Posted: 5:35 p.m.
T.J. Houshmandzadeh caught the hot read from Boomer Esiason and threw it back to him Monday after the former Bengals Pro Bowl quarterback said in his CBS studio gig that the club quit on head coach Marvin Lewis in Sunday's 35-6 loss to the Texans.
"He's a quarterback. It's different for him. He doesn't know," Houshmandzadeh said. "He hasn't been in this locker room with Coach Lewis. He has no idea what we're doing and guys quitting. When guys say that on TV, that's just something to say. That 's how I take it."
 Houshmandzadeh |
"He's not here. It's easy for him to sit up in the booth and say what he says," Houshmandzadeh said. "He's not in this locker room. He doesn't know what's going on. Qutting on him? We're just losing. That's the bottom line. ... When games get out of hand, maybe the effort isn't where it should be. But maybe that 's human nature, maybe not."
Houshmandzadeh's 54 catches are second in the NFL to Andre Johnson and translate to 108 on the season, which would make him the first Bengal to have back-to-back 100-catch seasons.
"Sometimes your effort wavers here and there," Houshmandzadeh said. "I don't know what it is. Boomer would say quitting I guess. That's human nature. You just have to fight against it. That's all you can do."
