me here in Cincinnati and the other one is back home where I’m from,” said Hawkins.  “I might wear it occasionally on the road.  They’re pretty big and gaudy so I can’t wear ‘em both at the same time, but I like to show them off a little bit.”

Hawkins has every right to be proud of his championship rings and the fact that he’s overcome long odds to become a key contributor on a playoff-bound NFL team.

“If you tell him, ‘Hey, you’re never going to play in the NFL,’ he’s like, ‘What?  I will play in the NFL,’ said Gradkowski.  “If I said to him, ‘You’re never going to be a movie star,’ he might try to do that.”

He’s already done a reality TV show, and while it helped him get exposure, it has also had its drawbacks.

“My girlfriend hates watching reality shows with me because I break down all the secrets about what’s going on behind the scenes.  She’s like, ‘Shut up and let me enjoy the Kardashians.’”

That year, the Cardinals came within 35 seconds of winning the Super Bowl.

Last season, the Seattle Seahawks finished 7-9 but snuck into the playoffs as the champion of the NFC West.  All nine losses were by at least 15 points.

In their playoff opener, the Seahawks dethroned the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints 41-36.

Look, I’m not saying that the Bengals are headed to the Super Bowl or even that they are going to win next Saturday in Houston.

But they have a chance.

“Exactly,” said Nate Clements after making the playoffs for the first time in his 11-year NFL career.  “That’s what we’ve been playing for the whole season.  If you ask any team, the mindset is to win the trophy.”

“We put ourselves in position where we didn’t necessarily have to win (against Baltimore) and that’s all that matters right now,” said offensive coordinator Jay Gruden.  “We’re the sixth seed and all of our goals are still attainable.”

“We played 16 games and had to do something right to even have a chance,” said Bernard Scott.  “It’s like a fresh start now.”

While Sunday’s game vs. Baltimore was billed as a “win or you’re in” showdown, the game that truly decided the Bengals playoff fate was played 56 days earlier when Cincinnati rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to win at Tennessee 24-17.  That gave Cincinnati the head-to-head tiebreaker for the AFC’s final playoff spot when each team finished the season 9-7.

“You never know,” said Andrew Whitworth.  “You look back at that game – we were down big at halftime and came back to win it.  What a special win that was and we didn’t know quite how special it was at the time.  Now it’s really special.”

“I always talk to the players when we play AFC teams about how important those games are going to be,” said head coach Marvin Lewis.  “Every win counts.”

The Bengals open the playoffs against a Houston team that ended the regular season with consecutive losses to Carolina (6-10), Indianapolis (2-14), and Tennessee (9-7).  The Texans haven’t won since stealing a 20-19 victory at Cincinnati on a touchdown pass with :02 remaining.  Houston did not have star WR Andre Johnson in that game, but it’s an opponent that the Bengals feel they are capable of beating.

“That we do,” said Lawson.  “They know us and how we play and we know how they play.  It’s going to be a good game and I’m looking forward to it.”

“We shouldn’t have let it come down to them having the ball with a chance to win it at the end,” said Andy Dalton.  “They’re a good team, but we’re going to give them our best shot.”

“They have their receiver back so it will be a little bit different team than we saw last time,” said Coach Lewis.  “We have to go to work.  It’s our chance now to go be World Champions.”

For a team that was widely expected to be among the NFL’s worst squads going into the season, and began the year with the youngest roster in the AFC, being one of the 12 teams that are still playing is a remarkable accomplishment.

“This team is young, it’s talented, and I have a feeling we’re going to have a lot of chances like this,” said Whitworth.  “But we’re in the dance and we have an opportunity to do what we want.  Every team that gets in there has a chance.”

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This past September, the former Bengals quarterback used the line again.

“I’m going to remind everybody exactly what I said on the ‘NFL Today’ at the start of the season,” said Esiason.  “I welcomed (likely 2012 top pick) Andrew Luck to the dysfunctional family and the season hadn’t even started.  That’s how wrong I was.”

Boomer was obviously not alone in underestimating the Bengals this season.  It was widely assumed that a team with a rookie starting quarterback and a new offensive coordinator was bound to struggle — especially considering the limited practice time coming out of the lockout.

“All I can do is go back to when I was a rookie,” said Esiason.  “If Bengals fans remember those days – boy, I’ll tell you what – they were probably wondering what the heck the Bengals were thinking when they drafted me.  I was clearly in over my head mentally.  Physically I knew I could do it, but mentally, I was nowhere to be found.  I remember Cris Collinsworth saying to somebody, ‘Are they kidding me with this guy?’  That’s not what they are saying about Andy.

“If it weren’t for Cam Newton he would be the Offensive Rookie of the Year.  I can’t say enough good things about him, and I can’t say enough good things about what Jay Gruden has done for him.  I can’t think of anybody at the beginning of the season – me included – that thought that the Bengals would be where they are today and they’re being led by a rookie quarterback which is even more astounding.  And if Andy Dalton and Cam Newton weren’t playing, than A.J. Green has to be the Offensive Rookie of the Year.  What that tells me is that the immediate future for the Cincinnati Bengals and their fan base looks to be extremely bright.”

With a win over Baltimore on Sunday, the Bengals would earn a playoff berth for the third time in the last seven years.  There are only 10 teams that have made more playoff trips in that span (11 if the Cowboys beat the Giants on Sunday).

“I think this is the opportunity of a lifetime,” said Esiason.  “This is one of those opportunity games that don’t come along for young players very often, and I know that Andy and A.J. and the rest of them are going to take it very seriously, and they shouldn’t expect anything other than to go out there and win.  It shouldn’t be, ‘Hey, it’s great to be here and nobody expected us to be here.’  They should be saying, ‘Hey wait a minute.  We can win this game, and possibly go on the road and play Houston with their rookie quarterback, and maybe get to the second round of the playoffs.’  Those are the things that I would be talking about in that locker room.”

Win or lose on Sunday, the Bengals have no shot at drafting Andrew Luck and Esiason is happy to have been so wrong.

“I think we should all sit back and take a breath and applaud what these kids have done – especially with very little training camp and no OTAs in the off-season.  For them to step on the field and do this for a franchise that has been downtrodden and has gone through the Carson Palmer stuff, the T.O. stuff, the Ochocinco stuff, the Chris Henry death and everything that has happened there over the last 10 years and you see how they have come out of it.  I tell you what, there’s a lot to be happy about and thankful for, and we have something to really look forward to.”

Boomer joined Dave Lapham and me on “Bengals Gameplan” on Wednesday.  Click here to listen to the entire interview.  Boomer’s segment begins at the 23 minute mark.

*****

We were also joined on Wednesday’s show by Sam Monson, one of the top analysts for the website ProFootballFocus.com where the staff grades every NFL player on every play.

According to their research, one of this year’s biggest Pro Bowl snubs was Bengals defensive tackle Geno Atkins.

“Geno Atkins, at the moment, is our top-rated defensive tackle on the season and by far and away, he’s our top-rated pass rushing defensive tackle,” said Monson.  “Only Justin Smith, who plays end but then kicks inside to tackle, generates anything like the amount of pressure that Geno Atkins generates from the inside.  It’s just ludicrous that he hasn’t been picked as a Pro Bowl defensive tackle this season.”

According to ProFootballFocus.com, Geno’s statistics compare favorably to the numbers Ndamukong Suh posted last year when he was named the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year.

“At this time last year, Suh had 10 sacks, 6 knockdowns of the quarterback, and 24 more pressures,” said Monson.  “Atkins is a little behind on the sacks, but he has significantly more knockdowns – he has 14 of those – and he has more pressure overall.  The only difference is that the hype train ran away with Suh early and he was always deemed as this superstar defensive tackle, whereas Atkins has had to do it the hard way.  This season he is flying under the radar and people just haven’t noticed, but his numbers are as good if not better than Suh’s were last year.  And Atkins has been playing the run pretty well this season which I actually thought he might struggle with, but he’s been doing well and is actually pretty highly-rated as a run defender as well.  Suh is still a liability against certain run plays and trap blocks and that kind of thing.”

I told Atkins on Thursday that a website had him rated as the top defensive tackle in the NFL.

“I don’t know what to say,” Geno told me.  “I just don’t believe that, but if they say so…I guess it’s better than being called the worst defensive lineman in the NFL.”

*****

I’ll be heading to Memphis for the Liberty Bowl on Friday, but I hope you’ll join Artrell Hawkins and Wayne “Box” Miller for “Bengals Pep Rally” from 3 to 6 at the Firehouse Grill in Blue Ash.

I’d love to hear from you at Dan.Hoard@bengals.nfl.net

If you Twitter, you can follow my tweets at http://twitter.com/Dan_Hoard

And I’m on Facebook.  Just search for Dan Hoard and look for the photo of me with the handsome lad.

Then he showed that he doesn’t need reindeer to fly.

Go ahead and give him his ESPY for “Play of the Year” right now, because nobody is going to top the Simpson Somersault.

(You can watch the play by clicking here)

With the Bengals leading 10-0 late in the second quarter, Simpson caught a pass from Andy Dalton on a crossing route at the 17 yard line and sprinted for the end zone.  When Jerome reached the two yard line, Dalton’s former college teammate Daryl Washington was waiting, so Simpson did a forward-flip over him and landed on both feet.

“To tell you the truth, it was just instinct,” said Simpson.  “I saw the guy and it seemed like he was going to try to hit me and I really didn’t want to get hit, so I used my athletic ability and my jumping ability that my mom, dad, and family blessed me with.  I’ve jumped over a guy before, but I never done a flip like that and landed it.  I just wanted to do anything possible to win games for this team”

Simpson’s freakish athletic ability helps explain why the Bengals drafted him in the second round out of tiny Coastal Carolina in 2008.  In addition to scoring 44 touchdowns in 45 college games, Jerome set school records in the high jump at 6’8.75” (since broken) and long jump at 24’7.25”.

But to vault over a 6’2” linebacker while wearing football pads?

“It was unbelievable,” said Adam Jones.  “I mean head first?  I was like, ‘There’s no way he’s going to try that.’”

“It might be one of the most athletic plays I’ve ever seen in my life man,” said Jeromy Miles.  “I didn’t think he was going to land on his feet, but when he did, it just summed up the day for us – spectacular plays, spectacular moments.”

“I give him a 10 out of 10,” said Andre Smith.  “I liked the landing – that was pretty neat.”

“I stuck the landing like a gymnast, and a lot of guys said that they gave me a 10 on it,” said Simpson.  “I think it was a 9 because I touched the ground a little bit.  I just wanted to make plays for my team and have a great Merry Christmas.”

Of course, the person who had the best view of “Jumpin’ Jerome” was the player that he hurdled.  So what did Daryl Washington have to say about the play?

“He said, ‘Don’t jump over me like that again.’” said Simpson with a smile.  “But like I said before, I just want to do anything possible to help my team win.”

I’d love to hear from you at Dan.Hoard@bengals.nfl.net

If you Twitter, you can follow my tweets at http://twitter.com/Dan_Hoard

And I’m on Facebook.  Just search for Dan Hoard and look for the photo of me with the handsome lad.

Mike Gordon, head trainer at Cincinnati’s St. Xavier High School and a former Bengals intern, is going to be in the press box with the NFL observer during games. Gordon will be wired into the bench via phone as he offers Bengals trainer Paul Sparling an extra set of eyes in the effort to spot players suffering from head injuries.

Gordon interned with the club in 2001 and 2003 and was a finalist for an assistant trainer’s job with the club in 2009.

If the Bengals beat Arizona on Sunday and the Jets lose at home to the Giants, Cincinnati will have a one game lead in the Wild Card race going into the final Sunday of the season.

So for the moment, forget about the 11 penalties, 3 fumbles, and inability to move the ball in short yardage situations in Sunday’s 20-13 win over the Rams and enjoy the fact that the Bengals playoff hopes are very much alive.

“Amen brother,” said Andrew Whitworth.  “When it’s December in the NFL — a win is a win.  We’re trying to get into the playoffs and we have two games at home.  Those are going to be exciting games.”

“We started the season with two on the road and the fact that we end with two at home is awesome,” said head coach Marvin Lewis.

And speaking of awesome, there’s A.J. Green.

On a day where Cedric Benson put the ball on the ground three times, Jermaine Gresham had as many false starts as catches, and Andy Dalton had more tackles than touchdown passes, the rookie wide receiver from Georgia finished with six catches for 115 yards to go over 1000 receiving yards for the season.

“I’m just going to continue to get better,” said Green.  “I’m just trying to lead this team to the playoffs and potentially to a Super Bowl.”

Green suffered a Grade 3 shoulder sprain in the second quarter and had his right arm in a sling on the flight home, but A.J. left little doubt that he’ll be able to play on Saturday.

“It’s just an AC joint sprain – I’ve had it before and it’s nothing serious,” said Green.  “I’m not going to miss these last two games for nothing.  You would have to break my leg or something for me to miss these last two games.  I’m just ready to get back out there and stay in the playoff hunt.”

“I bet Bengals Nation collectively took a big gulp when A.J. went down – I know I did,” said my broadcasting partner Dave Lapham.  “They’re a different team without A.J. on the field.  The trickle-down effect on an A.J. Green injury would be dramatic.”

Even with Green, the Bengals are not likely to beat the Cardinals – winners of six of their last seven – if they keep going backward on offense due to penalties.

It’s interesting to note that the Bengals are actually averaging more penalties in their wins (6.6 for 58.6 yards) than in their losses (6 for 53.8 yards).  But in the St. Louis game, three drives began with penalties.

“Too many first down penalties,” said offensive coordinator Jay Gruden.  “If we want to go where we want to go, we have to play better on first down.  We had two or three false starts and two or three holding calls that really set us back.  In this league, when you’re first-and-15 or first-and-20, it’s going to be difficult.”

“We’ve got to clean it up if we want to win these last two,” said Whitworth.  “It’s not about being good enough – it’s about not shooting yourself in the foot.  That’s what the good teams do down the stretch.  They don’t hurt themselves.”

The Bengals also have to do a better job in short yardage situations.  They failed to move the chains twice on third-and-one and once on fourth-and-one.

“Our short yardage offense was putrid,” said Gruden.

“You have to come off of the line of scrimmage with low pads and they’re not doing that right now,” said Lapham.  “They’re not even getting stalemates – they’re getting knocked backwards.

That won’t cut it against a Cardinals team that still has long-shot hopes of going to the playoffs.  An overtime win over Cleveland on Sunday evened Arizona’s record at 7-7.

So what’s Marvin’s message this week?

“Just do your job,” said Coach Lewis.  “Just make sure you’re being consistent in doing your job all of the time.”

Here’s hoping the Giants do the same thing.

I’d love to hear from you at Dan.Hoard@bengals.nfl.net

If you Twitter, you can follow my tweets at http://twitter.com/Dan_Hoard

And I’m on Facebook.  Just search for Dan Hoard and look for the photo of me with the handsome lad.

The Bengals honored the concept of Faulk 10 years later when they opted for Chris Perry instead of Steven Jackson at running back in the first round of the 2004 draft. Perry wasn’t Faulk, of course, but they felt he would be a more versatile player than Jackson that could split out and cause matchup problems for defenses that only had to be concerned about wide receiver Chad Johnson’s speed.

(This was before the emergence of T.J. Houshmandzadeh and drafting of Chris Henry at wide receiver.)

But Perry was healthy only one year while Jackson became one of the top backs in the league year after year. Perry has been out of the league three years while on Sunday, Jackson can add another line to the Pro Bowl resume with 105 yards that would make him the seventh man to have seven straight 1,000-yard seasons.

It’s not exactly a grocery shop list with the names Emmitt Smith, Barry Sanders, Thurman Thomas, Eric Dickerson, Curtis Martin and LaDainian Tomlinson. At some point, all are going to be in Canton.

Jackson has piled up a steel-belted career 4.3 yards per carry on some brutal clubs and has pounded 4.4 per this season behind a patchwork offensive line that has won just two games. It makes you wonder what Jackson could have done with the Bengals running game enhanced by Carson Palmer and his receivers. Heading into Sunday’s game, Rudi Johnson and Cedric Benson have 3.8 per carry since ’04.

Faulk made his Rams debut in the ’99 opener against, of all people, Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis when Lewis was the Ravens defensive coordinator. Lewis remembers it as Rams quarterback Kurt Warner’s coming out with 309 yards passing and three TDs rather than a Marshall Plan. Still, the versatility was on display in the Rams 27-10 win. Faulk had seven catches for 72 yards with 54 yards rushing on 19 carries.

“He was an awesome player. His versatility not only to run the ball but to catch the football out of the backfield or flanked out right. He caused you some adjustment issues,” Lewis said last week. “We were a pretty good defense but the thing you have a hard time replicating was the speed of that offense, the angles and cuts and how precise they are. We got a lot of pressure on Warner but he made a lot of big throws and we lost the game. That was the genesis of that offense. We played well on defense but not well enough to win.”

It was Faulk that was the X-factor, just the way the Bengals had hoped Perry would be.

“He gave them that third element that now you had to make sure the linebacker could win that matchup if you got put on him on the screens,” Lewis said.

TAYLOR MADE: Safety Taylor Mays took his most snaps as a Bengal last Sunday, his most encouraging day since he came over in the August trade with the 49ers. He took 23, almost as many as he took the week before in Pittsburgh, but they were pretty much in different situations.

Against the Steelers he played mainly in running downs while against the Texans he worked against tight end Owen Daniels in coverage and he can’t remember Daniels catching a ball on the six snaps he went against him during his100-yard day. The Bengals made the switch after Daniels had his way with the linebackers and some felt the 6-3, 230-pound Mays was the only defender that effectively got his hands on Daniels.

Mays is only listening to defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer and secondary coaches Kevin Coyle and Paul Guenther these days. He thinks he can be an all-round safety and not just a physical presence in the box.

“If Zim says I’m all right, then I know I’m all right,” Mays said last week. “We’ve been working on stuff like that the last couple of weeks. Playing downhill as well as working in coverage. I’m not singling anything out because I want to be the best and I’m working on everything. It was good to get out there and finally get it on film to show the coaches.”

As Mays says, “Daniels is a beast,” and gave him a lot to work on.

“He moved well off the line of scrimmage. He’s got quick feet and he uses his hands well,” he said. “He’s like a big wide receiver.”

Coyle is playing it cautiously. He calls Mays “a work in progress,” and says “he’s got some real potential.” Mays has been getting a lot of work in practice with starter Chris Crocker getting held out on at least Wednesdays and he got even more last week prepping for the Rams with Gibril Wilson also sitting out with a nick. But both are expected to play and Mays is primed again for special teams, where he’s got seven tackles.

But Coyle doesn’t look at just Mays, a 23-year-old second-year player. There is Jeromy Miles, 24, another second-year safety second in special teams tackles with 10 and fifth-rounder Robert Sands, who turned 22 last month and has been active for only one game.

“These young safeties have a lot of upside,” Coyle said.

And that’s one of the things to hammer out in the offseason. How much do you pay the other starting safety, Reggie Nelson, as he heads into free agency when balancing it against the youth?

Uh…maybe not.  The 10-3 San Francisco 49ers rank dead last in that category this year, scoring touchdowns a mere 33.6% of the time.

But the Niners have overcome their anemic red zone performance by allowing the fewest points in the NFL.  You can settle for field goals when your defense only gives up 14 points a game.  The Bengals don’t have that luxury.

Andy Dalton

Cincinnati currently ranks 20^th in the NFL in touchdown percentage inside the red zone at 48.7%, scoring 19 TDs in 39 trips.  But those numbers only tell part of the story.

Here’s a stat that will floor you:  The last six times the Bengals have had a “first-and-goal” they have failed to score a touchdown.

Here’s the breakdown:

Nov. 20 at Baltimore:  1^st-goal-at-7 (end of the game needing TD to tie) – 0 points.

Nov. 27 vs. Cleveland:  1^st-goal-at-2 – Settled for FG after false start.  1^st-goal-at-9 – Stopped on 4^th down at one yard line.

Dec. 4 at Pittsburgh:  1^st-goal-at-8 – TD nullified by penalty and field goal blocked.

Dec. 11 vs. Houston:  1^st-goal-at-1 – Settled for FG after false start.  1^st-goal-at-9 – Kicked FG.

That means the Bengals have scored 9 of a possible 42 points in those situations.  It’s enough to make an offensive coordinator…

“Jump off a bridge,” said Jay Gruden.  “It’s just a nightmare.  We just have to get back to the drawing board and fix what ails us.  You don’t get down there very often and you have to take advantage.”

The Bengals have scored on 87.2% of their red zone trips (19 TD, 15 FG in 34 trips) to rank 12^th in the NFL, but the lack of touchdowns last week proved costly against Houston.

“On the first down run that we called, our tight ends didn’t go to the safety and they let the guy run right through the gap and make a tackle for a loss of two,” said Gruden.  “You can’t have that happen in pro football.  The false start on first-and-goal at the one was probably 90% my fault for getting the play in a little late, and then Andy should have taken a time out because we were running against the clock.  So we tried to hurry and we jumped.  You can’t have those kinds of mistakes and that falls on me.  I have to do a better job of getting the plays out there early and calling better plays that work.”

*****

Here’s another stat that might floor you:  Since the start of training camp, the St. Louis Rams have placed 10 cornerbacks on injured reserve including their top three going into the season.

“They make up for it with a great pass rush,” said Gruden.  “They play really hard on the defensive front and their linebackers are playing well.  Unfortunately for them, their offense has struggled quite a bit, so they’ve been on the field so much that they’ve given up chunks of yards at the end of games.  But for the most part, their defense has played pretty well.”

Still, is A.J. Green licking his chops to face the injury-ravaged Rams secondary this Sunday?

“This is the NFL man,” said Green.  “There are no slackers out there – they’re all great corners.  I’m going to approach it like I do in every other game with the mindset of trying to make a play whenever my number is called.”

A.J. Green

Last week, Green was matched up with Houston’s Johnathan Joseph and finished with 5 catches for 59 yards.

“He’s getting the best corner every week,” said Gruden.  “Last week it was J-Jo and he’s going to get that every week.  They’ll going to roll coverage toward him and cloud him and he just has to figure out zone coverages and find holes.  He has a great feel right now, but he can get even better in that regard.”

“I like that,” said Green when asked about drawing the opponent’s best corner.  “That’s when you know that you’re making plays and I’m trying to be that great receiver.”

Despite missing a game and a half with a knee injury, A.J. leads NFL rookies in receptions (55), receiving yards (891), and TD catches (7).  He’s on a pace to finish with 67 catches for 1096 yards.

I asked the rookie from Georgia to rate his performance on a scale from 1 to 10.

“I’d give myself about a six,” said Green.  “I still have a lot of room for improvement, but I’m doing OK.  It’s been a great experience.  A lot of success has come my way and I’m blessed to be in this situation.”

*****

I’ll be on the road with the UC basketball team on Wednesday night, but I hope you’ll join Dave Lapham and Wayne “Box” Miller for “Bengals Gameplan” from 6 to 8.  On Friday, I’ll join Artrell Hawkins for “Bengals Pep Rally” from 3 to 6 at the Firehouse Grill in Blue Ash.  The tentative guest list includes Mike Nugent (4:00), Michael Johnson (4:30), Andre Smith (5:00), and Andy Dalton (5:30).  Both shows can be heard on ESPN 1530.

I’d love to hear from you at Dan.Hoard@bengals.nfl.net

If you Twitter, you can follow my tweets at http://twitter.com/Dan_Hoard

And I’m on Facebook.  Just search for Dan Hoard and look for the photo of me with the handsome lad.

Johnson entered the NFL in 2010 as a college free agent with the N.Y. Giants. He was released prior to training camp and signed Aug. 3, 2010 with Miami. He played in the Dolphins’ 2010 season opener, with one special teams tackle, was released prior to Game 2, and spent time on the Miami and Kansas City practice squads later in the season. He opened the 2011 preseason with Kansas City and was released on Sept. 3.

The signing marks his first NFL assignment during the 2011 regular season.

Bobbie Williams

One of the toughest and most durable Bengals of his generation couldn’t survive a broken right ankle and for the first time in his 12 NFL seasons right guard Bobbie Williams went on season-ending injured reserve Monday.

At age 35 and in the last year of his deal, there is speculation that Williams has left the Paul Brown Stadium field for the last time. And if it is, how fitting. Even though he was hurting he walked into the locker room during the second quarter firing up the crowd with his ever sunny smile.

Ever since he arrived via free agency in 2004 from the Eagles, the 6-4 345-pound man-mountain Williams has been such a rock in the locker room, they call him “Boss Man.” Always known as an excellent run blocker, Williams improved his pass blocking when he got to Cincinnati and was part of the ’05 and ’07 lines that set the club for fewest sacks allowed.

The only Bengals games Williams had missed before serving a four-game NFL suspension at the beginning of this season for violating the NFL’s policy on physical enhancers were three games during the 2006 season after an appendectomy. His 117 games with the Bengals have straddled perennial Pro Bowler Willie Anderson and first-rounder Andre Smith as his partners at right tackle. Williams was on the field for Carson Palmer’s first fourth-quarter comeback in 2004 and Andy Dalton’s second in 2011.

Williams, the only offensive player left from head coach Marvin Lewis’ first AFC North champs in 2005, had been a second-round pick of the Eagles in 2000. When the Bengals drafted Clint Boling in the fourth round this season and picked up four-year Eagles center Mike McGlynn off waivers just before the season, they appeared to be moving to youth at that spot.

McGlynn, who started at center for last season’s NFC East champions in Philadelphia, started ahead of Boling once he got comfortable with the offense and before Williams returned. It was McGlynn that replaced Williams on Sunday. The Bengals are also high on 2010 fifth-rounder Otis Hudson, the guard they drafted in the fifth round out of Eastern Illinois in 2010. They signed Hudson from the practice squad Monday.

Before Hudson hurt his knee early in training camp, offensive line coach Paul Alexander said he and Smith were his two most improved players.