Posted: 4:10 p.m.
Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer admitted he had no words as he came off the practice field Thursday. Just two months after suddenly losing his wife Vikki less than 72 hours before a game, everyone was, unbelievably, dealing with death again.
But no one like Zimmer as they mourned Chris Henry.
"I don't think anyone knows how to deal with it. Like I told somebody, the world's not going to stop. That's how it was with me," he said. "That's the one thing I learned from this whole deal. The world ain't stopping. People still get up and go to work. Everyone's got to deal with different issues and unfortunately we're dealing with this one."
It was a day Chad Ochocinco wept in the locker room and Mike Brown watched his glum team walk wordlessly off the practice field and Carson Palmer told the world again that Henry was misunderstood.
A tough day, Zimmer agreed. Asked how the players went through practice, Zimmer said, "Like you'd expect. Down."
Zimmer wanted to make sure that no one got a game mixed up with life.
"I don't know how much of the game is emotions. This is life," he said. "Life is so much more fragile. In this case it just shows how fragile life is … . They don't change the game, they don't say you don't have to go to work, they don't say you don't have to take care of your kids. You've still got to live. I think this shows you have to try to live every day."
Yes, Zimmer had to smile. Henry was a tough guy to defend in practice.
"He was a good player, a good player," he said. "He was a good guy, as far as on the field and all that. He'd come over and have a smile on his face, quiet and all that."
Zimmer didn't have many words Thursday. But he had a couple after being told Palmer dedicated the rest of the season to Zimmer's wife and Henry when he huddled with the team in the locker room just before Thursday morning walkthrough.
"That's nice of him," he said.
Really, on this day, it's all that could be said.
