Thursday, September 09, 1999
O'Donnell helps Titans get ready for Bengals
Backup familiar with foe's offense
The Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A year ago, Neil O'Donnell was working with the Bengals' first team and preparing to play the Tennessee Oilers in the season opener.
On Wednesday, O'Donnell worked with the now-Titans' scout team, helping prepare his new teammates for Sunday's opener with his former team, the Bengals.
Coach Jeff Fisher won't say just how helpful the quarterback has been this week.
“Neil's been helpful from the standpoint of helping the scout team on routes, adjustments, things like that. He's doing it just because he wants to stay fresh,” Fisher said.
Unlike a year ago, O'Donnell won't be starting Sunday. He is Steve McNair's backup, signed to a one-year contract and hoping to impress someone that he is an NFL starter.
It's been a strange road for O'Donnell, now with his third team in three seasons. He was signed by the Bengals in the summer of 1998 after being cut by the New York Jets.
He wound up playing in 13 games, including 11 starts, with the Bengals before being benched as Cincinnati struggled through a 3-13 season.
The Bengals cut him in April, two days after drafting Akili Smith with the third pick overall. That left O'Donnell scrambling for a job, but he refused Wednesday to take a shot at the Bengals.
“I'm very happy here. I really am. I'm going to keep working hard. I stay focused on what's at hand. I take my job pretty seriously,” he said.
“Do I miss Cincinnati? No. I was only there for a year.”
He still has some friends on the team like Jeff Blake, the quarterback who is starting while Smith learns. Blake expects to see O'Donnell starting somewhere in the future.
“He just needs to be given the opportunity to win,” Blake said Wednesday. “He just didn't have the opportunity to win here last year, and I felt sorry for him.”
O'Donnell feels for Blake, now entering his sixth season in Cincinnati. He said Blake knows how the Bengals operate. Blake agrees and said the team has trouble building chemistry and stability with the way it keeps dumping veterans.
“That's why we have a tough time winning games,” he said.
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OHIO HIGH SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS
OHIO HIGH SCHOOL RESULTS
N.KY. HIGH SCHOOL RESULTS
N.KY. HIGH SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS
This week's football schedule
