Saturday, March 06, 1999Blake, Coslet make up; Bengals still eye QBSs
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati EnquirerBengals coach Bruce Coslet met with his present quarterback and possibly his quarterback of the future during a whirlwind trip to Orlando Fla., on Thursday.
Coslet and Jeff Blake patched up their differences during 12 holes of golf, their first meeting since Blake blasted the Bengals for showing him no loyalty and keeping him in the dark about his status.
That was after Coslet and offensive coordinator Ken Anderson met with Central Florida quarterback Daunte Culpepper in a two-hour blackboard session that left the Bengals impressed with the prospect's grasp of Xs and Os.
Coslet was upset last week when Blake questioned the club's loyalty, but he was upbeat after returning to Cincinnati on Friday.
“We sat around and talked before we went out, and we both got some things off our chest that had to be said,” Coslet said. “I feel real good about it.
“What he said had to do a lot with his frustration. I still wish he hadn't handled it like he did, but I'm not going to hold it against him. I'm not going to get into the loyalty thing, but we had a good talk and got some things out there. He'll do great. I've never had a problem with Jeff. This is how we left it. He's going into the last year of his contract, and I told him I hope we have to pay him a boatful of money to keep him.”
That probably won't happen because Blake is looking to start someplace, and in 2000 the Bengals' starting quarterback is most likely going to be Culpepper, Syracuse's Donovan McNabb or Oregon's Akili Smith, players they are looking to take with the third pick of the April17-18 draft.
Coslet and Anderson head to Syracuse, N.Y., and Lexington, Ky., next week to see McNabb and Kentucky's Tim Couch, who is expected to be the No.1 pick.
“Culpepper was sharp,” Coslet said. “He looked good in his workout, a big guy who can still move and has a good arm. We want to spend more time with these guys while we're scouting, so the idea was to get him off the field a little bit.”
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