Last year in the playoffs, Bengals linebacker Clay Johnston took down a king. Now this year in the preseason he’s simply trying to get back over the moat into the kingdom.
“Every season re-sets. You have to start from square one. That’s our standard. Not just getting to the Super Bowl but finishing it off the right way,” Johnston said this week before practice. “Hopefully they’ll keep a lot of the same faces around. I think we have great chemistry.
“It will all pan out. I’m not stressing. If the Lord wants me to stay here, I’ll be here. If he doesn’t, it will be somewhere else. But I love it here.”
You can’t say the call Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo barked into middle linebacker Logan Wilson’s helmet that historic day in Nashville back in January.
But when it got passed to Johnston, playing his only snap of the 2021 playoffs, it meant simply for him to, “Go find the ball,” on the Titans’ two-point conversion with the ball nestled near the Cincy 1.
Johnston lined up on the right edge and made a beeline for King Derrick Henry running over left tackle and into Bengals lore.
When Johnston wrapped his arms around Henry’s monstrous legs to keep it a 6-6 game, it more than helped allow the Bengals to win the AFC Divisional at the gun for their first road playoff win in history.
(Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill isn’t exactly throwing with a one-point lead.)
But all that means nothing in New York Sunday (7 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Local 12) when the Bengals play the Giants in one of those preseason games that means nothing except to the Clay Johnstons of the world trying to make the final spot at a position on the Opening Day roster in their third NFL season. He may have got an AFC ring and a Super Bowl special teams tackle since he’s been here, but that’s still only seven games since he arrived via waivers on Nov. 9.
“That’s my biggest challenge,” he said of learning the defense and special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons’ schemes and wants. “I think I’m getting better…
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