Thursday, August 12, 1999
TRAINING CAMP INSIDER
Tight ends turn the corner
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The tight ends are no longer missing and presumed incompetent. Starter Tony McGee noticed Wednesday that TEs are running “the most corner routes I've seen in all (seven) years I've been here.”
But a key, McGee said, is that the quarterbacks are looking for them on first and second reads and getting them the ball. In fact, he said, the QBs are concentrating on getting the ball over the middle underneath coverages. He sees it just not with the tight end, but even when they run three receivers.
When the defense is in man-to-man coverage, many times the first read is the tight end on the corner route and McGee said it's just not No. 1 QB Jeff Blake is finding them, but also backups Eric Kresser and Scott Covington.
“We just never got a shot,” McGee said. “Now, you can tell it's been emphasized.”
Rookie watch Backup free safety Cory Hall is continuing to draw raves, but maybe the most important thing is that a lot of them are coming from veterans. Strong safety Myron Bell admitted he was surprised back in April when the Bengals took Hall, the 6-foot, 205-pound Hall out of Fresno State in the third round. Now, Bell tips his hat to secondary coach Ray Horton.
“I never heard of him and I look now and then at guys who are coming in and might be my competition,” Bell said. “He wasn't a guy I was looking out for. Ray did a good job on finding that talent and they got a player ... In the scrimmage, he didn't have any mental errors and he can run.”
Greg Myers, the guy Hall is pushing, agreed: “Good size, fast and a smart kid. Oh yeah, he's going to play in this league.”
Chalk talk Note to young players: Always stretch. Running back Ki-Jana Carter suffered a burst cyst behind his knee the day a thunderstorm delayed practice for about 45 minutes. When the team hurried back on the field, Carter thinks he might not have stretched as well as he did at the beginning of practice. Then he felt something pull in the back of his knee as he got out of his stance to run a play. Quote of the day Asked if NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said anything about his beard, Bengals coach Bruce Coslet said, “No, (and) I didn't say anything about his (Bengals) hat.” Injury report WR Quincy Jackson questionable (hamstring); G Rob Murphy questionable (foot); DE John Copeland questionable (hamstring); OLB Reinard Wilson questionable (groin); RG Brian DeMarco (out) shoulder; RB Ki-Jana Carter out (knee).
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