Thursday, August 12, 1999
Tagliabue gives motivational talk
Tells Bengals they can be like Falcons
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
GEORGETOWN, Ky. — NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue gathered the Bengals on the 25-yard line and told them they could go all the way.
After Wednesday morning's practice here at Georgetown College, Tagliabue spoke for about three minutes to the team on his first trip to the club's training camp.
“You have the opportunity to go like the Falcons, from 3-13 to the Super Bowl in two years,” Tagliabue told a team that has been 3-13 in half of the last eight seasons.
“You can do it. Let's get the Bengals up there where they have been in the past and have a great future. Let's open the the new stadium with a playoff team at minimum, maybe a Super Bowl team. Hopefully I'll see some of you in Hawaii at the Pro Bowl. But in the short term, I'll see you in the playoffs.”
Since linebacker James Francis is the only player left from the last Bengals playoff team in 1990, Tagliabue may have startled some players when he said: “You're in (an) organization which has that tradition. Two Super Bowls within two decades, the Paul Brown tradition, the Brown family tradition, a great family tradition.”
Running backs coach Jim Anderson, along with head coach Bruce Coslet and defensive coaches Ray Horton and Tim Krumrie, went to the Bengals' last Super Bowl 11 seasons ago. He felt good to be reminded.
“I don't know how many of our guys know that we went to that Super Bowl,” Anderson said. “It was good for them to hear it from a guy like the commissioner.”
Cornerback Artrell Hawkins thought Tagliabue struck a chord for any player who might not have been paying attention the past month.
“He picked just the right situation with the Falcons,” Hawkins said. “We may not be a Super Bowl team this year, but I think we can go to the playoffs. I think that might have perked up some of the guys.”
At a news conference later, Tagliabue said he believed Bengals President Mike Brown is committed to turning around the franchise.
ON AKILI: There were no talks Wednesday between the Bengals and the agents for No.1 pick Akili Smith. Tagliabue threw in his two cents about holdouts.
“The holdouts can be very destructive to (the player), never mind what it does to his teammates, the team and fans,” he said. “The player who misses any part of training camp, especially a rookie, can pay a very heavy price. He should recognize that. His representatives should recognize that.”
But Tagliabue won't go so far as the Bengals' Brown, who advocates a wage scale for rookies, much like in the NBA. Tagliabue argues the NFL has many more draft picks than the NBA and that most teams favor the flexibility offered by the rookie salary pool.
ON PICKENS: Even though Bengals wide receiver Carl Pickens is sitting out because the team put the franchise tag on him, Tagliabue said he believes the tag works. He said the players' major concern appears to be with how the salary cap is forcing the biggest share of the money to a smaller percentage of the players.
“There's not enough equity among the entire squad,” Tagliabue said. “We've had discussions and pretty strong views from players that maybe one way to improve that is to have a bigger percentage of the cap go into performance bonuses.”
INSTANT REPLAY: Tagliabue said the officiating crew at Monday night's Hall of Fame Game was confused about when to use the new instant replay rule. Tagliabue said a commercial break between quarters is a good time to review a play in the allotted 90 seconds. The hope is that there will be a resolution by the time the network returns to the game.
Tagliabue defended his officials, saying much of last year's criticism was unfair. He pointed to the playoff game between the Dolphins and Bills in which the announcing crew ripped the call that kept Buffalo wide receiver Andre Reed out of the end zone. Reed ultimately was thrown out of the game for arguing the call.
But Tagliabue is a big booster of replay.
“What I like about it, frankly,” he said, “is that it's limited. The (interruptions) will be at a minimum.”
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