Fact or fiction?

Jets center Nick Mangold, who is from Centerville, outside of Dayton, and then went onto play at Ohio State, was the New York player on the conference call with Bengals beat writers today.

Mangold heaped praise on the Bengals and, at one point, said, "The Bengals have a great defense. They fly around the ball."

The Bengals are last in the NFL in points allowed per game (31.2), 30th in yards allowed (393.2), 29th in rush defense (145.8) and 28th in pass yards (247.4).

Mangold and Jets coach Eric Mangini talked about Bengals linebacker Anthony Schlegel, who was drafted with Mangold in 2006 out of Ohio State.

"He has a thick head," Mangold said of Schlegel, waived on cut-down day by the Jets and signed a day later by the Bengals.

Mangini on Schlegel: "Oftentimes you wish you could keep more guys, and Anthony Schlegel is an impressive, impressive person. Incredibly smart, great, great instincts, and just loves the game of football. I really like him as a person and got to spend a lot of time with him, and obviously we drafted him where we drafted him. I couldn’t be happier for Anthony for the opportunity he’s got. He’s really a great guy."