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Tuesday, October 02, 2007
CINCINNATI — Johnathan Joseph probably knew the Randy Moss jump ball was coming. He's seen it in practice.
"We have Chris Henry here on our team who is similar to Randy Moss," the Bengals second-year cornerback said of Henry, who is suspended for the Bengals' first eight games.
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"Going up against Chris, a guy who's 6-(foot)-4 and can run, catch it over both shoulders, go up and jump and get it. It just helps a lot to prepare for that in practice."
Well, a perfect throw and catch can beat good coverage.
Joseph closely guarded the 6-4 Moss, stationed in the front corner of the end zone. Moss turned around, jumped high, twisted, caught the ball and got his feet in for a 7-yard touchdown.
Moss won that battle Monday night at Paul Brown Stadium in what became a 34-13 Patriots victory.
Moss had three catches for 30 yards in the first half and finished with nine for 102 yards and two scores. It was a different Moss than the Bengals saw at PBS last year with the Raiders, when he had two grabs for 28 yards.
"He looks like his old self when he's healthy," Joseph said. "He has big-play potential."
New England quarterback Tom Brady spreads the wealth. Brady completed passes to seven different players.
That included a 1-yard touchdown pass to linebacker Mike Vrabel, the ex-Ohio State standout who now has nine career catches — all TDs.
Brady came in completing 79.5 percent of his passes in what has become an offense with machine-like precision.
On Monday night, the ex-Michigan QB was 25-of-32 (78 percent) for 231 yards and three scores. Of his incompletions, three were throwaways and one was an interception. On non-throwaways, Brady was 25-of-29. How can that happen?
"If you don't have to throw the ball in the dirt, if you've got a guy open, if they're protecting him and so forth," Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis explained this week. "A lot of times, completion percentage is not necessarily on the quarterback."
True. But Brady — who threw a pick that led to a Bengals score — didn't make any other mistakes.
"He's always been calm and collected and very poised back there," Bengals safety Madieu Williams said. "He gets rid of the ball like he always does and guys are making plays."
