“Going into next year, they’re going to put more on me and that’s what I want,” said Dalton, who was at the Super Bowl to promote the Panini Pop Warner Bowl. “We were going into a new system so everyone had to learn,” Dalton said of the challenges from last season. “For the rookies, we didn’t know anything different. It’ll be nice to know the schedule this year.”

“I sent everyone (in Cincinnati) a letter, a thank you note. I think that’s the best I can do. Everybody who had anything to do with me being there, I hope they have it framed,” Ochocinco said Wednesday of his former team, which traded him after the lockout following a 10-year stay when he broke most of the Bengals’ career receiving records.

“That’s just the way it goes. (Owner) Mike (Brown) was good to me. The city was good to me. The media, we had our ups and downs. I made it fun. The fans were epic for 10 straight years. Of course, I had my riffs and raffs. Like any human being I’m not perfect. Other than that, there’s nothing bad I can actually say, period.”

He was admitted to an area hospital for treatment of pneumonia Thursday evening. Due to serious pre-existing conditions, he did not respond to treatment and died, he was 65.

A source close to the former University of Cincinnati and Bengals quarterback was in the intensive care unit after his health took a turn for the worse Thursday night. His family had gathered Thursday to keep vigil.

QB Andy Dalton, DT Geno Atkins and TE Jermaine Gresham have been added to the roster to play in Sunday nights game. Dalton and Atkins were both first alternates in last month’s voting, and Gresham was a third alternate. All three will replace players who were removed from the squad when the Patriots won the AFC Championship and qualified for Super Bowl XLVI.

Dalton will replace New England QB Tom Brady, Atkins will take the spot of Patriots DT Vince Wilfork, and Gresham will replace Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski. Two alternates voted ahead of Gresham are not available for the game, the league announced. The Bengals now have four players headed for the Pro Bowl, as WR A.J. Green was voted to the AFC team last month.

“Some very positive opportunities both for fans and the local economy will now be available, and we are excited to bring the benefits to Greater Cincinnati,” said Katie Blackburn, the Bengals vice-president, in the team’s news release. “We think fans will like what we have to offer.”

ProFootballTalk.com’s Mike Florio reports that “there’s increasing chatter in league circles” that the Dolphins are leaning toward Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer to fill their head-coaching vacancy. The move would reunite Zimmer and Miami G.M. Jeff Ireland, who spent six seasons together from 2001 through 2006 as employees of the Cowboys. The Bengals feared losing both Zimmer and offensive coordinator Jay Gruden after an unlikely playoff berth in 2011. Gruden has opted to stay. It would actually hurt a little less for Zimmer to go, given that head coach Marvin Lewis was a defensive coordinator before taking over the team in 2003.

Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden has signed a three-year extension worth $1.2 million per year.

The deal doubles Gruden’s salary from 2011, his first season with the Bengals after coaching with the Orlando-based Florida Tuskers in 2009-10 and playing and coaching for the Orlando Predators from 1998-2008.

Earlier this week, Gruden declined opportunities to interview for several head coach vacancies.

In 2011, Gruden directed an offense that ranked 20th in the NFL in total offense and 18th in scoring offense. Gruden’s top contribution to the Bengals this season was getting 2011 second-round quarterback Andy Dalton ready to start the regular season without the benefit of OTAs and mini-camps. Dalton completed 300-of-516 pass attempts for 3,398 yards with 20 touchdowns and 13 interceptions

A woman who worked as a Kentucky high school teacher and moonlights as a Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader will get to press her lawsuit against a website and its owner over lewd online comments about her that made her life at school so uncomfortable she quit her teaching job.

U.S. District Judge William O. Bertelsman set a June 4 trial date in Covington for Sarah Jones’ defamation and invasion of privacy lawsuit against the website, www.thedirty.com, and its owner, Hooman Karamian, who goes by the name Nik Richie,

Two postings in 2009 prompted the case. Jones twice asked that the posts be taken down. Richie refused both times.

Jones resigned from her teaching job in November. She is still on the Bengals’ roster as a cheerleading captain.

Gruedn will not be interviewing for head coaching jobs according to Jason La Canfora of NFL Network. He is very happy in Cincinnati.

We think that is a very wise decision for Gruden. Perhaps in another year or two he will have a little more seasoning as a coordinator in the NFL.

Danieal Manning #38 of the Houston Texans intercepts a pass against A.J. Green #18 of the Cincinnati Bengals during their 2012 AFC Wild Card Playoff game

Andy Dalton rolled his eyes and shook his head.

The Bengals’ rookie quarterback couldn’t believe the play J.J. Watt made that turned the game around for the Texans.

The 6-foot-5 defensive end fought off a blocker, leaped in front of Dalton’s pass and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown. It gave Houston the lead just before halftime, and the Texans never looked back in a 31-10 victory in the AFC wild-card game Saturday.

“He jumped up and made a play,” Dalton said. “It was a great job on his part.”

Watt, also a rookie, works on plays like that in practice, but had never had an interception. And this one helped the Texans to the first playoff win in franchise history.

“I was really just trying to put my hands up and get in the way of the passing lane,” Watt said. “It happened to kind of stick. I realized I had the ball, so I just ran to the end zone just trying not to fall down.”

The Bengals were making their third playoff appearance in seven seasons, but haven’t won since 1991, when they beat the Houston Oilers 41-14.

“I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to put us in position today to win the football game and get us over the hump here,” Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said.

Chris Crocker dropped an interception on a drive by Houston in the third quarter. A dejected Crocker sat at his locker with his head down for a long time after the game.

“It was a touchdown if I would have caught it,” Crocker said. “They made those big plays and we didn’t and that’s why they’re moving on.”

Three plays later came another of those plays. The Texans stretched the lead to 24-10 when Andre Johnson juked Adam “Pacman” Jones on a double move to get in front of him for a 40-yard touchdown reception.

“I’ve got to make that play,” Jones said. “It’s a tough one, but I’m not going to beat myself up too much over it. All I can do is learn from this experience.”

The Bengals had trouble containing Johnson, who was at full speed for the first time since injuring his left hamstring Dec. 4 and finished with 90 yards receiving.

Dalton was 24 of 42 for 257 yards, while fellow rookie T.J. Yates was 11 of 20 for 159 yards in the first playoff game in the Super Bowl era matching two rookie quarterbacks.

Dalton had thrown just one interception in the past six games, but was intercepted three times on Saturday. The second came when he threw a long pass under heavy pressure which was intercepted on fourth down by former Bengal Johnathan Joseph.

Danieal Manning, signed along with Joseph to shore up Houston’s secondary in the offseason, grabbed the third one midway through the fourth quarter.

That led to a 42-yard touchdown run by Arian Foster that made it 31-10.

Dalton, who grew up in the Houston suburb of Katy and played in college at TCU, was sacked a season-high four times and tied a season-high with three interceptions while dealing with the rowdy, record crowd of 71,725.

Cincinnati couldn’t get anything going on the ground against fourth-ranked rush defense and Cedric Benson finished with just 14 yards rushing.

The Bengals didn’t score after halftime. They had a chance late, but a pass intended for rookie receiver A.J. Green on fourth down was batted down in the end zone.

Green had four receptions for 42 yards in the first half, but added just one catch for five yards after that.

“They made some great adjustments coming out of halftime,” said Green, who had 1,104 yards receiving this season.

The Texans tied it at 10 less than two minutes before halftime on a 39-yard field goal by Neil Rackers. Johnson had a 17-yard catch on third down to keep that drive going, but couldn’t grab a throw from Yates in the end zone to force the field goal.

Dalton was sacked by Brooks Reed for a 9-yard loss on third down to bring up a 50-yard field-goal attempt by Mike Nugent. The kick was long enough, but sailed wide right to leave the game tied early in the second quarter.

Donald Lee grabbed a short pass from Dalton and two Texans missed a chance to tackle him and he made it into a 36-yard gain. An unnecessary roughness penalty by Antonio Smith got the Bengals to the Houston 33.

They eventually settled for a 37-yard field goal by Nugent to go up 10-7 midway through the second quarter.

Cincinnati’s first score was set up by a 52-yard pass interference penalty on Houston’s Glover Quin. His foul on a deep ball thrown to Green got the Bengals to their own 28.

Benson bulled into the end zone four plays later for a 1-yard touchdown to give Cincinnati a 7-0 lead.

Houston’s first touchdown was also helped out by a penalty. Yates found Owen Daniels on a 21-yard pass and Reggie Nelson was flagged for a hit to the head of a defenseless player on the tackle to add 15 yards to the play.

Foster took it from there with three straight runs capped by an 8-yard touchdown run where he cut to the outside for the score to make it 7-7 with about five minutes left in the first quarter.