The Bengals and Saints will square off on Sunday in a game that means a lot to both teams’ playoff chances, but Bengals defensive lineman Devon Still wants to find a moment before things get started to shake hands with Saints coach Sean Payton.
Payton bought 100 of the Still jerseys that the Bengals were selling earlier this year to raise money to battle pediatric cancer in honor of Still’s daughter Leah’s valiant and ongoing fight against the insidious disease. That got a lot of publicity for the effort, which culminated in both Stills helping to hand over a check for more than $1 million to the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital last week.
Still has spoken to Payton over the phone, but this will be his first chance to thank the coach in person.
“He’s basically what got the ball rolling with everything,’' Still said, via the Associated Press. ''A lot of the credit goes to him for what he did. You can’t thank somebody the way you want to or are supposed to over the phone. It’s something you have to do face-to-face, so I’m definitely looking forward to meeting him.”
The fundraising efforts of Still, Payton, the Bengals and everyone else who participated has been one of the best off-field stories in an NFL season that’s been marred by far too much of the opposite behavior.