By Mark Curnutte
Enquirer staff writer

Bengals wide receiver Peter Warrick was downgraded to out Thursday for the game Sunday.

His shin injury will cause him to be inactive against the Browns for the second game in a row.

Center Rich Braham, however, was upgraded to probable and has been sharing practice repetitions with Jerry Fontenot.

"Seems to be getting better every day," Braham said of his knee. "It doesn't hurt now sitting on a chair watching TV."

Braham also said he doesn't know who would start.

The only other change on the injury report was defensive lineman Carl Powell. He remained questionable with a knee injury but did not practice Thursday.

Safety Kim Herring remained questionable, but he practiced for the third consecutive time and said he expected to play Sunday.

CHAD, DAY 2: Chad Johnson's gift of Pepto-Bismol to four Browns defensive backs received a lot of national attention Thursday, most responses positive for the good-natured cleverness.

Johnson hoped to snap the Bengals' offense out of what he said was a slump.

"I did something not only to challenge myself but also the team," Johnson said Thursday. The Bengals have scored two offensive touchdowns in the past three games.

Johnson is a friend of some of the Browns defensive backs who received a bottle of Pepto-Bismol, especially safety Earl Little. Johnson said they would need to take stomach medicine after he makes them sick trying to defend him Sunday.

"It's cool. I think it's fun, especially since it's the rivalry week and all," Johnson said. "It's something to look forward to than just Cleveland playing Cincinnati. I just made the game that much more interesting."

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis had little to say about Johnson's joke: "It's a friend-to-friend thing. It's not that big of a deal."

Bengals defensive tackle John Thornton said such pranks are not his style.

"That's him," Thornton said. "But Chad's Chad. He can get away with that stuff. I guess you got to be really good to do something like that, and he is a good player who can back it up.

"But I don't care how good I was. I would never want to get anybody going like that."

TRANSACTION: The Bengals lost a promising player from their practice squad Thursday.

Rookie free agent Jamall Broussard was signed to the Carolina Panthers' 53-man roster. Broussard had eight receptions for 58 yards and five punt returns for 34 yards in the preseason.

PERSPECTIVE: Second-year defensive end Elton Patterson has had a tough couple of months as a football player. He has been waived twice by the Bengals and re-signed three times - twice to the practice squad, where he is now listed.

But Patterson said he received a simple but powerful message while watching a TV special about the late Christopher Reeve on Wednesday night. Reeve, who died earlier this week, was paralyzed in an equestrian competition in 1995.

"Sometimes I might feel like I'm not getting treated fairly or I deserve more," Patterson said. "It made me realize my situation is nowhere near compared to how bad stuff was for him. He faced real adversity. I'm blessed to even being here and be able to do all the daily things we sometimes take for granted."

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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