Monday, November 01, 1999

BENGALS NOTEBOOK

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Bengals beaten physically, too

Receiver Darnay Scott, left, and cornerback Fernando Bryant scuffle during Sunday's game. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

        The Bengals also got routed in the injury department Sunday with the biggest concern quarterback Akili Smith.

        He's listed as questionable for Sunday's game with a sprained big right toe. X-rays were negative, but he was given crutches because of a limp and he may need a magnetic resonance imaging test (MRI) today.

        The Bengals are also hurting at cornerback. Roosevelt Blackmon injured his right ankle and is doubtful. Artrell Hawkins is questionable with a left shoulder bruise he received on the first series when he prevented running back Tavian Banks from scoring on a pass.

        But even before the game started, Hawkins aggravated his right ankle sprain when he rolled it while working out on his own before the team started warmups.

        Right tackle Willie Anderson also re-aggravated his sprained right knee, as well as picking up strained right foot, making him questionable.

Blake on offensive
       

        Bengals quarterback Jeff Blake knows the reason he won't be back in Cincinnati next year is because Bengals President Mike Brown didn't think he was the future and chose to draft Smith.

        Blake's two fourth-quarter touchdown passes the last two games are the only Bengals touchdowns in the last three weeks. So asked if he'll play now that Smith is hurt, Blake said, “It looks like it. We'll see what the big man says. We'll see what Mike says.”

        Asked if he was out to prove anything to Brown, Blake said, “I ain't out to prove nothing to nobody. I'm a Pro Bowl quarterback. I ain't gotta prove nothing to nobody. The Tampa Bay Bucs go out and win 6-3. I ain't never won a game 6-3 in my whole life. My whole career. Never. Never came close. I ain't gotta prove nothing to nobody.”

        Blake smiled when asked why he called a timeout with six seconds left on the Jags 15, trailing, 41-3: “Because I wanted to throw a touchdown pass.”

History averted
        Willie Jackson's 15-yard TD reception on the game's final play averted what would have been the worst loss in Bengal history.

        Instead, the 37-point drubbing by Chicago in 1986 (44-7, at then-Riverfront Stadium) remains No.1.

        “It's pretty insignificant,” Jackson said of his TD. “But if you're gonna go out, go out swinging.”

        Jackson, a Jaguar from 1995-97, said the Bengals were just overmatched.

        “It seemed like we didn't put up a fight, but that's a pretty good team,” Jackson said. “We didn't execute well, and that's why it looked as bad as it did.”

       

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Bengals Stories

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