In the NFL, there's a thin line between love and what have you done for me lately.
Larry Johnson crossed that line with Kansas Citians, who reveled in the runner's back-to-back 1,700-yard rushing seasons of 2005-06, then embarked on a love-hate relationship before souring completely on the All-Pro as he kept getting arrested (four times) and suspended (twice) while insulting Chiefs fans with, among other things, gay slurs via Twitter.
It got so bad for Johnson, the Chiefs and their fans, the team jettisoned him in the middle of the season with Johnson just 74 yards shy of Priest Holmes' franchise rushing record. This, after fans petitioned the team to release the former Penn State standout because Johnson "never represented anything close to the values that we have for our Chiefs," according to the petition that was passed around the city, and therefor didn't deserve the record.
Johnson was waived Nov. 9, the day he was due back from his second suspension (in a year). He cleared waivers the next day, becoming an unrestricted free agent. He signed with the Bengals while carrying a lot of baggage and worrying a Cincinnati fan base that wondered why the Bengals would make such a risky move in the middle of a playoff run with Bernard Scott coming into his own behind the rejuvenated but currently idled Cedric Benson.
On Sunday in Battle of Ohio II - an important 16-7 Bengals victory over the luckless Cleveland Browns at Paul Brown Stadium - we learned why this unlikely marriage of Johnson and the Bengals made it down the aisle.
In Cincinnati - the league's halfway house for wayward players - beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and Johnson still has it, whatever "it" is in the minds of the often perplexing Bengals brass.
The seven-year veteran rushed for 107 yards on 22 carries as the Bengals (8-3) swept the Browns and ran the table against the AFC North Division for the first time in team history.
It's Johnson's 31st 100-yard rushing day as a pro. He becomes the third Bengals running back this season to rush for at least 100 yards.
Benson, who set the template for Johnson's arrival when he jump-started his career by joining the Bengals last season after getting cut by the Bears following two arrests, has four 100-yard rushing days this season. Scott, who was passed over in this year's draft until the sixth round despite prodigious college numbers because of an alleged attitude problem, missed his second 100-yard game on Sunday by just 13 yards.
“It will be even more sick (for opponents) when Cedric comes back," Johnson said. "Their (the Bengals) dedication to the run game is something I look forward to. Once I looked at the game plan, I was ready to go.”
The 6-foot-1, 230-pound Johnson, in a time-share Sunday with Scott as Benson missed a second straight game with a hip injury, set the tone for the Cincinnati attack. The former first-round pick pounded the Browns with bruising first-quarter gainers of 10 yards off right guard and 12 yards off right tackle, as the Bengals drove to the first of three Shayne Graham field goals on the day. Johnson's longest run went for 13 yards off left tackle early in the second quarter.
Johnson's long bursts of straight-ahead running complemented Scott's dashes around the ends. Scott finished with 87 yards on 18 carries, his second-best day as a pro, following his 119-yard rushing performance in last Sunday's loss at Oakland.
"With Scott, you can’t let him get outside where he’s most effective," Browns coach Eric Mangini said.
Scott, a 25-year-old rookie, had the Bengals' longest run of the day against Cleveland, scooting for 21 yards to help set up Carson Palmer's 4-yard touchdown pass to tight end J.P. Foschi. The score gave the Bengals a 10-0 lead with 1:10 left before halftime, and all the points they would need to beat the Browns (1-10).
The Bengals outrushed Cleveland, 210-58, while averaging 4.7 per carry and generally watching the passing game fizzle under the direction of Palmer who managed just 110 passing yards for one of his lowest totals as a pro. No Bengals receiver had more than the 38 yards posted by the overpublicized but recently underutilized Chad Ochocinco.
But it didn't matter as Palmer avoided throwing an interception and the Bengals won, while running their AFC North Division record to 6-0 and maintaining the conference's second-best mark behind the unbeaten Indianapolis Colts juggernaut.
Despite Sunday's poor quantifiables, Palmer managed a good game, evidenced by his 80.2 quarterback rating, and did a good job carrying out the team's purposely conservative offensive approach, even when he found holes underneath the Browns' cover-2 defense for important rushing yardage.
"We followed the script today," said Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. "I know I’ve said this many times, but if we can run the football and play good defense, I can drive into the stadium pretty confident most days, and that’s a good feeling.
"Bernard banged his knee up a little bit in one series, but we got Larry in on about the 10th play and that was right on script."
The success of the Bengals' running game kept their 10th-ranked defense off the field in stretches. Cincinnati had a time-of-possession advantage of more then 16 minutes.
"It was just a physical, run the ball, control the field position and feed off the defense game," Palmer said. "When your defense plays like that, and your offense is moving people – especially when they’re big people like Shaun Rogers and Corey Williams – and getting you 200-plus yards in the run game, you just need to control the clock, and we ended up doing a really good job of that.”
Though the fresh Bengals defense did not force a turnover and sacked Browns quarterback Brady Quinn just once on a Morgan Trent blitz, it methodically shut down the Browns' attack by taking away the threat posed by Bengals killer Jamal Lewis, who was throttled by Cincinnati's second-ranked rush defense.
Lewis entered play with nine 100-yard rushing games against the Bengals but managed just 40 yards on 11 carries Sunday, none going for longer than 6 yards against defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer's troops.
Meanwhile, Quinn looked nothing like the mighty version that passed for more than 300 yards and four TDs the previous Sunday in the Browns' last-second loss to the Lions. Quinn finished 15-of-34 passing on Sunday and didn't reach 100 yards until his final completion. He scored Cleveland's lone touchdown in the third quarter on a 9-yard keeper up the middle.
Quinn's longest completion went for a non-threatening 24 yards as Bengals cornerbacks Leon Hall and Johnathan Joseph continued their respective campaigns for Pro Bowl consideration. The secondary tandem applied tight coverage, particularly on rookie receiver Mohamed Massaquoi, who was held to one catch for 12 yards after burning the Bengals for over 100 receiving yards in the first meeting, a Bengals overtime win.
Anyway, back to LJ.
Not only have the Bengals managed to pick up another talented player, on the cheap, while giving Johnson a second lease on NFL life, they did it after doing their homework on the tailback. And they did it after giving second chances to Benson, Scott, receiver Chris Henry, defensive lineman Tank Johnson and eight other Bengals starters who were given up on by their former teams for one reason or another.
Larry Johnson, who finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting the year Palmer won the award, has strong Pennsylvania ties. So does Marvin Lewis. Johnson, a 2,000-yard rusher his senior season for the Nittany Lions, is the son of current Penn State defensive line coach, Larry Johnson Sr., a man with whom Bengals coaches have had a working relationship.
Johnson Jr. is an enigma. But so are the Bengals and the man upstairs, owner Mike Brown, who ultimately calls the shots in Cincinnati.
While Johnson was making headlines with his arrests, suspensions and irresponsible behavior, he also founded LJ’s Legacy and Growth Youth Foundation, dedicated to enhancing the lives of youth and promoting development through collaborative partnerships.
Johnson also spearheaded the Chiefs' Junior Player Development (JPD) campaign, a program seeking to ready middle school-aged children for the rigors of high school football. Johnson sponsored a pair of local youth football teams and a tee-ball team and helped finance the equipment and uniforms for the children at a Chiefs home game during the 2005 season.
The Bengals knew all that.
On Sunday, Johnson looked like a kid again in his new home as the Bengals looked even more committed to the run as they try to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2005 season and for just the second time in 19 years.
"I’m in a new situation with a new team, coach and players," Johnson said. "It means a lot to me to be able to come in and have the coaches trust me.”