Just 1:47 into Sunday’s Paul Brown Stadium opener. That’s how long it took for Cincinnati cornerback Adam Jones to make five to seven Browns miss him, depending on whom you think actually had a shot at him during his 81-yard punt return for the touchdown that gave the Bengals the upper hand in a game that easily could have changed hands during their 34-27 victory.
But in a relieved locker room, Jones refused to say his first return touchdown in six years was the punctuation of his long journey. From NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s Most Wanted List through a canyon of injury and doubt that ended Sunday with throwing the ball down in the end zone and scaling a goal post.
“I don’t want to get into all that,” said Jones, who has been plagued with a herniated neck disc and a series of pulled hamstring and leg muscles since he signed with the Bengals in 2010. “I’m just looking ahead.”
It was a sweet end to a tumultuous week for the Bengals special teams. They ended up scoring a touchdown while holding the great Josh Cribbs to one punt return for nine yards and six kick returns in which he didn’t reach his 37-yard line.
“I think one of the last things Darrin (Simmons) told the special teams,” said Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. ” ‘Why is everybody worried about Cribbs when they have to stop us?’ And Adam made that sure right away.”
It is a sign, the Bengals hope, of their depth. It certainly is an example of their abilities to buffet challenges and adversity.
“We’ve got a lot of good players,” said de facto special teams captain Dan Skuta.
And they were all needed.
On Tuesday, the day special teams coach Darrin Simmons informed Jones he would be returning Sunday for the first time in a game since Oct. 30 in Seattle, Simmons had to go into the hospital with a serious blood infection.
He got back for Thursday’s practice, just in time to see WILL backer Thomas Howard end his season with an ACL tear and his scrimmage snaps going to potentially three of Simmons’s core players in Skuta, Vincent Rey and rookie Vontzae Burfict.
Simmons is still steamed about missing Wednesday’s practice.
“It was terrible,” he said of not being there.
Jones shook his head after the game.
“The man could even hardly walk yesterday,” Jones said, “and there he was with us today coaching throughout the game.”
Not only that, on Saturday night Jones went to Simmons and told him he felt sick before he ended up taking an IV before the game.
“It’s nice to have a veteran group. You don’t have to tell us too much,” Skuta said. “We kind of know the way and know how to play different things. I think we took (Burfict) off a few things so he could play more defense.”
Rey, who played just two snaps from scrimmage since arriving from Duke as a free agent in 2010 before playing about 30 Sunday, went double duty. He had six tackles and his first NFL sack from scrimmage, and one tackle on special teams. Burfict, who got the other 30 or so snaps at Howard’s spot, also pitched in doing both and had three tackles from scrimmage.
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