Bengals poised for success
Team must show improvement on defense, ground

BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer

BOMBS AWAY: Jeff Blake ended last season on a tear as the Bengals finished 7-2. Blake can count on Carl Pickens and Darnay Scott. (Enquirer file photograph)

''I see this team being a playoff team. No doubt in my mind. I've played five years and have been around five teams now, and this is the first time that guys were in great shape. They're taking it more seriously, and it's personal to everybody.''

­ Bengals cornerback Ashley Ambrose

Trends suggest the Bengals can succeed this year. History also indicates they will. Even the players expect to win.

What can stop them? Quite a bit, actually.

The Bengals compete in an AFC Central that isn't the league's strongest division but is one of its most competitive. They're adopting a defensive system that can take years to assimilate. And their lack of depth at certain positions, such as offensive line, wide receiver and cornerback, leaves them especially vulnerable to injuries.

Nevertheless, they appear more prepared to launch a playoff bid than they were in any year since 1990, when they last reached the postseason.

Ample evidence of the Bengals' improvement exists:

• They've slowly yet decidedly improved, from 3-13 in 1994 to 7-9 in 1995 to 8-8 last year.

''We haven't been going backward the last two years. We've been going forward,'' quarterback Jeff Blake said.

• Their 7-2 record after Bruce Coslet replaced Dave Shula last Oct. 21 ranks among the best ever under a mid-season appointee since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger. Of the 43 coaches named in-season since that year, only four posted comparable marks: Ed Khayat with the 1971 Philadelphia Eagles (6-4-1), Don Coryell with the 1978 San Diego Chargers (8-4), Ron Meyer with the 1987 Indianapolis Colts (3-0) and Art Shell with the 1989 Los Angeles Raiders (7-5).

Three of those four teams ­ the Chargers, Colts and Raiders ­ won their divisions the following year.

• For the first time in recent memory, players sincerely believe they can excel as a group.

KI-JANA ON MOVE: Ki-Jana Carter looked strong in the preseason with 140 yards on 20 carries, including gains of 43 and 37 yards. (The Cincinnati Enquirer/Gary Landers)

''I see this team being a playoff team. No doubt in my mind,'' Pro Bowl cornerback Ashley Ambrose said. ''I've played five years and have been around five teams now, and this is the first time that guys were in great shape. They're taking it more seriously, and it's personal to everybody.''

Cornerback Corey Sawyer likened the Bengals' mindset to the one he shared in as a collegian at Florida State, a perennial football powerhouse.

''I feel better now than in all four years I've been here,'' Sawyer said. ''There's an 'up' tempo. Bruce wants to win. I'm not saying Shula didn't, but it's just something different from what I'm used to. Now Š the players have a winning attitude. That's what I was used to in college.''

Said tight end Tony McGee, ''Everything's more positive. You actually like coming to practice. You feel like you're getting better every day.''

If the Bengals do become better this year, their improvement is likely to stem from two sources: Defense and the running game.

Coslet and defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, who's beginning his second tour of duty on the Bengals staff, constantly warn observers not to expect a 180-degree turnaround.

LeBeau's zone-blitz concepts, which helped his previous team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, rank third defensively in 1995 and second last year, may take four or five seasons to grasp fully.

SACK ATTACK: James Francis (shown returning a fumble for a TD against the Vikings) will play a key role in the 3-4 alignment. (The Cincinnati Enquirer/Patrick Reddy)

''To be unrealistic and compare this, just because it's the same style, to what Pittsburgh's been doing for five or six years just isn't fair,'' Coslet said. ''I'll defend the staff, the scheme and the players in that regard. Now will I push their (butts) to make them better than they were yesterday? Damn right.''

At the very least, the Bengals should apply increased pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

LeBeau's blitzes allow virtually every defender to rush at some point, and the new 3-4 defensive alignment should heighten sack opportunities for ends John Copeland and Dan Wilkinson and outside linebackers James Francis and Reinard Wilson, the team's first-round draft choice.

The variety of blitzes, Coslet said, is ''really part of (LeBeau's) base package. That's why he's here. Don't think I hired him just to whip my butt every day in golf. That's the way it's going to look all year. It's going to look active. Pressure is the name of the game.''

Rookies Wilson and Tremain Mack, the starting strong safety, could give the defense a quick, hard-hitting personality. Wilson requested an incentive clause in his contract that will pay him a bonus if he collects 8¹Ž_² sacks or more -- not because he's greedy, but because he genuinely believes he should be that productive.

''He gives us every indication that he probably will be, and that's better than could be,'' Coslet said.

Though preseason feats can be illusory, Mack's ability to pursue and tackle ballcarriers earned raves.

Head Coach Bruce Coslet

''He's the real deal, there's no question about that,'' Coslet said. ''He has made some plays that haven't been made around here in a long time from that position.''

The Bengals hope they'll be able to make a similar claim about the running back spot. They sense they'll have a strengthened ground game to complement Blake's formidable passing, mainly because Ki-Jana Carter and Corey Dillon looked sharp in the preseason.

Carter overcame the torn knee ligaments that derailed his 1995 rookie season to score eight rushing touchdowns last year. But he was unimpressive otherwise, averaging just 2.9 yards per carry.

This year, trim at 220 pounds and free of the tentativeness that shackled him a season ago, Carter has run with abandon. He gained 140 yards on 20 preseason carries, ripping off gains of 43 and 37 yards.

''I feel better with the system,'' Carter said. ''Hopefully I'll turn that into having a good season. We'll see how it goes. I'm not going to predict anything.''

There are a lot of people predicting a successful career for Dillon. The second-round draft choice from the University of Washington recorded ordinary-looking preseason statistics (31 carries, 105 yards), but his relentless, powerful style impressed everyone and left Bengals coaches scrambling for ways to use him and Carter in the backfield simultaneously.

''He'll run over you if there's no other choice. He has the power to do it,'' Coslet said of Dillon. ''He has tremendous 'body lean.' That's why I always liked Marcus Allen. He gets hit, but he always falls forward for two more yards. At the end of the day, that adds up to a lot of yards.''

A lot of yards is usually what Blake generates with receivers Carl Pickens, a two-time Pro Bowler who's in the process of rewriting Cincinnati's record book, and Darnay Scott, the team's prime deep threat.

As was the case with the team, Blake thrived in the season's second half. The sixth-year veteran was particularly effective in one three-game stretch Nov. 24-Dec. 8, completing 70 of 117 passes for 934 yards, nine touchdowns and only two interceptions.

Blake's most impressive credential might be his 41 consecutive starts, the longest streak among AFC quarterbacks.

''He has a knack which a lot of passers and running backs do -- they don't take a direct shot,'' Coslet said. ''Right at the last instant, they'll twist out of the way a little bit. He has a sixth sense about that and a feel. He's gotten the experience, too, where he's not holding that ball like he used to and he's going through his progressions quickly before the rush gets to him. All of that put together is the reason he is a durable guy.''

But Blake's not invincible, which is why the Bengals signed Boomer Esiason to back him up. Esiason, who became a Cincinnati hero during his first Bengals tenure (1984-92), is bound to have a positive effect on the team with his knowledge and locker-room leadership even if he never plays a down.

No wonder Coslet called Esiason the team's key offseason acquisition. Coslet believes that Esiason's presence, combined with that of offensive coordinator Ken Anderson, will enhance Blake's skills.

''Kenny and Boomer have 30 years experience behind the center in this league,'' Coslet said. ''That has to help Jeff. And Jeff's smart enough, he's using it.''

Another intangible that could help the Bengals is the specter of free agency. As this went to press, Copeland, Wilkinson and Scott had not signed contract extensions and were due to become free agents at the end of the season. Typically in professional sports, players in the last years of their contract reach greater heights.

But intangibles won't be enough in the AFC Central.

Pittsburgh, the defending division champion, suffered numerous free-agent defections but retains a respectable array of talent. Jacksonville, a wild-card playoff qualifier that surged all the way to the AFC title game, appears to have the overall team strength to survive while quarterback Mark Brunell rehabilitates his knee injury. Tennessee and Baltimore look vulnerable, but the Bengals have been doormats for so long that they can't take any team for granted.

Winning, Pickens said, is ''easy to talk about, but hard to do. That's the only thing we haven't done as a team.''

The Bengals seem ready to vault that final hurdle.

''You can see it in the eyes of players this year,'' Copeland said. ''You can see it in the way they work. You can see it in the guys doing extra.''

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