Tuesday, December 14, 1999BENGALS NOTEBOOK
Bengals defend Coslet's decision
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati EnquirerBengals coach Bruce Coslet still loses even when he wins.
He took heat Monday for pulling running back Corey Dillon out of Sunday's 44-28 win over the Browns despite being on a pace to threaten Walter Payton's all-time record of 275 rushing yards.
Dillon had 192 yards when he was pulled with about four minutes left in the third quarter.
“If I leave him in and he gets his leg broken, then you guys are all over (me),” said Coslet, who couldn't hide his anger. “That's why I don't listen to critics. You know what critics are? Have you seen a statue ever erected in honor of a critic?”
Coslet said there is no comparing Dillon to Payton's record day in 1977 because his Bears beat the Vikings, 10-7, while the Bengals were in a blowout.
“If that game was 10-7, Corey would have gotten the ball 15 to 20 more times,” Coslet said.
Coslet's boss and quarterback jumped to his defense. Bengals President Mike Brown remembered when his father, coach Paul Brown, pulled Cleveland running back Jim Brown out of a game against the Los Angeles Rams in the third quarter despite a record pace.
“You want to preserve your players,” Mike Brown said. “I thought he did the right thing ... You don't play this game to break records. We're going to play Cleveland for years and years. Rubbing salt in the wound isn't going to make it better.”
Mike Brown thinks Coslet had Dillon's last record game in mind, when Dillon broke Jim Brown's rookie record in 1997 with 246 yards on 39 carries in a 41-14 rout of Tennessee. The Bengals haven't beaten Tennessee since.
“They had it in their craw the next time we met them and even beyond that. They remembered it,” Mike Brown said.
Jeff Blake wants Dillon healthy for the last two games in Baltimore and Jacksonville.
“Not to have him the last couple of weeks because we wanted him to break a record and he gets blown up and now he's out the rest of the season,” Blake said, “and everybody hollering we shouldn't have had him in there because we were winning by four touchdowns.
“Corey knows he's in a contract year. He would rather get out of this season healthy instead of breaking a record he'll probably wind up breaking some time during his career.”
Anybody care what Dillon thinks?
“I'm going to argue with him?” Dillon asked of Coslet. “I'm just taking orders. He took me out, he explained it ... he made the call and I respect the call.”
COSLET STATUS: The conventional wisdom is if Coslet keeps the Bengals competitive in the final two games, he'll return for the final year of his contract.
“There's one guy that controls it,” said Coslet, referring to Mike Brown, “and we don't talk about it. He's never talked about it to you and he never talks about it with me. I've got the contract. What else can I say? Maybe he'll let me go tomorrow. He's got the bye week to bring a new coach in here.”
When Coslet asked public relations director Jack Brennan what he thought about that, Brennan said, “You're done,” meaning the press conference was over.
AKILI DONE: Coslet said he doubts the doctors will allow rookie quarterback Akili Smith to play the last two games on his severely sprained right big toe.
And even if they did, Coslet wouldn't throw Smith into practice because he hasn't been able to properly warm up his arm since he can't follow through on the foot.
“I don't think it's going to happen,” Coslet said. “His toe is getting better, but it's not significantly better.”
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