Carl Pickens and Yancey Thigpen watch Wednesday's practice while mending injuries. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        Carl Pickens was never 3-1 in eight years in Cincinnati. He's 3-1 with Tennessee.

        He never played on Monday night or in a playoff game with the Bengals. His Titans will play their first of three Monday night games Oct.16 and are co-favorites to win the AFC Central.

        He never played for an NFL coach who had a winning record for a full season. His coach in Tennessee, Jeff Fisher, was 13-3 last season and took the Titans to the Super Bowl.

        Pickens is out of Cincinnati, and he's happy.

        “So far, everything's been going pretty good,” Pickens said Wednesday.

        He will play his first game in Cincinnati as a visitor Sunday when the Bengals play host to the Titans at Paul Brown Stadium.

        “Not everything was all bad in Cincinnati. But here, it's just a different situation,” he said.

        Pickens was released by the Bengals in July and signed a week later with the Titans. His release was the indirect result of Pickens blasting the Bengals in December for retaining coach Bruce Coslet. Though he apologized later for his comments, Pickens said Coslet had never won before and wasn't the right coach to turn the team around.

        Pickens was not surprised Coslet resigned. Coslet was replaced Sept.25 by Dick LeBeau.

        “They seem to be playing better than they had the first three weeks,” Pickens said. “I know Coach LeBeau pretty good. I know he's a motivator. I know those guys will step up and play for him. ...

        “I think things are going to change there. I think with the new stadium, and possibly the new coaching change and all the new players they've got, I think those guys are moving in the right direction. And now it's only going to be a matter of time. But things like that happen. You deal with it and move on.”

        Pickens clearly is pleased to have moved from the Bengals. About the only things not going his way right now are a leg injury that has him questionable for Sunday's game, and his unsold Cincinnati home.

        “It's slow right now,” he said of the local real estate market.

        In Tennessee, Pickens has eight receptions for 186 yards. He had a second-quarter catch for 15 yards in the Titans' victory — his 97th consecutive game with at least one reception — Sunday against the Giants but left the game in the third quarter with a strained hamstring.

        His former Bengals teammates and coaches expect to see Pickens in uniform Sunday. And they expect him to play hard.

        “I imagine they won't have to get him too cranked up to play,” Dick LeBeau said Wednesday.

        Second-year Bengals cornerback Rodney Heath played against Pickens in practice last season.

        “I always respected Pick,” Heath said. “Practice is one thing. Now it's for real. It's a challenge for me. Once the ball is thrown, he's going to try to outfight you for it. I know I'll be in a dog fight if I have the chance to play against him.”

        Fullback Clif Groce was Pickens' offensive teammate last season.

        “He's not Superman, but he's definitely a gifted player,” Groce said. “I think you've got to meet aggression with aggression. That's how Pick is. I've watched him get into it with DBs. And it's personal, and once he gets into that game, it's over. He's a totally different person on the field.”

        Pickens had been described as a clubhouse cancer for the last couple of years in Cincinnati. Not so in Tennessee, say Pickens and Fisher.

        “Here, that's never even been an issue or a concern,” Pickens said of his personality. “The people here (in Tennessee) knew the situation I was in. Owners and coaches understand that, but people on the outside, they don't see that. They don't understand it. They don't see it. That's not who I was. What people write and say is completely different from what I am.”

        Before Tennessee signed Pickens, Fisher met privately with the player who set eight Cincinnati receiving records but had the reputation as a malcontent.

        “I wanted to know what his expectations were, and I thought it was important for him to know what mine were,” Fisher said Wednesday. “After our conversation, we both left the room satisfied and encouraged that he could help us on and off the field.

        “I can understand and appreciate the level of frustration, not only on his behalf, but on behalf on his teammates, coaches and management. It's hard when you're not winning games. It's very easy after a period of time to be frustrated and say, "All I want to do is win.' According to Carl, that's basically all he said. He has done everything we've asked him to.”

        Pickens' visit to Cincinnati will include a meeting with former teammate Darnay Scott, who is out for the season with a broken leg. Scott and Pickens formed one of the NFL's most feared and productive receiving tandems during the mid-1990s. Pickens led the AFC in receptions in 1995 (99) and '96 (100). They talked on the phone Wednesday morning.

        “I still have a lot of friends in Cincinnati,” Pickens said. “I still have a lot of good friends on the team. But it's another game on our schedule. It's another game on their schedule.”

        He is aware the Bengals refer to their new loyalty stipulation in player contracts as the “Pickens clause.” It allows the organization to recoup signing bonus money if a player does not honor his contract. Pick ens had signed a multiyear deal with Cincinnati before last season that included $3.5 million upfront.

        “It doesn't make me feel one way or another,” Pickens said of the clause. “That's a business decision, a management move. What can you do? I can't argue that. Why should I?”

        Pickens explained his reasons for wanting out of town this way: “You play this game for one reason and one reason only, and that's to be the best and to win. After a while, when you don't, it starts taking a toll on you. You want something more. You want to go to a place where you think they can do the things you want to do. Unfortunately, it didn't work out in Cincinnati.”

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