After getting up early, turning on the TV and watching A.J. Green torch Josh Norman on Sunday, former Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson didn’t need any further evidence.
“To me he’s the greatest (Bengals receiver) of all time,” Johnson told the Bengals website. “He can do things I wasn’t able to do. High-point the ball. And he’s a much more consistent pass catcher than I was.”
Considering the antics during his playing days, it doesn’t seem like it would be easy for Johnson to relinquish any type of honor.
This is a guy who posted in his locker a checklist of cornerbacks who failed to stop him and at one point in his career even changed to name to Chad Ochocinco to reflect his uniform number 85.
According to Pro Football Focus, 76 of Green’s 121 receiving yards came against Norman in Sunday’s 27-27 tie with the Redskins in London.
Green leads the NFL in receptions (59) and receiving yards (896). He’s on pace to break Johnson’s single-season team record of 1,440 receiving yards and T.J. Houshmandzadeh’s club record of 112 catches in a season.
Yet Green doesn’t draw attention to himself the way Johnson did and therefore is underrated in today’s NFL. He’s made the Pro Bowl in each of his first five NFL seasons and will probably make it to a sixth.
Perhaps it’s just as well that Green quietly goes about his business while other receivers hog the spotlight, because A.J. Uno-ocho just doesn’t roll off the tongue like Chad Ochocinco.
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