Chris Henry, aka “Slim,” was known for his uncanny knack of catching the deep ball. Who had the Bengals longest passing play of 2009? You guessed it: Chris Henry with a 73 yard play. Now, I’m not into the hokey “We have to win this game because he died” idea.  The Bengals will be honoring Henry by wearing a #15 decal sticker, and they will have a moment of silence for him at the beginning of the game on Sunday.  And I know the title of this blog suggests some saccharine sentiment to throw the ball deep and have someone catch it to honor Henry’s receiving ability. That might be a little unrealistic.

Still.

We need to go deep. Whether it’s for Henry or not, we have to go deep. Before Henry’s death, I was going to write about it anyway. The team needs to mix it up on offense. I don’t mind us focusing on the run, but we can’t just neglect the passing game. Not with a QB like Carson Palmer and WRs that SHOULD be able to create separation (I’m looking at YOU Mr. Coles). And with the activation of WR Jerome Simpson, I think we have a Chris Henry Jr. ready to go.

Who is Jerome Simpson? Good question. Bengals fans have been wondering since April 2008 when we picked him up out of the second round of the 2008 draft, out of Coastal Carolina, a DI-AA school. AHEAD of phenomenal Philadelphia Eagles WR Desean Jackson. This year alone Jackson has had 50 receptions, 947 yards, 7 TDs. Simpson has had exactly ONE catch for 2 yards. And that was LAST year.

Why did we pick Simpson over Jackson? Two words: height and potential. Simpson is 6-2 and Jackson is 5-10. Simpson also has 14-inch length hands and a 44 inch vertical leap. He is supposed to have a ton of upside.

Why haven’t the Bengals even activated Simpson this year? The coaches kept saying, “He’s not ready.” I guess they think he’s not that good of a special teams person, which he would have to play since he’s not a #1 or #2 receiver. But the other knock on Simpson? He’s great at going deep, but he’s not very good at the intermediate routes for some reason. Does that sound familiar? That describes Henry’s skills when he first started playing for us to a T.

So do the Bengals send a second year player who hasn’t played a game all year and have him go for a 60 yard bomb?

Hell. Yes.

I don’t know if the coaches would actually do this, but I’ve been thinking about this the whole week. Before Henry’s death, I thought the situation had a .01% chance of happening. Now? Okay, it’s probably in the single digits for it to happen.

Still.

Here’s my vision (warning: I am not a football coach, but I can sure watch a good game):

First drive of the game against San Diego. Hopefully the Bengals get a first down with their predictable “run, run, pass” play calling. On 1st and 10, this is what I want to see:
Chad split wide left, Simpson wide right, Caldwell in the slot position. (Where’s Coles? I hope they bench his ass and he’s picking his butt on the sideline during this play, but he might be in there somewhere. Probably still picking his butt. He sure as hell is not catching any passes). They send Chad deep. Caldwell goes across the middle. Simpson ALSO goes deep. Carson throws it to Simpson.

This is brilliant for several reasons:
1) Chad will almost certainly be double teamed and that will leave Simpson one on one with their number 3 or 4 corner.
2) San Diego will almost certainly not expect this.
3) Simpson could make a spectacular catch.
4) It will change the whole complexity of the game.

If we could somehow go deep to one of our receivers not named Ochocinco, this will open up the entire offense for us. The San Diego secondary might poop their pants a little bit because they’re not expecting any semblance of a passing game because we haven’t had one since Henry has been on injured reserve. AND it will help all phases of the game: the run game by giving Cedric Benson more room to run if they’re thinking “Oh crap, they might go deep again,” the defense by making the Chargers throw the ball more if they have to play catch up (best corner tandem in the NFL: Jonathon Joseph and Leon Hall), and the passing game because, well, duh.

The worse thing that could happen is an interception run back for a TD. I don’t see that happening. Most likely it’ll go for a simple incompletion. But I’m tired of all of this conservative play calling. I’m tired of not utilizing a pro bowl QB to the best of his potential.

And, yes, we should do this for Chris Henry. Hokey or not, reckless or not, we need to do it.

Go deep for Slim.