Ocho Cinco Deactivated Tonight Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ocho Cinco will be deactivated for tonight's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers for violating a team rule, the Bengals have announced today.
The Bengals did not provide details and indicated they would have no further comment until after the game.
The league-owned NFL Network, which is carrying tonight's Bengals-Steelers game from Pittsburgh, reports that Johnson got into a dispute with a member of the Bengals organization Wednesday night and left a team function.
Ocho Cinco, known as Chad Johnson before legally changing his name, clashed with the team in the offseason when he demanded to be traded.
The Bengals refused, however, and the wide receiver had avoided controversy since the season began.
Ocho Cinco had played in 113 straight games and hadn't missed a game since his rookie season in 2001.
The five-time Pro Bowl selection has 41 catches for 383 yards and four touchdowns in 10 games this season. That's far from last season's production of 93 catches for 1,440 yards and eight touchdowns.
He underwent ankle surgery before training camp and suffered a slight shoulder separation during the preseason.
The wideout has been involved in controversies in the past, mostly for his playful verbal jabs at opponents and his touchdown celebrations that provoked disciplinary action by the NFL.
He spent much of last offseason lobbying for a trade, saying in one televised interview: "I want to continue my career wherever I have the opportunity to win a playoff game and get to the Super Bowl. That's where I want to be."
But the Bengals wouldn't budge, even rejecting a trade offer by the Washington Redskins that included two first-round draft picks, and he reported to training camp on time.
He made his name change and was prepared to have his new name on his jersey before being informed that, under league marketing rules, he was responsible for purchasing the unsold jerseys with his old last name on them.
Ocho Cinco mostly had been on good behavior so far this season, even kissing Bengals Coach Marvin Lewis on the cheek during an early-season game. He later told reporters the gesture had come in reaction to some encouraging words by Lewis.
"He just said, 'Keep your head in the game, stay focused, blah blah blah,' " Ocho Cinco said. "And he said, 'Smile!' This little thing Coach Lewis and I have: When things aren't going right, he just looks at me and says, 'Smile.' Whatever's going on, it goes right away.
"It's a little thing we've got going, so it's pretty cool. It's kind of been able to keep myself from getting angry, from getting mad, from getting frustrated. Smile. And I do the same to him when he's out there screaming in practice or something [doesn't] go right in the game. I'll just walk by him and just say, 'Smile!' "
During a recent interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, Ocho Cinco credited Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb with helping him to gain a more positive attitude about this season.
"Donovan was a big influence. [He] really is one of the reasons why I really turned myself around and looked at my situation as more of a positive outlook and just thinking about all the people that would love to play this game, you know?" Ocho Cinco told the newspaper.
"He took me in that direction, instead of thinking about, 'Oh, I'm tired of losing and I don't want to be here any more,' but just thinking about, 'Man, a lot of people wish they were in your shoes just to have the ability to play in the NFL.' That kind of turned me around, and that's why I've been as positive as I have been this year, and even though we're losing, man, I've just been plugging away."
The Bengals take a record of 1-8-1 into tonight's game and remain without quarterback Carson Palmer, who has been sidelined for much of the season because of an elbow injury and reportedly is considering undergoing surgery.
Chris Henry is likely to start at the wide receiver spot opposite T.J. Houshmandzadeh, with Ocho Cinco deactivated. The Bengals just placed third receiver Antonio Chatman on the injured reserve list because of a neck injury.
UPDATE (12:25 p.m.)...
Agent Drew Rosenhaus, who represents Ocho Cinco, said in a televised interview that the wide receiver is scheduled to meet with Lewis on Friday and expects to resume practicing and playing in games after that.
"This is what I have been told but, again, that's going to be up to the team," Rosenhaus said on ESPN. "We certainly hope that's the case, and we expect to move on from this and finish the season in a very positive way for Chad Ocho Cinco Johnson."
Rosenhaus declined to release details about the reason for Ocho Cinco's deactivation.
"Chad is very disappointed that he's not playing but he respects Coach Lewis and the team's decision," Rosenhaus said. "He's not going to make this a controversy or a circus. We're going to keep this in-house between ourselves and the team. He's got five more games to go. This is unfortunate that he's not playing. Chad lives to play. The guy's been playing with a separated shoulder. He came off of ankle surgery. He's been playing with a backup quarterback. He's been battling to help this team win football games. It's a shame that he's not able to play against a very strong rival in the Steelers on a national television game."
Rosenhaus said it's been a frustrating season for Ocho Cinco, and indicated he doesn't know if the wideout has a future in Cincinnati beyond this season.
"I guess that's going to be up to the team," Rosenhaus said. "Chad has been very outspoken. He has said how he feels. We know we're not going to bully our way out of Cincinnati. It's going to be [Bengals owner] Mike Brown's way or no way at all. It's going to be up to Mike Brown. He's going to decide whether or not Chad is going to be with the team in the future and, you know, we're going to basically take a low-key approach to that."
UPDATE II (1:45 p.m.)...
More details are trickling in.
ESPN reports that Ocho Cinco and Lewis got into an argument after the wide receiver was 45 minutes late to a team meeting Wednesday night. Ocho Cinco was sent home, according to the report.
Courtesy Mark Maske
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