Wednesday, May 05, 1999
Workouts may be right formula
Bengals start to develop team chemistry
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
One day last week in the Bengals' locker room, defensive end John Copeland had just finished his workout when he overheard left guard Rich Braham and linebacker Tom Tumulty setting up a golf game later that day.
“Hey,” Copeland said, “where are you playing?”
“Not far from where you (live),” Tumulty said. “You can meet Richie. Kimo's (von Oelhoffen) going, too.”
“I can't play so hot, but I'll go hit some,” the 290-pound Copeland said. Then he turned to a bystander, who asked if such a game would have taken place in the last couple of years.
“Never,” Copeland said.
Offense. Defense. Linemen. Linebackers. Black. White. The Bengals haven't mixed this well since the junior prom.
In the past, almost no one stayed in the offseason to work out. Whether no one stayed because there was no team chemistry, or there was no team chemistry because no one stayed is a question for the philosophy class.
But the Bengals welcomed 55 veterans to a semi-voluntary camp Tuesday. It runs Tuesdays through Thursdays until July 16.
“We didn't have much chemistry last year, and this ought to help,” linebacker Takeo Spikes said. “When we went out on the field, I don't think everybody felt like this guy had that guy's back. Now, going to war this time, we want to have it that everybody has everybody's back.”
Almost every team in the NFL pays its players to work out. So with about 200 days left in the decade, the Bengals officially entered the 1990s. The 55 players are being paid $70 a day for 33 days, so the most it can count against the salary cap is $127,000.
Each player will do the camp a little bit differently. Spikes plans to stay here for two weeks, then head back home for a week before returning. Running back Corey Dillon, wide receiver Willie Jackson and linebacker Steve Foley were the three veteran players who didn't show Tuesday. Jackson and Foley are expected, and Dillon, who showed up for the weekend's mini-camp in good shape, cited responsibilities with his newborn daughter in Seattle.
Bengals President Mike Brown said he was heartened with the re sponse.
“It shows they want to do well, and that's what we want to see,” Brown said. “In a perfect world, it would be better if (no teams worked out) and the players went out and taught school or sold insurance and did whatever they could. But in today's world, that's no longer the way it is. They don't do that stuff anyway, and maybe this is just us catching up with the Joneses.”
Coach Bruce Coslet has set up a three-to-four-hour day. One hour is spent in the classroom, which includes 15 minutes of special teams work. Another hour is on the field, in addition to 75 minutes of conditioning.
“We'll have the playbook installed before we get to training camp,” quarterback Jeff Blake said. “So that means we'll have more time on the field at camp and less meetings.”
But it all comes back to chemistry. Tumulty moved to Cincinnati the instant he was drafted in 1996 and hasn't left.
He'd work out at Spinney Field and shake his head at the two or three other guys who joined him.
“You're a pro, so everyone should be studying and working out,” Tumulty said. “The big issue is this will bring us closer together. You should get to know a guy like Richie Braham. You should know the defensive linemen. It should be a family. You should care about each other when you're fighting against Pittsburgh and Cleveland.”
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