Determined Perry
When running back Chris Perry severely sprained his ankle Dec. 11, it looked like another dreary ending for the 2004 first-round draft pick.

Maybe not.

The Bengals decided not to put Perry on injured reserve, which would have ended his season. They waited to see how quickly the left ankle would heal, hoping he could be ready for the playoffs.

There’s a chance he will.

“Each and every day is an improvement,” Perry said. “I’m just (now) making cuts off my leg. Once I get that down, I’ll be ready to go.”

The AFC North champions could use him. Despite missing two games because of the injury, Perry still ranks third on the team with 48 receptions, trailing only Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

He was especially dangerous on third down, giving the Bengals a threat to catch the ball or turn the corner on a run. Starter Rudi Johnson is more of an up-the-middle runner.

Perry missed most of his rookie season because of a pulled hamstring and a hernia. He had gained a niche in the offense when the ankle injury threatened to end his second season prematurely.

The playoffs provided a second chance.

“I’ll be ready for the playoffs,” Perry insisted. “It’s the playoffs. I haven’t been to the playoffs, and not many people on this team have been to the playoffs.”

Peas from the same pod
Flamboyant receivers Steve Smith of Carolina and Chad Johnson of Cincinnati were on the same junior college team and remain friends.

So after Smith was ejected from the Panthers’ game last Sunday for accidentally bumping an official, he got a call from Johnson.

“He told me, ’Don’t feed the zebras. Don’t touch the animals at the zoo,”’ Smith said. “That kind of made me laugh. Life moves on.”

Backing the line
One constant links the Denver Broncos to their Super Bowl teams of the past: a solid linebacker corps.

“They have always had very good linebacking,” said San Diego coach Marty Schottenheimer, who also coached against the Broncos with Cleveland and Kansas City. “This group is terrific and every bit as good as the others.”

He remembers the unit of Randy Gradishar, Joe Rizzo, Tom Jackson and Bob Swenson in 1977, the first Denver team to play in a Super Bowl. Running backs were funneled to Gradishar and Rizzo in the middle. On the outside, Swenson matched up with the tight end and Jackson rushed.

Jim Ryan and Karl Mecklenburg were the featured linebackers for the team that played in the 1987 and 1988 Super Bowls. Then it was John Mobley, Bill Romanowski and Allen Aldridge on the team that won the Super Bowl after the 1997 season. Romanowski and Mobley, along with Glen Cadrez, started on another winner the next season.

This year’s group includes middle linebacker Al Wilson, second-year man D.J. Williams on the strong side and Ian Gold on the weak side.

“Al Wilson to me is as good a middle linebacker as I’ve seen in this league in a long time,” Schottenheimer said. “Like a lot of their linebackers, you can get on them, but they won’t stay blocked.”

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