Monday, October 25, 1999

Secondary the primary weakness

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Bengals DBs can't overcome errors, Colts WRs

BY TOM GROESCHEN
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Artrell Hawkins trys to run after picking off a pass in the second quarter. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        INDIANAPOLIS — Artrell Hawkins was not alone back there, although it sometimes seemed like it.

        Hawkins, the Bengals' second-year right cornerback, was the defender most often in your TV picture while Colts receiver Marvin Harrison was grabbing eight passes for 156 yards Sunday.

        Harrison's one touchdown was at the expense of left cornerback Roosevelt Blackmon, but Hawkins — the Bengals' best corner — was the man who shadowed Harrison most of the day. Hawkins was also called for two pass-interference penalties, both of which sustained Indy touchdown drives.

        “We just didn't do our jobs,” Hawkins said. “I just don't what to say.”

        Hawkins, facing a four-deep pack of reporters and minicams in the postgame locker room, never blinked while answering questions. But he admittedly could have made more plays, having an end-zone interception nullified by an offside penalty (the Bengals trailed only 7-0 at the time) and dropping another possible interception.

        “Stuff like that only happens to us,” Hawkins said. “My interception, my dropped interception ... I guess things do snowball with us.”

        Coach Bruce Coslet said Hawkins could have used some help but didn't get much. On one pass-interference play, Coslet said, Hawkins was supposed to have inside help, but the safety wasn't there. Coslet didn't name the safety, although Myron Bell and Cory Hall were both out there.

        “And then they kept throwing those fades or whatever they wanted to do in the end zone, and we're supposed to have outside technique,” Coslet said. “Now, you explain that to me. It's frustrating, it really is.”

        The 284-yard Peyton Manning-led carnage began early, when the Colts scored on a 56-yard pass to Harrison on their third play from scrimmage. The Bengals bit badly on a play-action fake, and Blackmon was beaten by nearly 10 yards.

        “We had Marvin Harrison double-covered, and he still gets out of it,” Coslet said.

        Name it, and the Bengals didn't do it. Hawkins had pledged to play a physical game against Harrison, but the NFL's co-leader in TD receptions (seven, entering Sunday) was too much.

Ken Dilger dives over Steve Foley on his way to a Colts touchdown. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        “Marvin Harrison is the kind of guy that has so much speed, you can't really afford to play around with him because he'll run by you,” Hawkins said.

        Harrison and fellow receiver Terrence Wilkins also mixed in something the Bengals feared, the “double move.” That is a short route that receivers suddenly break into a long pattern past tight coverage.

        “It was everything,” Hawkins said. “It was double moves, (Harrison's) speed, their execution and our lack of it.”

        Not to mention, the front seven got little pressure on Manning. They did sack him once, and the Bengals tried several blitzes that included safeties Hall and Bell. But they were usually blocked before reaching Manning.

        “He stayed poised back there,” Hall said. “He checked to all the right plays.”

        Even when the Bengals got a turnover, an end-zone interception by Bell on the first play of the second quarter, they did nothing with it. The Bengals trailed 7-0 at the time, and on the ensuing series, Indianapolis blocked a punt for the first time in 10 years.

        “We have to learn how to win,” Hawkins said. “We have to take teams and bury them when we get the opportunities. We haven't learned how do do that.”

       

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