Monday, September 18, 2000
Joke's on the offensive line
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The harbinger of Hurricane Gordon was a hard rain. Alternately a drizzle and a downpour, it made for a miserable Sunday afternoon at ALLTEL Stadium.
That it was made-to-order for running the football only made it that much worse. Operating under optimum conditions for ducks and drive-blockers, the Cincinnati Bengals' offensive line performed like a pack of wooden decoys.
“It was pouring,” said Bengals guard Mike Goff. “It was a perfect day for us to run the ball. And we didn't get it done.”
Sunday's 13-0 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars was not nearly as traumatic for the Bengals as was last week's meltdown against Cleveland, but it was no less troubling. It's pretty hard to win when you can't get out of your own way, and it's pretty hard to hope when your seasoned offensive line springs more leaks than the S.S. Minnow.
“It kills me because there's really no reason for that,” offensive line coach Paul Alexander said. “We're better than that. We should be better than that. But we're not right now. The last two weeks, we've had no rhythm. In preseason, the rhythm was there. Now it's gone.”
Right now, the Bengals are blocking about as well as the French did in 1940. They aren't generating much push on the running plays, and their pass blocking has been so porous it could strain spaghetti. Corey Dillon has seen less daylight than a subway conductor on the graveyard shift. Quarterback Akili Smith's recent progress consists largely of learning to run for his life.
Hyperbole? Hardly. Dillon gained 32 yards on 17 carries Sunday — a 1.9-yard clip. Smith has been sacked 12 times in two games. When the Bengals' two key offensive components aren't being dragged down for deficit yardage, they are often betrayed by their blockers' transgressions. Four different Bengals linemen were called for holding Sunday — three of them in the span of the game's first six scrimmage plays.
Tackle Rod Jones was charged with two holding penalties against the Jaguars. Goff and tackle Willie Anderson were each assessed for a holding call and a false start. The same Jacksonville team that yielded five touchdowns last week against Baltimore stifled Cincinnati so thoroughly that the Bengals' deepest penetration was the Jaguars' 26-yard line.
“I don't think we got stoned at the point of attack,” said Bengals coach Bruce Coslet. “A lot of times, we didn't get back to the point of attack.”
Out of 69 scrimmage plays, the Bengals achieved forward progress on only 33. In addition to 23 incomplete or intercepted passes, there were five sacks of Smith and eight other plays stopped for either a loss or no gain. Except for a defensive pass interference penalty, the Bengals gained no more than two yards on their first nine first-down plays.
“I have no idea what the problem is,” Jones said. “I know everybody's heart is in the right place. It's probably some small thing and it's so obvious we're missing it.”
“It's not a physical thing,” Anderson said. “It's mental. It can be fixed. How easily I don't know.”
One Bengals insider questioned the conditioning of the offensive line, citing comments made last week by Browns players and the sight of the untoned Anderson returning from the shower. Both Alexander and Anderson disputed that allegation. Fatigue couldn't be much of a factor, Alexander argued, when the blocking breaks down in the first quarter.
“It's not conditioning,” Anderson said. “That's something guys just say to put the other team down and make themselves look good.”
Putting the Bengals down is easy. Setting them straight seems impossible.
E-mail: tsullivan@enquirer.com.
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SULLIVAN: Joke's on the offensive line
