Bengals’ Michael Johnson stands by his comments

After the Cincinnati Bengals defeated the Cleveland Browns 41-20 on Sunday, Bengals’ defensive end Michael Johnson told fans that are booing and are acting negative towards to the team should “leave.”

On Monday, he stood by those comments.

“I was asked a question and I tried to answer it truthfully from the heart,” Johnson told ESPN.com’s Coley Harvey inside the Bengals’ locker room. “Anybody who knows me knows that it’s genuine. We’re here to win; we want to win. Just as bad as it pains people watching the game when we don’t do well, it hurts us 10 times more.”

On the season, Johnson has 36 tackles, 3.5 sacks and two forced fumbles for 7-4 Bengals.

“It just goes back to when you’re kids,” Johnson said Monday. “Everybody heard that ‘If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say it at all.’ Being at home, I love playing at home. We’re undefeated here this year. I love our fans. And they do a great job of being loud and making it tough on the other team.”