Wednesday, April 05, 2000
Browns open new stadium
Lowly Bengals get first-week bye
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Quarterback Akili Smith scanned the Bengals' first regular-season schedule of the new millennium and smiled. First game ever at Paul Brown Stadium? Sunday, Sept.10, against the Cleveland Browns.
Date
| Time
| Opponent
|
|
Sep. 3 | BYE | |
| Sep. 10 | 1 p.m. | CLEVELAND (2-14) |
| Sep. 17 | 1 p.m. | at Jacksonville (14-2) |
| Sep. 24 | 1 p.m. | at Baltimore (8-8) |
|
Oct. 1 | 4:05 p.m | MIAMI (9-7) |
| Oct. 8 | 1 p.m. | TENNESSEE (13-3) |
| Oct. 15 | 1 p.m. | at Pittsburgh (6-10) |
| Oct. 22 | 1 p.m. | DENVER (6-10) |
| Oct. 29 | 1 p.m. | at Cleveland (2-14) |
| Nov. 5 | 1 p.m. | BALTIMORE (8-8) |
| Nov.12 | 1 p.m. | at Dallas (8-8) |
| Nov. 19 | 1 p.m. | at New England (8-8) |
| Nov. 26 | 1 p.m. | PITTSBURGH (6-10) |
|
Dec. 3 | 1 p.m. | ARIZONA (6-10) |
| Dec. 10 | 1 p.m. | at Tennessee (13-3) |
| Dec. 17 | 1 p.m. | JACKSONVILLE (14-2) |
| Dec. 24 | 1 p.m. | at Philadelphia (5-11) |
Remember? Exactly 11 months before that date in Cleveland's new stadium, Smith celebrated his first win as an NFL quarterback by thumping his chest at their sideline and barking at the Dawg Pound.
Just a reminder, he said, for Cleveland using him as leverage to draft Tim Couch as their franchise quarterback.
“Awesome,” Smith said Tuesday. “The rivalry has been renewed. I know Couch feels the same way. Paul Brown. Cleveland. New stadium. What they did to me in the draft. Everything happens for a reason.”
But that's the only “awesome” part of the Bengals' schedule. The NFL continued to remind the team how far it has fallen by giving it an opening-week bye and keeping it off prime-time TV for the second straight year.
“When you're at the bottom, they schedule you differently than if you're at the top,” Bengals President Mike Brown said. “We did it to ourselves. Until we have a winning team, that's what we're going to have.”
The Bengals and Browns share a dubious distinction as being among the five teams not playing a Sunday or Monday night game, along with Detroit, San Francisco and New Orleans.
The Bengals have just one game not starting at 1 p.m. Sunday, a 4:05 start at Paul Brown on Oct. 1 against the Dolphins.
“It's a good schedule from a team perspective,” Brown said. “It's the best and easiest way to prepare. No short weeks, no long travel.”
The Bengals also have an attractive first four games at their new stadium. After the Browns come the always popular Dolphins with a new coach
and a new quarterback who probably will be a former Bengal — either Damon Huard or Jay Fiedler.
The AFC champion Titans are here the next week (Oct. 8), and the Broncos come to town two weeks later with Pro Bowl running back Terrell Davis hoping to be in full gear after missing most of last season with reconstructive knee surgery.
But no one likes the bye on the first weekend, setting up 16 straight games. Or the first five games against three playoff teams for a club that has won three games in September and October the past three seasons.
Brown said the Bengals didn't ask for a bye on that weekend to give the stadium more time to prepare for the opening.
“What we told (the NFL) is we didn't want to conflict with baseball,” Brown said. “We asked them not to schedule us the same day as the Reds.”
The Reds host the Expos Sept. 3 at Cinergy Field. But it's the Saturday, Aug. 19, exhibition against the Bears, which opens the stadium, that might cause a change.
The Reds play the Pirates at Cinergy Field at 1:15, with the Bengals kicking off PB at 7:30. If the new stadium isn't ready, the Bengals couldn't play there the same day. But Cinergy would be open Thursday be fore the Pirates series.
Brown said he's confident the stadium will be ready Aug. 19. Tuesday, he sounded more anxious about the club's first five games, particularly the second and third games of the year on the road against Jacksonville and Baltimore. The Bengals ended last season at those places by being outscored 46-7.
“It's not easy,” Brown said. “I remember last year when they said our schedule was easy at the beginning and we played St. Louis (a 38-10 loss) and they became the best team in football. In this league, it's hard to tell at this time of year who's doing what.”
The sixth game of the season is at Pittsburgh, where the Bengals have won the last two years.
“The key is to get through that stretch over .500,” Smith said. “That would set a tone.”
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