Friday, October 22, 1999Bengals running in quandary
What's first: Attempts or yards?
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati EnquirerCorey Dillon wants to run. The offensive line wants to run. Even Bengals coach Bruce Coslet wants to run the ball. But can you blame Coslet if he doesn't get infatuated with the run because of the Bengals' paralysis in the red zone?
Of 55 plays inside the foes' 20-yard line, the Bengals have run 20 times and gained just 30 yards. Dillon has run 11 of the plays for 17 yards, 12 of them coming in the first game. Dillon's averaging 0.6 yards a carry inside opponents' 20-yard line and 4.5 yards on all carries this season.
Is it because Coslet won't die by the run that the Bengals never seem to be as run-proficient as, say, the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Jacksonville Jaguars, teams averaging between 33 and 36 rushes per game?
Welcome to the Bengals' version of the chicken and the egg.
Dillon, the NFL's leading rusher, ran the ball just 16 times Sunday against the Steelers even though he averaged nearly five yards a carry.
“The good running game teams do it consistently,” Dillon said. “The good running teams don't have backs carrying 16 times one week, 28 the next and back to 15. It's more like 25 carries a game. I may be old-fashioned, but what ever happened to the term, "practice makes perfect?' Keep doing it and eventually you're going to get good at it.”
What seems to worry Coslet is the Bengals have tried running the ball and still can't do it in short yardage. Only six teams have more runs than the Bengals' 169 attempts, which is 17 more than the NFL average, and Cincinnati's No. 7 ranking in the run is better than such signature rushing teams as Buffalo (8), Pittsburgh (9) and the Jets (13).
Yet their record is 1-5.
“If we can't win running the ball, why keep wasting downs on running the ball?” asked right tackle Willie Anderson. “We need to be throwing to make some big plays happen. The bottom line is that we have to give Bruce confidence in the run so Corey can get 25 to 30 carries a game.”
There have been some observations by club insiders that the Bengals opt for too many wide plays in the red zone and, as a whole, don't run enough between the tackles of a 300-pound-per-man offensive line. Coslet hasn't exactly tried to pound it in from the 20, and some were surprised last Sunday after Dillon ran to the Steelers 3-yard line that the Bengals called the same two passes they threw at the end of the Cleveland game the previous week.
But the Bengals have been outscored 51-26 in the first quarter and 116-46 in the first half, so Coslet has needed points fast.
Chicken or the egg?
“If you're putting it on anybody, put it on us,” Anderson said of the offensive line. “Our job is to get Corey going, get the fullback going and give Bruce confidence to run the ball. We start the game off and we get stuffed on third-and-one (in Cleveland and last week to open the second half) and it makes it tough on (rookie quarterback) Akili (Smith) to be at second-and-10.
“I missed a backside block, and we just haven't been consistent. It all has to work. If the fullback makes his block and the line doesn't, it's not going to work. If the fullback blocks and the line blocks and the back doesn't run the play right, it's not going to work. Each man has to be consistent.”
Dillon emphasizes he's not griping. He's just trying to help find a way to win. He sees guys such as the Steelers' Jerome Bettis getting stopped early in the game and then get rolling. Bettis got 65 of his 111 yards on his last 11 carries in a game he ran 26 times.
“I'm just trying to win,” Dillon said. “I'll keep running my plays and keep trying to win.”
In 1999, at least, running hasn't been better passing in the juiced-up NFL. The top 10 passing teams are a combined 36-19 compared to the top 10 rushing's 34-22.
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