T.j. Houshmandzadeh
(born September 26, 1977 in Victorville, California) is an American football player of Iranian and African-American descent (father is Iranian, mother is African-American) who plays wide receiver for the National Football League's Cincinnati Bengals. The name Houshmandzadeh (in Persian characters ﻩﺪﺍﺰﺪﻨﻤﺸﻮﻫ) is a compound name meaning the "son (ﺰﺍﺪﻩ) of wisdom (ﻫﻮﺸﻤﻨﺪ)".
He was a seventh-round pick in the 2001 NFL Draft by the Bengals.
College years
Cerritos College
Houshmandzadeh dropped out of Barstow High School in Barstow, California, but later earned his GED. In his two seasons with the Falcons in 1997 and 1998, he was a two-time 1st Team Mission Conference selection at wide receiver and kickoff returner.
He wanted to play as running back his freshman year, but believing he was too tall to play running back, he voluntarily moved to wide receiver. He also had two 100-yard kickoff returns and an 87-yard punt return.
Oregon State University
Based on his junior college performance, Houshmandzadeh was offered an athletic scholarship at Oregon State University by then head coach Dennis Erickson.
Oregon State is where he and current Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco first met as Beaver teammates.
In his sole season as a starter for Oregon State, Houshmandzadeh caught 42 passes for 656 yards and 6 touchdowns.
He was a physical education major at OSU.
Professional career
2001-2005
Houshmandzadeh was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the seventh round (204th overall) in the 2001 NFL Draft.
Houshmandzadeh had a modest rookie season, recording 21 receptions for 228 yards, while also being used to return punts and kickoffs. His most notable achievement was in a game against the Cleveland Browns, in which he set a franchise record with 126 punt return yards.
After the 2001 season, questions about Houshmandzadeh's speed and quickness led to him slimming down to his current playing weight of about 200 pounds, which increased his on-field performance remarkably.
In 2004, he rushed 6 times and gained 51 yards (8.5 yards per attempt); in 2005, he rushed 8 times for 62 yards (7.8 yards per attempt) and scored his first touchdown.
He's been called one of the NFL's most underrated players by many pundits. Joyner noted that with only 3 dropped passes in the 2005 season, Houshmandzadeh ranked first in the league with a 2.6 dropped pass percentage.
"They're both unique," says Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer of his primary receivers.
J.'s a physical guy; a physical blocker, physical when he gets the ball. He's like (the Pittsburgh Steelers') Hines Ward."
Houshmandzadeh missed almost all of the 2003 season with a severe hamstring injury.
In 2004 he was listed as the team's third receiver behind Peter Warrick and Chad Johnson. However, Warrick went down with an injury and Houshmandzadeh was promoted to the starting lineup with Johnson.
Houshmandzadeh took advantage of his opportunity to prove himself, recording 73 receptions for 978 yards and 4 touchdowns.
On September 24, 2006, he made his season debut, catching 9 passes for 94 yards and two fourth quarter touchdowns in the Bengals' 28-20 win over their division foe Pittsburgh Steelers. For his performance, he was named the AFC offensive player of the week. In mid 2006, he suffered a mild concussion during the Bengals 49-41 loss to San Diego from an early hit by San Diego Chargers Free Safety Marlon McCree.
He started as wide-out in both of Cincinnati's following victories against the New Orleans Saints and the Cleveland Browns.
Houshmandzadeh finished the 2006 season with 90 receptions for 1,081 yards and 9 touchdowns, all career highs. He and Chad Ocho Cinco also became the first Bengals teamates ever to each record over 1,000 receiving yards in the same season.
Houshmandzadeh opened the 2007 season by scoring a touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens and two touchdowns in the loss to the Cleveland Browns.
Against the Seattle Seahawks, Houshmandzadeh totaled 141 yards on 12 receptions for one touchdown. By the end of the year, he finished with a franchise record 112 receptions for 1,143 yards and 12 touchdowns.
His 112 catches tied him with Wes Welker for the most in the NFL. On October 5, 2006, Houshmandzadeh failed to appear for a paid appearance on the show the previous evening.
Houshmandzadeh has denied making the comment.
Correct pronunciation
Houshmandzadeh's name is, in practice, pronounced /ˌhʊʃmənˈzɑːdə/ (hoosh-mihn-ZAH'-dah). Correctly, it is pronounced hoosh-man-ZAH-deh.
Houshmandzadeh's name pops up in an NFL fantasy football television commercial where a fantasy player cannot pronounce his surname properly with words like "Houshamazilla", "Houshmazode", "Houshvadilla", and even to "Houshyamomma".
Teammate Chad Ocho Cinco also introduced him as "T.
Who's-your-momma" on television during an ESPN Monday night pre-season game on August 28, 2006.
In Electronic Arts' Madden NFL series of games, Houshmandzadeh's surname is truncated to "Houshmandz." It can be expanded to twelve characters by the user, but not the fourteen characters required to spell it correctly.