Troublemaker

I can't begin to tell you how relieved I am that former Cincinnati Bengal T.J. Houshmandzadeh has signed with the Seattle Seahawks and will not be a Bengal next year. That guy was a troublemaker. And truth be told, he never really bought into the philosophy of the Cincinnati Bengals, nor into the long term goal of the Cincinnati Bengals, which appears to be to remain in the bottom half of the NFL for as long as possible, and to break the Arizona Cardinals record for longest stretch between playoff wins.

T.J. just never really was a Bengal, and there are several reasons why:

1) Work Ethic. T.J. tried WAY too hard to be a Bengal. He ran crisp routes on every play. He never quit playing no matter how far ahead or behind the Bengals were. He always stretched for that extra yard. He wasn't afraid of a little contact. For goodness sake, he BLOCKED for other players! That's not the way we do things in Cincinnati, T.J., and it's about time you figured that out and got out of here.

2) Attitude. T.J. always seemed to care about the team, about winning, and we all know that's not the way the Bengals work, either. He should have taken a page out of the Chad Johnson playbook and been a little more me-centered. Maybe he should have gotten himself some props, maybe done a little dance when he scored a touchdown in a game when the Bengals were down by 30 points. Maybe he should have stormed off the field if the ball wasn't thrown in his direction for two series in a row. Maybe he should have punched a coach! I'm not sure what he should have done, but he should have done SOMETHING to show that winning was not his top priority. No matter how good of a football player you are, you're never going to fit in as a BENGAL if you're trying to win!

3) Clean Cut Reputation. Here's where T.J. may have failed the team the most. In all the years that T.J. played for the Bengals, how many times did he get arrested? None. How many temper tantrums did he have with the media? None. Sure, he may have been upset during losing streaks, but he never really went off on anybody. How many times were there stories of him beating his wife or taking drugs or causing a scene in a local bar? Doesn't he know that this kind of clean behavior is detrimental to the whole team? Doesn't he know that his clean cut image makes the other players on the team look WORSE in comparison? Doesn't he owe it to the other Bengals to at least get caught with marijuana at the airport from time to time, if for no other reason than to take some of the heat off of other receivers like Chris Henry? It sounds to me like T.J. is a little bit of a SELFISH player, after all! (Oh, and Carson Palmer, you better be listening to this one, too!)

So I say good riddance to T.J. With him thankfully finally out of the picture, maybe we can get back to doing what the Bengals do best:

Losing.