Tuesday, May 04, 1999No Pickens, but not slim pickings
Scott, Jackson, Yeast will help fill void at WR
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Bengals don't believe Carl Pickens when their all-time leading receiver says he will sit out the season rather than play for them.
Among the wide receivers the Bengals will look for more out of next season is Willie Jackson, a sixth-year pro who had seven catches in 1998.
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But quarterback Jeff Blake thinks he can find 82 catches among Willie Jackson, Stepfret Williams and James Hundon if Pickens is out at one receiver. And he thinks the other receiver, Darnay Scott, will get the chance to have 100 catches.
“I hope "Pick' is back. We need everything we can get,” said Blake, who has thrown 43 touchdowns to Pickens in the past five years.
“But we can't think about who might or might not be there. We have no choice. These other guys have played well before against good competition. And Darnay's going to get his own. (If Pickens is out) Darnay is going to get six, seven catches a game.”
As mini-camp ended Monday, his teammates wished for Pick ens' return, and Bengals President Mike Brown reiterated, “We intend to sign Carl.”
Three factors indicate the Bengals can survive without Pickens:
• The emergence of Scott, who is stronger, more mature and has a track record of producing in Pickens' absence.
• The arrival of Kentucky rookie Craig Yeast, the fourth-round pick who wowed the mini-camp with his speed and hands.
• The re-introduction of the tight end into the offense. Bengals coaches weren't happy with the quarterbacks' inability to find tight ends down the field last year. Starter Tony McGee had a career-low 22 catches.
“It was ridiculous,” said coach Bruce Coslet. “When this type of offense is run properly, the tight end is a big part of it. They were never taken out of the offense, they were under-utilized, and there's a difference. If the tight end isn't any farther down (the quarterback's) progression than No. 3 and if everyone is covered, then the tight end should have the opportunity to catch the ball.”
The way the tight ends are being emphasized, Blake thinks McGee has a shot at 60 catches. He had 55 in 1995, when the Bengals scored their most points in five years.
The Bengals have managed to succeed without Pickens before. In 1997, Pickens missed the last five games and the Bengals won four.
While some veterans said the locker room was a much nicer, more positive place without the volatile Pickens at mini-camp, Scott defended him Monday.
“You guys write he's a bad guy, that he's a bad influence on this person or that person, that he's a locker-room cancer,” Scott said. “He's nothing like that and everybody in this locker room can tell you that except the ones that he's (joking with) and they don't like what he's doing. He's a country boy and everybody else is pretty much from the city. He sits right next to me and I got to really know him.”
But Scott also remembers '97. That's when Boomer Esiason nicknamed him “No. 1” when Pickens got hurt, and Scott responded by catching half of his 54 balls in that stretch. Scott spent the winter in a San Diego gym bulking up his arms shoulders and chest in his most extensive body training of his career, “but I didn't lose a step. I can still run, that's the easiest thing.
“I hope my boy comes back, but if not, I'm ready to be No. 1,” Scott said. “That's a tree I have to climb. When you're halfway there, it's an easier climb.”
The Bengals like potential matchup problems caused by Scott on the outside and Yeast in the slot as the third receiver. Both can run 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash and the 5-foot-7 Yeast is running in the footsteps of Mike Martin and Terance Mathis, little guys who did damage in Coslet's system.
“He's quick and he catches wonderfully,” Brown said. “He can be the third down wide receiver, he can go in the slot. And the people around here liked him as a person this weekend.”
Yeast left camp raving about the Bengals' offense. He was surprised to find that many of the routes are similar to the ones he ran at Kentucky.
“It's not that bad of an adjustment,” said Yeast, who worked behind Scott and also in the slot. “At Kentucky, we ran a lot of short underneath routes. In this offense, you go vertical, but there's still a lot of short, end routes and comeback routes like we ran in college.”
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