Chad Johnson - The Dark Side Of Football

[leonardfan40]

(05-16-2021, 03:03 PM)muskiesfan Wrote: AJ has no 5 year stretch in his career that can compare with Chad. During a 5 year stretch, Chad's lowest ranking in yardage was 6th. He led the AFC in receiving yards 3 consecutive years.

Also, not saying you, people talk about how poor Dalton was and how his numbers were inflated by the league being more pass happy. Obviously that would also benefit AJ.

Chad was without a doubt a top 3 WR in his prime. AJ was a top 10, maybe top 5. Again, not knocking AJ at all. He's an all-time great Bengal. Chad was definitely better though. 

You didn’t say me but I actually liked Dalton and spent plenty of time defending him on here so I’m not bashing him, but even I admit that Carson in his prime was better than Dalton could ever be.

As far as the era playing a difference, Carson averaged 234 yards/gm in Cincy. Dalton averaged 237 yards/gm so there was not a noticeable difference when comparing QB’s/yds. Yes the eras were different but I think QB skill probably cancels out any benefit from that. Chad did play more with other QB’s than AJ but his great years were with mostly with Carson. Defenses may have been better overall but AJ probably faced more players patrolling the secondary than Chad. When I think of D in Chad’s era I think bigger and more physical but not necessarily better/more athletic in the back end (there were definitely some good ones though). The D definitely got away with a lot more contact back then I will admit. I remember countless PI calls AJ drew which don’t count in his stats and many of them would have been huge deep catches if he weren’t interfered with. Don’t remember as many for Chad but that was a long time ago so maybe he did draw a bunch too.

Somebody mentioned forcing AJ the ball but I think if someone checked the targets/pass attempts for each WR you may be surprised. I don’t have the time/inclination to check each year but in 2004 Chad had his career high 170 targets on 536 Bengals pass attempts. AJ’s career high targets was 178 in 2013 on 587 pass attempts so target % slightly higher for Chad.

Like I said, I’d lean AJ but it’s close. May just be leaning towards him for his size but that’s worth considering. Chad was definitely more available/healthy which is also worth noting. Chad ran better routes and had better feet on the sideline. AJ better deep and jump balls, and still good tip toe on the sidelines. AJ less of a distraction but less entertaining. Chad will definitely be a better Bengal post retirement than AJ not that it matters in this discussion. Chad also had a tendency to hold the ball lose and get stripped from behind, at least later in his career that bothered me. AJ did get shut down by some of the better CB’s he faced for quite a while but Chad had his stinkers too. Both are great. I just cannot agree with anyone saying there is a clear better WR. It’s 1A/1B in my book. I don’t care about the order