Sunday, October 31, 1999Players to watch
JAY LEEUWENBURG, signed late in training camp after he was cut by the Colts, gets his first Bengals start today in place of injured Brian DeMarco at right guard.
Leeuwenburg won't exactly have a chance to dip his toe into the water. He goes against Gary Walker, the other side of the argument when people say one out of every two free agents don't make it. Walker, who came over from the Titans in the opening hours of free agency, has five sacks and 11 quarterback pressures.
But Leeuwenburg, in his eighth NFL season, is a solid veteran who has started at every spot on the line and is making his 88th NFL start. It's his first at right guard in three seasons, but the coaches loved how he came off the bench last week for DeMarco and the club hopes to extend his one-year deal.
Right cornerback ARTRELL HAWKINS is coming off subpar outings against the Steelers and Colts, making the Bengals concerned about their second-round pick from the 1998 draft.
They need him to bounce back today and start coming on like the first-round picks from that same draft, inside linebackers Takeo Spikes and Brian Simmons. Hawkins needs to take some pressure off the starting left cornerback, who has been Roosevelt Blackmon and Rodney Heath, a waiver wire pickup and free agent, respectively.
Hawkins, who fell down last season to set up a 55-yard Mark Brunell pass, may be paying the price for being in an inexperienced secondary. Besides the left corner spot, rookie Cory Hall makes just his fourth NFL start today at free safety. Somehow, the Bengals can't allow Jacksonville's dynamic wideouts Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell to do what Muhsin Muhammad (117 yards), Isaac Bruce (152) and Marvin Harrison (168) have done to this secondary.
Jaguars quarterback MARK BRUNELL has had two weeks to rest a pulled muscle in his rib area, just in time for a Bengals team that transforms castoffs into Pro Bowl consideration. Never mind a household name such as Brunell, who has a 20-8 record against the AFC Central and has an overall starting record of 36-23.
He may be clashing with his coach and he may be struggling with just three touchdowns and four interceptions, and he may be just 1-2 in Cincinnati.
But Brunell will be a dangerous man today because of the return of running back Fred Taylor. Taylor, hampered by hamstring problems since the second game of the season, has had three weeks off and seeks his first 100-yard game of the season.
When Taylor was healthy in the opener, he ran for 74 yards and Brunell hit 22 of 30 passes for 265 yards and a touchdown in producing 41 points. Brunell's rushing yards have steadily declined from 480 in '95 to 192 last season and the trend has stayed with less than 20 yards per game this season.
The Bengals had no answer for right end TONY BRACKENS last year with seven-year veteran Kevin Sargent at left tackle. Now Rod Jones, in his first full season at left tackle, has to deal with Brackens, the AFC co-leader with six sacks.
Jones knows Brackens is more of a speed rusher than Chad Bratzke, the Colts' defensive end who beat Jones on occasion last week. Brackens is a major reason the Jags have yet to allow a 100-yard rusher and 300-yard passer.
Brackens, a second-round pick in the '96 draft, has been hellish on decent offensive lines. He had 2.5 sacks against the Steelers and two more against the Jets.
He's also a turnover waiting to happen. In four seasons, Brackens has 16 forced fumbles (four this season) and eight fumble recoveries.
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