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CINCINNATI — Carson Palmer will settle for the new Chad Johnson — the suddenly subdued, mellow, quiet, reserved wide receiver.

But the Bengals quarterback prefers throwing to the old Chad Johnson — the animated, intense, flamboyant, dancing, pass-catching machine.

Johnson's split personality will be on display at Rich Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Sunday when the Bengals face the Buffalo Bills.

"I like the louder Chad — the more confident (player), talking trash in people's ears about different things," Palmer said. "But it's hard to be like that 24/7.

"It's hard to have that much energy, especially when you're depressed about the way the season's going. It's hard to come in fired up when you're not 7-0 or 8-0 like some of the teams in this league."

Johnson is like the proverbial box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get.

"Sometimes, he comes in and he's loud and talking smack all over the place, and sometimes he comes in and is very, very quiet," Palmer added. "But whichever guy comes in, he always practices as hard as he can and does everything he can on the field.

"It doesn't matter how much he's talking or how little he's talking. He still shows up to play."

And so does fellow starting wideout T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who leads the NFL in catches (58) and could shatter Carl Pickens' single-season club record of 100 receptions set in 1996.

"I can't say enough good things about T.J.," Palmer said. "I wouldn't trade him for any receiver in this league, point-blank. He's done nothing but make plays that a lot of guys can't. He is as good a player as there is in this league."

Running a lot of quick slants and 8-to-10-yard curl routes, Houshmandzadeh gets blasted by cornerbacks, safeties and linebackers over the middle.

"There's a number of guys in this league that don't return to games after some of the shots he's taken," Palmer said. "I get surprised when I see him on the ground because I know he's tough and he's stronger than everybody on the field. There's been times where I go over and kind of yell at him or talk a little smack to him, and he pops right up and gets back in the huddle."

What kind of smack?

"In a few choice words, I just tell him to get up and get back into the huddle," Palmer said. "I like talking trash to T.J. any chance I get."

Houshmandzadeh also weighed in on the quieter Chad: "I don't think anything's wrong with him. We're not winning. So when you don't win, everybody's disappointed. He's no different. He's not going to walk around like everything's fine when we're losing games."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2253 or cludwig@DaytonDailyNews.com.

NFL's dynamic duos

The following teams are on pace to have two receivers gain 1,000 yards

Team No. 1 receiver (yards) No. 2 receiver (yards) Total yards

New England Randy Moss (779) Wes Welker (613) 1,392

Cincinnati Chad Johnson (731) T.J. Houshmandzadeh (629) 1,360

Cleveland Braylon Edwards (669) Kellen Winslow (532) 1,201

Dallas Terrell Owens (556) Jason Witten (540) 1,096

San Diego Antonio Gates (639) Chris Chambers (450) 1,089

Kansas City Tony Gonzalez (506) Dwayne Bowe (499) 1,005

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Next game

Who: Bengals (2-5) at Buffalo Bills (3-4)

When: 1 p.m. Sunday

Radio: WTUE-FM (104.7)

TV: WHIO (CBS, Chan. 7)