Thursday, September 25, 1997Dillon takes big step
Rookie ready to start vs. Jets
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Corey Dillon will make the Bengals more of a ball possession team, special teams coach Al Roberts says. (AP photo) | ZOOM | |
So as Ki-Jana Carter copes with a torn rotator cuff, Roberts isn't uncomfortable with his man becoming The Man. He thinks the Bengals have traded a Ken Griffey Jr. for a Pete Rose Sr.
"Ki-Jana's a home-run hitter," Roberts said Wednesday. "Corey hits singles, doubles and triples. Ki-Jana can go for one or two yards, and then - boom - he breaks a big one. Corey will get you three, four 10, 11, 19. We'll be more of a ball possession team (with Dillon)."
Suddenly, Dillon, an NFL rookie with his first five carries and 58 yards last Sunday in Denver, is scheduled to get the bulk of this Sunday's carries against the Jets. And maybe for the rest of the season.
Roberts already has seen this tape. Dillon backed up Rashaan Shehee last year until Shehee hurt his ankle in Game 3 for the Huskies. Dillon then proceeded to break six school records in eight games and ran to the top of everyone's draft board. The Jets had him in their top 20, but it was the Bengals who ignored the buzz about his juvenile background and picked him in the second round.
Asked whether he could repeat history with 1,555 yards, the 6-foot-1, 220-pound Dillon said, "No problem. That's my style of running. That's what I expect out of myself. (1,500) or more. I won't settle for less."
He certainly didn't in Wednesday's walk-through. Dillon was running the plays all the way to the fence, causing coach Bruce Coslet to calm him down with, "The game's in five days. You're not going to beat anybody today."
The Bengals locker room Wednesday echoed fullback Brian Milne: "Let me be straight. Corey isn't going to have any problems."
Backup quarterback Boomer Esiason was asked whether Dillon's style of running reminded him of Ickey Woods, the last Bengal back who kept the clock running: "Better. He can catch."
But maybe the biggest question is whether he can hold on to it. Asked whether he had any reservations about Dillon, one Bengal cradled an imaginary football.
Dillon exposes the ball on the right side because he usually holds the ball only in his left arm. But he hasn't fumbled since doing so twice early in the exhibition season.
"That's being corrected," said Coslet, who said one of the fumbles was caused by the ground. "He carried for 25 touchdowns and 1,600 yards last year. I don't care if he carries it in his teeth." Running backs coach Jim Anderson has been working with Dillon on not changing arms in traffic, and has emphasized covering the ball with both arms in a crowd, as well as putting his off arm between the defender and the ball.
"I'm a left-hand person," Dillon said. "It's not a problem. People (through the years) have told me to do what is comfortable." Another concern had been Dillon's grasp of the playbook, but Coslet said there'll be no streamlining of the game plan.
"I know the plays," Dillon said. "It's a matter of getting on the field and executing them."
He just has to get used to it, Dillon feels. Like the blitzing linebacker he missed against Denver after he went through his play-action fake.
"I came off the fake too late," Dillon said. "The guy came up off the end, and I was a tad too late. That's the stuff they're concerned about, but from that point on I didn't do much wrong."
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