Hard Knocks No. 2: Bengals Players Behind the Scenes

Chad doesn’t drink…who woulda thunk it?

The second episode of Hard Knocks explored the behind the scene view of several Bengals.

Chad OchoCinco Bengal wide receiver and creator of term “child please” was shown at a club in Cincinnati acting quite mellow. He ordered a red bull and cranberry and acted like a professional. More so than he does on the football field, kind of backwards if you ask me. Chad complains of his unexciting existence:

"See how boring my life is? All I have is Twitter."

The show also focused on his not-so-good diet, which has always included a lot of McDonald's. According to his QB Carson Palmer, 60-to-70 percent of what Ochocinco says is just hot air. Palmer says he tunes out his top target most of the time. They sound like an old married couple.

Palmer has some funny moments. He complains that his center Kyle Cook needs to shower more. He tells Laveranues Coles that he isn’t 29; he is in his “mid-20’s”. Why? So people will assume that he is only 27.

Palmer also reveals his love for Gatorade. He considers himself a “connoisseur” and sometimes the Bengals put in too much water or too much mix. This team’s faculty can’t do anything right!

Lots of footage of receiver Chris Henry’s potential and antics. Owner Mike Brown reveals that he is “quite fond” of Henry. Another reminder of who decided to re-sign him after all his legal troubles going into last season. He gets into a shoving match with safety Roy Williams and both players talk some trash. Palmer tries to explain to him a route that was messed up.

During the coaches' evaluation meeting, you had coaches Mike Sheppard and Marvin Lewis talking about Chris Henry: "he doesn't play smart football”.

At the first preseason game in New Orleans, Henry catches a touchdown and proceeds to do a dance by the Saints sideline. Lewis becomes furious and gives him an ear full when Henry returns to the sideline. Looks like the same story, loads of potential (had 100 yards and a TD), still doesn’t act like a professional.

One of my favorite scenes was Tank Johnson trying to put together the bunk bed set for his two girls. The set had about 1,000 screws. When finished he tested it by laying his 305 lb body on it. The bed held up.

My favorite scene also involved Tank. He asks a P.R. rep during a meeting if it’s possible if google can do something about making sure the charges against him aren't the first thing that comes up when his name is searched. These are issues at Bengals camp.

The coolest story was of safety Cory Lynch aka the guy for Appalachian St. that blocked Michigan’s last second field goal attempt two years ago. On father’s day he was the first to arrive at the scene of an accident. He helped the lady who was pinned in her car and unable to breathe get out safely and basically saved her life.

The women and her family visited Lynch at training camp and expressed her gratitude and labeled him her new hero. That’s a Bengals story you aren’t used to hearing.

Rookie tight end Chase Coffman continues to draw criticism. His nickname is Crash Dummy because he's knocked around so much.

Tight end’s coach Johnathan Hayes said, "If you don't use your hands, you will never play in this league. You move like old people screw".

Good background on the relationship Hayes has with Coffman. Hayes played with Coffman's dad in the NFL.

Two amusing Lewis moments:

At one point Lewis said that Mike Brown told him “Child Please”. I wonder if Brown has any idea what the phrase even means…doubtful.

After the mock game Lewis ends his speech with a few words “Be smart tonight...no drinking and driving”. Actually Marvin I would rather them be smart every night.

The show ends on a very frustrating note for Bengals fans. Mike Brown’s daughter and future owner of the team Katie Blackburn was shown talking to the agent of sixth overall pick Andre Smith. They debate slotting based on the deal the seventh pick Hayward-Bay received. Neither accepted the other's point. Clearly the Bengals don’t understand the slotting system of the NFL draft. They were about $10 million apart.

The Bengals are not new to draft holdouts and this scene is proof. The way Blackburn handled the situation has to be absolutely freighting to Cincinnati. The prospect of her owning the team someday is equally horrifying.