Monday, December 28, 1998

BENGALS NOTEBOOK

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Justin becomes 3rd injured quarterback

BY CHRIS HAFT and GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Eric Kresser had a rocky day in relief of Paul Justin: 7 of 17, 2 INTs, 102 yards. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        It's just as well that the Bengals' season ended Sunday. Otherwise, they wouldn't have any healthy quarterbacks left.

        Their third quarterback in four weeks was knocked out of the game when starter Paul Justin left late in the first half with a sprained knuckle on his right (throwing) index finger. Eric Kresser finished the game for Cincinnati.

        Had Kresser been sidelined, the Bengals might have had to use wide receiver Willie Jackson at quarterback, though the team's medical staff said Justin could have played in an emergency.

        Justin was preceded in injury by Neil O'Donnell, who broke a bone in his hand on Dec.6 against Buffalo, and Jeff Blake, who fractured a bone in his wrist last Sunday at Pittsburgh.

        Tampa Bay's ferocious pass rush, which produced just two sacks but plenty of pressure, prevented Justin and Kresser from doing much to clear up Cincinnati's cloudy outlook at quarterback. Justin completed 4-of-10 passes for 74 yards; Kresser was 7-for-17 with two interceptions for 102 yards.

        Justin moved the Bengals from their 21-yard line to Tampa Bay's 23 on their first possession before Doug Pelfrey missed a 40-yard field goal. Cincinnati gained only one more first down before halftime.

        “I could sit here and blame people, but you look at yourself and see what you do,” Justin said. “ ... It wasn't good to see, it wasn't good to play behind ... After that first series, nothing was going the way we wanted it to, for the whole team. We didn't do anything; we didn't dent anything; we didn't make anything happen. It's a tough way to end the season.”

        Justin said he was injured while being hit on the game's first or second series. Getting pulverized by Bucs tackles Brad Culpepper and Warren Sapp with 6:42 to go in the half aggravated the injury, which forced Justin to undergo precautionary X-rays.

        “It was tough to grip the football, and (the knuckle) swelled up,” Justin said. “The last hit I took was painful, and the doctors wouldn't let me go back in.”

        Any action was fine with Kresser, who played in just his second NFL regular-season game.

        “Other than the two interceptions, I think I played all right,” he said.

Line problems
        Forget about rotating quarterbacks, what about the offensive line?

        The Bengals were hoping rookie Mike Goff could fit in at right guard next season so injured left guard Rich Braham could move to center and the club wouldn't have to re-sign free-agent center Darrick Brilz.

        But for the second time in three weeks Sunday, Goff had trouble adjusting to the stunts and loops of the defensive line. When he got benched in the first half, Brilz moved to left guard, left guard Anthony Brown moved to right, and Rod Payne came into play center.

        Ken Blackman, pencilled in as next year's left guard, is ahead of schedule in his recovery from knee surgery, and Braham is supposed to be better as he recovers from a broken foot and tender knee. But the question now is if the Bengals risk losing Brilz, or if they'll try to sign him.

Going for 14
        Bengals defensive end Clyde Simmons reiterated that he wants to return for a 14th NFL season, and he'd like to do it with the Bengals.

        “I have a lot of good memories here, even in just one season,” said Simmons, who signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract in May. “There's a lot of potential, and I'd like to be in on it. There's great team speed, and the defense is young. We have guys who can play and have the desire to play.”

        Simmons recorded his fifth sack of the season in the third quarter, ending an eight-game drought. It pushed his career total to 114, breaking a 10th-place tie with Sean Jones. Simmons also had a season-high six tackles.

Who cares?
        These guys do. It's probably no coincidence that Cincinnati's leading tacklers were rookie linebackers Takeo Spikes (11) and Brian Simmons (10).

        Spikes finished with a team-high 112 tackles, making him the first rookie to pace the Bengals in that category since linebacker James Francis in 1990.

Sign of the times
        The banners displayed at Cinergy Field didn't bear overly angry messages like the ones at the last home game, Dec. 6 against Buffalo, but they weren't friendly either.

        Here's a sampling:

        “Lee Johnson 4 GM'

        “Welcome to the Jungle! Home of the Pussycats (formerly known as the Bengals)”

        “Impeach Clinton + Brown”.

Mostly unnoticed
        The officiating crew headed by Phil Luckett, which has attracted unwanted attention recently, managed to avoid controversy in this game.

        The only blatantly poor call they made occurred late in the second quarter when nobody threw a flag after Tampa Bay wide receiver Jacquez Green appeared to commit offensive pass interference against Bengals cornerback Ashley Ambrose. Television replays indicated that Green also grabbed Ambrose's face mask.

        Luckett was the official who incorrectly heard the overtime coin flip in the Pittsburgh-Detroit Thanksgiving Day game. His crew also supervised the Dec. 6 game when New York Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde was awarded a touchdown against Seattle despite never crossing the goal line.

Etc.
        Though some Bengals insiders accused Carl Pickens of giving a less-than-inspired effort, his 17 receiving yards on two catches hiked his career total to 6,150, enabling him to pass Eddie Brown (6,134) for third place on the club's all-time list.

        • The Bengals' loss ended their streak of five consecutive victories in regular-season home finales. They had won nine of their previous 10.

        • Cincinnati also fell to 9-3 against NFC teams at home since 1993.

        • Tampa Bay didn't get a chance to end its weather jinx. The Bucs were 0-16 in games played when the official temperature at kickoff was less than 40 degrees, but Sunday's gametime reading was 40.

        • The Buccaneers did alter one pattern. They won just their fifth December road game in the franchise's 23-year history. Three of those victories came in domed stadiums; the other was in balmy Phoenix on Dec.27, 1992.

        • Tampa Bay receiver Robb Thomas has played with three different teams in 10 seasons and had one catch this year until burning the Bengals on a 50-yard touchdown reception in the game's opening minutes. It tied his career long set against the Bengals in 1995 when he played for Seattle.

        • Corey Dillon gained 70 yards on 14 carries, pushing his two-year Bengals total to 2,259 yards and eclipsing James Brooks' 2,243 in 1989-90 for the previous franchise best.

       

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