Who “Kissed the Baby” in the First Half of '09?

After coming off of a terrible season last year in which he caught only four touchdown passes and had a total of 540 receiving yards, at age 30, one could say that maybe Chad Ochocinco’s skills were on the decline.  Before the season began he was trying to force a trade and causing up a lot of controversy.  This season began a little different.  After getting inspiration from Ray Lewis and Denzel Washington, Ochocinco returned this season more determined, more focused, and more like his 2007 self when he had a career high in receiving yards (1,440) and caught eight touchdown passes. Another thing that returned from his past was his cornerback hit list.  Only this time instead of asking “who covered number 85 in ‘05”, the list asked who “kissed the baby”, slang for it’s all over, in ’09. 

The list was titled “Dulce Venganza” by Ochocinco who said when he was interviewed by the media, “This season for me is what I like to call ‘sweet revenge’ for those who all counted me out. Basically everybody on this list has to pay for what happened last year.”  So with the first half of the season coming to an end, the question is who on his list has “kissed the baby”?  This may be a hard question to answer for many since Ochocinco didn’t give anyone determining factors on what he must do in order for opposing defensive backs to meet this fate.  That’s where this article comes in.

To determine which group of defensive backs “kissed the baby” we will look at whether or not how productive Ochocinco was compared to the defensive backs he listed on his list and how big of a contribution he made to his team in a victory (if a team victory occurred.).  So now that we have the guidelines in place, let’s take a look at the games he has played in so far while also previewing who will be his next victims in the first half of this season.

El Empezando (The Beginning)

The Broncos (Champ Bailey and Andre Goodman)

In the first game of the season Ochocinco and The Bengals took on the Broncos in what was a game all about defense.  The final score was 12-7 in which the Bengals took the loss.  Ochocinco had a productive game, catching five passes for 89 yards and averaged over 17 yards per reception.  Also, in the five passes that he caught, all of them resulted in first downs. 

Despite this, his productivity was overlooked in the media due to the amazing play made by Broncos’ wide receiver Brandon Stokley in which he caught a pass off of a deflection and scored the game winning touchdown.  Because of that play one thing another fact that was overlooked is that Ochocinco was the leading receiver in yards that day out of the receivers on both teams.

So with all that said if you compare Ochocinco’s productivity to Bailey and Goodman’s productivity then it’s easy to determine that Ochocinco succeeded in his goal to make Bailey and Goodman “kiss the baby”

Verdict: Bailey and Goodman kissed the baby – 1-0-0 (win-loss-tie)

The Bengal Leap

The Packers (Charles Woodson and Al Harris)

In this game Ochocinco set two goals. One was the same as last week’s and the second was to score a touchdown and perform Lambeau Leap afterwards.  He completed the second goal but in order to determine if he completed the first goal we have to look at the stats.  Ochocinco caught four passes which resulted in 91 yards receiving and, unlike the last game, one of those catches was a touchdown pass on a 13-yard slant.  A slant that made the Packers’ secondary look confused and foolish and it seemed to be the result of miscommunication by the safeties.  It was also a key play considering the timing of the touchdown since it occurred in the third quarter to break a tie a put the Bengals up 28-21.

On the opposite side of the ball Packers’ cornerback Charles Woodson intercepted a pass that was meant for Ochocinco. He also intercepted another pass and returned it for a touchdown. Al Harris didn’t intercept a pass and only recorded 4 total tackles.

So given the fact that Ochocinco clearly had a big impact on the game and his impact resulted in a victory for the Bengals, you would have to give the slight edge in this match-up to Ochocinco even thought Woodson played a great game also.  You just can’t argue with an Ochocinco’s touchdown or the fact that Harris didn’t play as well as Woodson did.

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