Sunday, August 20, 2000
Bengals finally capitalize in red zone
By Tom Groeschen
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The red zone has been a black hole for the Bengals since roughly 1991. But not Saturday night.
The red zone, football-speak for the area inside the opponent's 20-yard line, was good to Cincinnati in its first game at Paul Brown Stadium.
The Bengals went 3-for-3 in the red zone in the first half Saturday, scoring touchdowns each time they got inside the Bears' 20-yard line:
• A 14-yard run by rookie wideout Peter Warrick, on a reverse;
• An 11-yard pass from Akili Smith to tight end Tony McGee;
• A 3-yard pass from Smith to rookie wideout Ron Dugans.
“Execution, execution,” coach Bruce Coslet said. “You have to hand it to our line.”
The Bengals have worked at training camp to improve their production inside the 20. Entering Saturday, Cincinnati had been inside the 20 eight times in two preseason games and scored three field goals and three touchdowns.
That touchdown rate of 3-for-8 (37.5 percent) lagged behind last year's relatively weak 42 percent TD conver sion rate in the red zone.
“Our pass protection was better tonight,” Coslet said. “In the Atlanta and Buffalo games, those guys were in our face. If Akili gets that much time to throw, he's gonna be effective.”
Last week, Coslet had said: “We've got to punch it in. I'm tired of playing for the field goal.”
And thus the early success Saturday was too good to last, as the Bengals did have to play for the field goal on their first red-zone trip in the third quarter. And that resulted in a 20-yard field goal by Doug Pelfrey, which gave Cincinnati a 24-17 lead.
Still, the game total of 4-for-4 on red-zone scoring opportunities, with a 75 percent touchdown rate, was the best Cincinnati probably could have asked at this point.
On the other side, the Bears had no red-zone trips in the first half, so the Bengals defense could not test itself there. The reason was the Bengals had done something worse, allowing two 45-yard touchdown passes from Cade McNown to Marcus Robinson.
Chicago did score on its first official red-zone possession of the game, on a field goal in the fourth quarter.
Entering the game, the Bengals defense had allowed 50 percent touchdowns (two, in four red-zone situations) in preseason.
Last year, the Bengals' red-zone efficiency was one of many factors contributing to their 4-12 record. Opponents scored points on 86 percent of their trips inside the red zone, while the Bengals offense scored on only 70 percent of theirs. Touchdown-wise, opponents converted on 55 percent of their trips while the Bengals made just the 42.6 percent.
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Bengals finally capitalize in red zone