Unlikely Cast of Characters Leading Bengals to Success

CINCINNATI -- He was the last of the "misfits'' to leave the locker room, taking his time, putting his shirt on slowly, speaking softly, up-front with his words and in his delight. There is something unmistakably passionate about Cedric Benson now.

The Bengals turned to him when he was down. He has turned into a part of the Bengals' once-discarded core that is lifting them up.

Bengals safety Roy Williams was ditched by the Dallas Cowboys. Receiver Laveraneus Coles was allowed to split by the New York Jets. Defensive tackle Tank Johnson was tanked by Dallas and the Chicago Bears. Running back Brian Leonard was dumped by the St. Louis Rams.

There are plenty more refugees in the Bengals locker room, players that coach Marvin Lewis calls "a bunch of castoffs.'' He calls them grinders. He calls them fun.

They help form the core of that ever-elusive coaching wish -- "team," Lewis says.

Each has something to prove. The Bengals get the benefits.

It is a delicious formula when it clicks and it is clicking for the Bengals. This is clear after that disastrous opening loss to the Denver Broncos followed by a victory at the Green Bay Packers and then Sunday's exorcism.

The Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was beyond a hallelujah moment.

"Nobody wants to be dominated like that; I mean, they have been toying with the Bengals for a long time," Benson said of Pittsburgh's hands on the Bengals' throats. It was five straight Pittsburgh victories in this divisional series and eight straight right here on the Bengals' turf.

"I wanted to get 100 rushing yards on them -- they take such pride in keeping a back from that number," Benson said.

He found that 76 would do. It was a foundation of Bengals 23, Steelers 20.

It was one more stiff-arm from Benson against his troubled start in the league when he tried to become a Chicago Bears cornerstone, the back the Bears were sure would be special when they drafted him No. 4 overall in 2005. It was up and down and sideways for Benson with the Bears -- most but not all his doing --and Benson found he had to pull it together, make some changes, humble himself, mature and work even harder.

He has.

Most of the Bengals' castoffs have.

"Early in the game we were running stuff that was not our bread and butter and Pittsburgh was ready for it," Benson said. "We went to more zone runs and things started happening. We stayed with it."

Benson was a catalyst with his 23-yard scoring jaunt in the fourth quarter, a darting dash through the left side followed by an impressive sprint down the left sideline where he easily outran the Pittsburgh safeties.

"I've still got wheels," Benson said.

Like that? Who knew?

Williams and Johnson were part of the Bengals defense that kept Pittsburgh scoreless in the final quarter. Coles made a gigantic fourth-and-2 catch of 5 yards on the game-winning drive. And Leonard's spectacular fourth-and-10 catch of 11 yards later in the drive impressed Benson.

"He really laid it out there like he wanted that and he got it," Benson said.

Bengals linebacker Dhani Jones added: "He stretched out for the last yard and he made sure his knees did not touch the ground. Think about that -- he made it by a knee and saved us from being in knots."

There is nothing misfit about Carson Palmer. He remains a picturesque and dynamic quarterback. Nothing misfit about young, playmaking linebackers Keith Rivers and Rey Maualuga. Nothing misfit about the supreme talent and confidence of cornerback Johnathon Joespeh.

This is so with several Bengals.

But now the Bengals have just enough misfits and castoffs to keep them grounded, Palmer says.

The team's motto is "Not Dead, Not Quit." Maualuga stressed this is something the Bengals often privately say to each other.


"We have a lot of guys that love the game and don't care about all the hoopla, drama or glitz and glamour of the NFL,'' Palmer said. "`It's fun to play with guys like that."

Lewis took it a step farther: ``I really was not concerned with this team after we lost the game against Denver on that crazy play. People may not believe it, but I really wasn't. It gave us a lot to correct. It emphasized to them something they were already understanding, that you can't win in this league without working. We're playing in a division where Pittsburgh and Baltimore have had success because they work. We're playing the NFC North this year, Chicago and Green Bay and teams like that you don't compete with unless you work in blue-collar style. I am getting that from this group.''

He is getting it from Benson.

When Fun Isn't Fun or Funny

So, a couple of Cleveland Browns decided last week they want to haze and have a little fun with rookie cornerback Coye Francies by dumping water on him. Francies responded by dumping water back at them and throwing a punch.

He told me by telephone on Monday morning: "I'm excellent. I'm still breathing. I'm working really hard trying to take advantage of my NFL opportunity. It's been a fight so far."

Obviously. Even with some of his own teammates.

"No, nothing really," Francies said. "We were just playing around."

I have never liked hazing among NFL players, among grown men. I have never understood how it creates camaraderie in a team. And given that the Browns were 0-2 on the way to 0-3 after that 34-3 beatdown at Baltimore, you would think they would focus more on winning football than tossing buckets of water and punches.

I asked Francies about his view on rookie hazing.

"I don't know,"' he said. "Everybody has individual tastes."

Some guys don't have a problem with it, some guys do. Veterans should understand the difference and cool it when it is not appropriate. Obviously with Francies, it was not appropriate.

The Browns play at home against the Bengals on Sunday. I expect they will hardly recognize the Bengals. And that the Bengals will recognize some of their old, worst habits in the Browns.

Receiver Greg Lewis Rises

It was a play and catch applauded around the league -- Brett Favre to Greg Lewis -- for the winning 32-yard pass in the closing seconds that lifted Minnesota over Green Bay.

Everyone knows Favre's story.

Here's Lewis'.

Walk-on at Illinois. Undrafted free agent who makes it with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2003 and last six Eagles seasons. Cut in camp this year by the New England Patriots. Signed by the Vikings on Sept. 10. Inactive the first two Vikings games. One catch on Sunday. The difference-making catch.

Jets cornerback Lito Sheppard knows Lewis well. This is what he had told me about the player:

"I played with him a lot in Philadelphia, every day in practice, and I always thought he was underrated. All he does is make plays. He made them in the Super Bowl for Philadelphia when he scored. I think New England cut him because they believed more in Joey Galloway. I think Greg might prove them wrong on that one. Greg has some of the best hands around. He has good speed. He's just not that big. He might weigh a buck-eighty.

"On his winning play against the Vikings, it was one of those situations where he lined up wide on the other side of the field and he got behind the back line of the defense. Once a guy gets behind you like that, coming across the field, the defense starts to play the quarterback. I think Favre was searching for Greg the whole time. He knew he was going to come free at some point coming across the back line. There was great velocity on that ball. It had to be to get it to the back before the defense could respond. To be able to catch it with that kind of heat on it is really something. But to get both feet in, too? That was a remarkable play by Greg Lewis. But if people have been paying attention, they know he has made them before.''

Freee Kicks: Of all the teams that the Detroit Lions might have snapped their ugly 19-game-losing streak against, the Washington Redskins were the perfect choice. The Redskins have dominated the series. They led it going into that game 30-10. They won 18 in a row against the Lions during one stretch. They are 3-0 against Lions in the playoffs. And the biggest game was a 41-10 shellacking in the 1991 NFC championship bout that helped ensure the Lions are one of only handful of NFL teams that have never played in a Super Bowl. So, the Lions owed the Redksins some embarrassment after years of receiving it. Accomplished. ... As soon as the final snap was made in Atlanta at New England, Tom Brady frenetically rushed to get the football and tightly tucked it under his arm for safekeeping. It sure looked like it meant something to him. And, indeed, it did. It was his second victory at home since missing all of the 2008 season due to his knee injury. Brady is relishing these renewal moments. ... Football executives around the league were surprised at Tampa Bay's poor showing vs. the Giants. Said one: "The players and the coaches may want to use the excuse that the schemes are not fitting the personnel, but that is what that is, an excuse, because this is the NFL and there is no way an NFL team shouldn't have more success than they had in that game, especially offensively. Byron Leftwich is not a good athlete. He is an OK quarterback but not a good athlete and takes too long to do everything. It's early. No Super Bowl has been won yet. But Tampa Bay is better than it is playing and I think it is the team in the league that has a chance for serious upside moving forward." Maybe the Bucs were listening. Coach Raheem Morris on Monday afternoon replaced Leftwich with more mobile Josh Johnson as the team's new starting quarterback.