Sports Radio Interviews

Chad Ochocinco on TO signing: “It’s like a dream team in a sense and anything short of a Super Bowl will be very disappointing.”

Get your popcorn ready Bengals fans! After a lot of speculation this offseason about Terrell Owens and where he would play in 2010, the answer finally came yesterday and he’s going to playing ball in the queen city. You can say what you want to about T.O. and the kind of player he is anymore, but the defending AFC North champions just improved their football team with the addition of 81 and now the Bengals are a legitimate threat to retain their conference crown. While T.O. is no longer the player he was a few years ago, the Bengals needed another weapon for Carson Palmer to help the Bengals passing game thrive once again.

They brought in Antonio Bryant this year to play opposite Chad Ochocinco, but his effectiveness is in question because of offseason knee surgery and former second round pick Andre Caldwell is more of a slot receiver than anything else and can’t be the guy to take the pressure off 85. Carson Palmer struggled at times when other team’s tried to take away his number one target. Now if that happens he has a former top-ten receiver to look towards. The Bengals leaned heavily on the running game and the defense last year to capture the AFC North crown, but if they want to take the next step this season, it’s going to be up to Carson Palmer and the Bengals passing game to once again thrive.

Chad Ochocinco joined 106.7 the Fan in Washington D.C. to talk about Terrell Owens signing in Cincinnati, how much say he had in the signing, and whether or not he is faster than T.O.

On whether or not this move was made because of Antonio Bryant’s injury:

“I haven’t seen anybody since mini-camp so I’m not aware of injuries and I’m not aware of really what’s going on with my other teammates.”

On the expectations for the offense:

“We’re gonna have a great offense. In a way I don’t think people really understand the impact that Terrell will have on us as an offense. Having his presence out there. Since the game of football has been played has there ever been two receivers of this caliber on the field at the same time? There’s always a number one, there’s always a number two, and there’s somewhat of a drop-off at number two, but I think its sorta evened out as far as level of play and level of consistency that we’ve had over the years and this is going to be really interesting to see what defenses are going to do to take not just us away, but then you have to deal with (Jordan) Shipley, you have to deal with (Jermaine) Gresham, the new tight end, you got Andre Caldwell, you still got Matt Jones, and we got the running game. What do you do? It’s like a dream team in a sense and anything short of a Super Bowl will be very disappointing.”

How T.O. will change the coverage that he sees:

“The whole point is I’m not sure how much film you guys actually watch for real, but I am doubled every game first, second, and third down. It’s my offensive coordinator’s job to move me around and put me in positions to elude the double team or what usually happens is I have to wait until the running game is successful or we hurt them with other receivers enough to where it loosens up a bit. Having TO on the field, having that presence, and that consistency, at some point it’s going to change. I have no idea what the thought process of defensive coordinators are going to be now with someone like that on the other side so I’m excited to see what’s going to happen. Forget just the passing game. The running game is going to be ridiculous because we’re a run-first team now.”

On working out with TO:

“We do that every year, every offseason. (Host Who’s faster?) I’m the fastest in the league right now.”

Listen to Chad Ochocinco on 106.7 the Fan in Washington D.C. here

Tags: 106.7 The Fan, AFC North, Chad OchoCinco, Cincinnati Bengals, NFL, Terrell Owens signs with the Bengals