Vontaze Burfict
The day after in the training room must have looked good to Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. In the wake of the 41-20 victory over the Browns on Monday, the first day of the team's bye week, Lewis said he expects his club to be at full strength for the Dec. 1 game in San Diego.
» But he was apparently not happy with WILL linebacker Vontaze Burfict's postgame comments about retaliation. After he picked up his team-leading ninth penalty of the season on an unnecessary roughness call when the officials ruled he pushed center Alex Mack after the whistle, Burfict said he was standing up for his teammates and retaliated.
"This is not the WWF. You don't get any points for retaliating. That's (BS) right there what I read about it in the paper," Lewis said. "It's not right. We as a football team need to clean ourselves up and need to do better. This is not acceptable. And it won't be acceptable and if we don't fix it, they won't play. That's where are with that."
Burfict's teammates enjoy the way he plays, but they've also got to listen to Lewis.
"If coach said we need to clean it up then we need to clean it up. When we're out there playing and somebody gets a penalty, we shrug it off and play through it. You can't really worry about it," said right end Michael Johnson. "I love the way Vontaze plays. It's contagious. It spreads. He's a very smart player, too. He plays extremely hard.
"I would just tell him to keep playing hard. Of course we've got signs up here that say "Play hard, play smart" so just continue to play hard and smart."
» Asked about the boos unleashed on the offense after it went three-and-out in a game the Bengals trailed, 13-0, left tackle Andrew Whitworth said they had to expect it "with three series" like that to open the game.
But he did say it was pretty mild, recalling the 2010 days when fans threw Carson Palmer jerseys on the field behind the Bengals bench.
"I was here when we were 0-8," Whitworth said. "That's not booing."
» Who knew? First-year safety Tony Dye, who scored a touchdown scooping up a blocked punt in his first NFL game Sunday, flirted with a pro hockey career and didn't play football until he got to high school.
Dye, a southern California native ("right between San Diego and L.A.") was left winger and began playing at age 5. He was good enough to make a 14-year-old USA team that got beat in a world final by the Czech Republic, but gave up the sport soon after.
"Money," Dye said. "I had to make the decision of either go to prep school in Minnesota or try football. I guess it worked out"
