BENGALS NOTEBOOK

As they watched film of the Philadelphia Eagles' blitzing defense last week, Bengals receivers saw a chance to counter with some aggression of their own. Perhaps, they said, yesterday's game would be an opportunity to unleash a side of the offense few have seen this season. Then the Eagles played the same cautious coverage that most teams have played against the Bengals, taking away the deep, outside passes at the expense of short passes in the middle of the field. So T.J. Houshmandzadeh went back to work. He caught 12 passes for 149 yards in a 13-13 tie, giving him an NFL-best 73 catches despite the uneven play around him. "He is a guy that I can count on to catch the ball," quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said. Chad Ocho Cinco caught four passes and is on pace for 66 catches and 613 yards this season, after averaging 92 catches and 1,314 yards per season the previous five. With Carson Palmer injured and the running game among the worst in the NFL, Houshmandzadeh has become the team's unquestioned go-to guy. "He's a very clutch player, and he makes tough catches on a very consistent basis," offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski said. Houshmandzadeh returned punts yesterday after Antonio Chatman, the regular returner, suffered a neck injury. \ Injury updates The Bengals are more nicked than normal, with less time to recover. They almost certainly will be without some key contributors when they play Thursday in Pittsburgh. Offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth suffered a sprained left ankle in the third quarter and did not return. "I think it's a pretty bad high-ankle sprain, but I don't really know yet," he said. Whitworth had slid from his regular guard spot to tackle earlier in the game because Levi Jones was struggling because of a leg injury. Jones played the fourth quarter and overtime only because Whitworth could not. He was in obvious discomfort as he left Paul Brown Stadium last night. Chatman was injured late in the first half when he was pretzeled by three Philadelphia defenders. He was taken off the field on a stretcher but had feeling in all his extremities and preliminary X-rays were normal, a team spokesman said. Chatman spent last night in a local hospital for further evaluation. The defense played without starting defensive end Antwan Odom, who was inactive because of a left shoulder injury, and it lost safety Chinedum Ndukwe to a sore left foot midway through the first quarter. Ndukwe missed two practices last week because of the injury. \ Feeling a draft Of the 10 players the Bengals drafted in April, only defensive tackle Pat Sims was in uniform yesterday. Receivers Jerome Simpson (ankle) and Andre Caldwell (foot) were inactive, as were offensive tackle Anthony Collins and defensive tackle Jason Shirley. Keith Rivers (jaw), Corey Lynch (knee) and Matt Sherry (shoulder) are on injured reserve, Mario Urrutia is on the practice squad and Angelo Craig was released. spriestle@dispatch.com