Miami's Oronde Gadsen catches a TD pass over Artrell Hawkins. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        With a quarter of the season gone and the Bengals winless, there is good news and bad news to report about the team's most suspect unit, its secondary.

        The good news is the Bengals are on pace to give up 1,000 fewer yards passing than the 4,000-plus yards they did in 1999, fourth most in the NFL.

        The bad news is the Bengals are on pace to give up the same number of touch down passes, 28, as 1999 and have only three interceptions, all by linebackers.

        Coach Dick LeBeau and defensive backs coach Ray Horton both suggested Monday that changes at cornerback could be right around the corner if play doesn't improve.

        When the Bengals needed to stop Miami in the second half Sunday and protect their three-point lead, they couldn't. Dolphins quarter back Jay Fiedler, who threw no touchdowns and one interception in the first half, was 8 of 11 for 86 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in the second half.

        Miami scored touchdowns on its first three second-half drives, two coming on passes from Fiedler to Oronde Gadsden, and won 31-16.

        “We didn't get the plays made,” LeBeau, a former cornerback, said Monday. “There's not an excuse for that. There's no honey-coating that.

        “We're not going to just keep playing the same-old, same-old, same-old. Do I have anything in mind, per se? No. But will we hesitate to substitute? No, we will not. So you could see some different people out there.”

        Miami's biggest plays were Gadsden's two touchdown receptions, from the 7- and 21-yard line. On the first score, he got inside position on cornerback Artrell Hawkins.

        On the second touchdown, Gadsden caught the ball over top of cornerback Tom Carter, who was in good position but failed to get a hand on the ball.

        “We're doing an average job,” Horton said. “Yeah, our (yards) numbers are down. Their big plays are down. If you look at yesterday's game, they made a couple of fantastic catches. When we had a chance to make a fantastic play, we didn't.”

        Hawkins, in particular, had a tough day. He was called for a pass interference penalty on Miami's second scoring drive of the second half. It came on a third-and-2 play and gave the Dolphins a first down on the Bengals 12. On the next play Gadsden beat him for the touchdown.

        LeBeau and Horton took out Hawkins for a series and replaced him with Rodney Heath, the third cornerback.

        Hawkins, the Bengals' second-round draft pick in 1998, had three interceptions as a rookie, but none last year or this season. He was not available for comment Monday.

        Said Horton: “It's not a function or problem of what (Hawkins) does in practice. In practice he does it well. Then in a game he does little things differently than I would like to see him do.

        “I've got to get him to relax and be the natural athlete that he is. Time is running short on that, and pretty soon I'm going to have to find someone who will.”

        The Bengals invested their second- and fifth-round draft picks on cornerbacks, Mark Roman and Robert Bean, but Roman has dressed for only one game, and Bean has played almost exclusively on special teams in three games.

        “When you look at being 0-4, you have to say we need an infusion of something,” Horton said. “And in my case, it's an infusion of play-making. We're not making the big play. If Rodney or Robert Bean or Mark Roman will do that, whoever, we're going to have to ask for a big play from them.

        “It's play to play. I'll pull any one out who's not holding up their end of the bargain.”

        On Miami's next series, Gadsden made the touchdown catch over top of Carter.

        “Every time, we didn't get a hand on the ball or missed a tackle,” Carter said of the third quarter. “We're forcing teams to put balls in front of us, we're playing aggressively, but we're not getting any wins.”

        Teams haven't had to throw on the Bengals that much this season, but are 75 of 123 passing (61 percent). Cincinnati has been outscored 58-20 in the first half in four games and 78-20 through three quarters.

        The Bengals defense yielded an average of 251 yards through the air last season, and that's down to 191 yards a game this year, good enough for 11th in the NFL.

        But LeBeau also has noticed the lack of big plays in the last few games.

        “Our guys, athletically, make those plays on the practice field,” he said. “But we're not making them regularly in the game. Early in the season, we had four or five batted-down passes. The last two games, particularly on third down, we haven't made those plays.

        “And it isn't that we're beaten or out of position. But we are not finishing the plays.”

Cornerbacks may lose jobs LeBeau likes fourth-quarter effort Pickens may miss Bengals game

Next manager probably has Reds ties
Odds on Reds next manager
SULLIVAN: Ax will turn on Bowden
McKeon more grateful than bitter
Casey: High expectations were McKeon's downfall
New mix served Mariners well
Bearcats face 'must win' at Houston
Probation ends for UC basketball
UC's Jones looks for December return
Martin's goal: make NBA all-defensive team
Olympic boxer welcomed home
Complete Olympics coverage at Cincinnati.com/olympics
Chiefs 24, Seahawks 17
Football rankings shuffled
Enquirer football polls
Kentucky football polls
Complete prep football coverage at Enquirer.com/prepfootball
Ohio soccer polls
High school highlights
Cincinnati high school results
N. Ky. high school results
Xavier women ranked as high as 15th
Cintas open house Monday

• Return to Bengals front page...