Pete_Prisco

So Chad Johnson said again Wednesday that he wants to be traded?

Does anybody have a mute button?

Johnson keeps saying the same thing over and over again. Yes, we get it. You're not happy in Cincinnati. But the Bengals receiver has to understand that coach Marvin Lewis will not trade him.

Lewis is insistent on that.

Johnson is trying to force his way out of town. The Bengals, who would take an $8 million cap hit to trade him, aren't biting.

Johnson has threatened to sit out the season if he doesn't get traded. There's no way that happens. He can't leave big money on the table, not with only so many earning years in his body.

For now, it's an all-out ambush on the organization, trying to get free.

When it becomes apparent the team will not trade him, Johnson will sheepishly come to camp this summer and show up to play. And he'll play well -- and hard. That's what he does.

He won't be sitting on a couch somewhere watching Carson Palmer throw to someone else. He needs the spotlight. They all do. He’ll be playing. They all eventually do.

Even someone as stubborn as "Ocho Cinco" has to realize that.

The New England Patriots have one of the easiest schedules in the league. Yet you're going to hear some griping from Pats fans and others that the way the four road trips to the West Coast are on the schedule isn't fair.

And they're probably right. The Patriots have to go to San Francisco and San Diego in successive weeks in October. They also go to Seattle and Oakland in December in back-to-back weeks.

But I can tell you this: A lot of teams would trade those four games for a chance to play six division games against the three other teams in the AFC East.

That division is weak. The Patriots own it. That offsets those trips to the West Coast.
Plus, won't it be fun to see Randy Moss playing in the Black Hole in Oakland?

The Pittsburgh Steelers have the toughest schedule in football -- by far.

One eight-game span might be the toughest eight-game stretch any team has ever faced.
Starting on Oct. 5 with a game at Jacksonville against the Jaguars, the Steelers face six games against playoff teams and two others against division-rival, Cincinnati.

After Jacksonville, the Steelers schedule looks like this: Bye, at Cincinnati, home against the New York Giants, at Washington, then three home games against Indianapolis, San Diego and Cincinnati before a game at New England followed by a home game against Dallas.

That stretch includes both Super Bowl teams, another (San Diego) that joined them in the Championship Games and four division winners (Dallas, New England, San Diego and Indianapolis.

If the Steelers can get through that at 5-3, they probably take it right now. It would also mean they're a heck of a football team.

Surviving that eight-game stretch will be a test for Mike Tomlin in his second season as coach.

Did the Cleveland Browns win a division last season? How about a playoff game? Did they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers?

The answers are no, no and no again.

So why are the Browns slated for five national prime-time telecasts in 2008? Potential.

But even the most diehard Browns fan would have to admit getting five prime-time games is a bit much.

I guess the Browns are the darlings of the NFL now based on the release of the league schedule Tuesday.

Maybe the league should pay closer attention to what Browns general manager Phil Savage has to say. He told me a couple of weeks ago that the Browns can't really start talking about the division title until they prove they can beat the Steelers. Pittsburgh beat them twice last season.

Cleveland is improved. But five prime-time games?