Former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver T. J. Houshmandzadeh recently provided some details on the team’s past.
Appearing on the “NFL Players Second Acts” podcast, Houshmandzadeh reflected on why hindsight explained so much about the struggles of his early Bengals teams.
“You really delve into the ‘Why weren’t we good?’” Houshmandzadeh said. “It’s the off the field. It’s the lack of discipline. It’s the complete lack of respect and structure of the guys on the team…We did what we wanted to do. When I first got to Cincinnati, we didn’t even stay in hotels for home games.”
Houshmandzadeh went as far as recanting one story of a starting member of the team not being ready for a Saturday flight to an away game — and getting to start anyway.
Granted, these things aren’t new to Bengals fans, who have undoubtedly heard plenty of stories over the years. But it’s interesting to hear Houshmandzadeh recall some of these stories and explain why Marvin Lewis faced such a massive task when turning around the culture of the entire organization.
