Sunday, December 26, 1999
Players to watch
• Jeff Blake faces the same Raven defense against which he kick-started the Bengals' offense last month by simply looking down field.
Since Blake went deep on the first play of that 34-31 loss, the Bengals offense has averaged 424 yards the last four games. The Ravens think he'll be looking long again because they're petrified of the physical mismatch with 6-2 receiver Carl Pickens on 5-11 DeRon Jenkins, Baltimore's right cornerback. The 5-foot-10 Duane Starks, a nickel back,is also an inviting target but returned a Blake pass for a TD last month.
If Blake had played like he's played the last month in 1997, Akili Smith would be with the Vikings today. Blake has thrown 71 straight passes without an interception and has been superb in crunch time. His 96.6 passing rating in the fourth quarter is second in the AFC to only old friend Neil O'Donnell.
• Meet cornerback Tom Carter, the Bengals newest player who has been here all of 10 days and has already been annointed by the coaches as their best cover corner.
Coach Bruce Coslet plans to play Carter "a significant amount,” today. He'll probably be the third cornerback and play on the outside while left corner Rodney Heath slides inside against extra-receiver sets.
The Bengals picked up Carter off waivers from the Bears mainly because of his ability to play the ball, a glaring weakness in their secondary that was exposed most recently by Browns quarterback Tim Couch's underthrown completions.
But if Carter is to stick with the Bengals next season, they want him to be more aggressive on the run. They know he'll never be Ronnie Lott, but they also don't want a corner diving at the ground and are simply looking for a little involvement.
• Ravens quarterback Tony Banks and Jeff Blake have won three straight starts with the knack for the big play after being demoted at one time or another.
Both have thrown an AFC-best seven touchdowns on third down. Banks leads the AFC in third down passing because he's thrown just one interception, but Blake has a 109.9 overall passing rating while Banks is at 109.5 in their three-game winning streaks.
If Bruce Coslet is the coach of the all-December team with an 8-4 record in the month, Banks is his quarte rback with a 9-3 record in December starts. He's finally living up to the hype as powerful as his cannon arm, playing way above the 70 career rating he brought into the season.
• Free safety Rod Woodson has been torturing the Bengals for more than a decade and with six interceptions in his last eight games, the 34-year-old moving Hall-of-Fame exhibit is holding together an inconsistent secondary.
Even though the Bengals argued tight end Tony McGee held the ball long enough for the winning touchdown, Woodson saved the Ravens' win last month when he jarred the ball loose. Earlier Woodson picked off Blake, his fourth interception against him, tying Blake with Boomer Esiason as Woodson's favorite target while ammassing 53 career interceptions.
How long has Woodson been at it? He has picked off Joe Ferguson, who once handed off to O.J. Simpson. He's also intercepted Danny Wuerffel, who hands off to Ricky Williams.
Bengals Stories
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Naehring giving best off the field
'99 Sports: Color the year Red
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State baseball back to Columbus
Couch still the story in Kentucky
