TAMPA, Fla. — The majority of Bengals players rate the team's medical staff as “fair,” and the training staff's rating is one of the lowest in the NFL, according to the 2000 NFL Players Health and Safety Survey.

        The survey also showed that Bengals players — more than twice as many as the next club on the list — had “concerns regarding security at your club's facility.”

        The NFL Players Association released the survey this week after holding a news conference at Super Bowl XXXV headquarters.

        Of the 53 Bengals players who voluntarily filled out the survey during the 2000 season, 33 (62 percent) rated the medical staff as “fair.” No players gave it an “excellent” rating. Ten (19 percent) said it was “good,” and 10 said it was “poor.”

        The Bengals' staff had the most “poor” ratings of any of the 31 teams. Jacksonville players gave their staff three “poor” votes.

        Some of the complaints are believed to involve the Bengals' lack of a staff chiropractor and massage therapist. The Bengals provide those services, however, from outside sources.

        Trainer Paul Sparling declined to comment, but Bengals president Mike Brown responded Friday afternoon to the report.

        “It's not clear to me even what the specific complaint is or who it particularly involves,” Brown said in Tampa, where he will attend Sunday's Super Bowl. “But we think our medical and training staff is first-rate, and no one has conveyed to me any feelings to the contrary.”

        Efforts Friday to reach Bengals union representative

        Michael Bankston were unsuccessful.

        The security concerns are unclear. Players must cross Central Avenue to get to and from practice, meaning the public has unrestricted access to them. But the practice fields adjacent to the stadium are guarded during workouts, and there is a guard station inside the stadium near the locker room.

        The union's survey was taken by 1,280 players from all 31 teams.

        Among other questions, the survey asked players to rate the best and worst playing surfaces in the NFL.

        In the “best field” category, the temporary Bermuda grass surface at Paul Brown Stadium was the lowest rated of the 20 natural-grass NFL fields. The Jets and Giants share the natural grass field at Giants Stadium.

        The Bengals were forced to install the Bermuda grass after the original bluegrass field died at a sod farm in Maryland because of a drought and watering restrictions.

        The field was reduced to dirt and sand between the hash marks during the final two home games in December against the Cardinals and Jaguars. It will be replaced by bluegrass before next season.

        The 10 artificial turf fields in the NFL were rated at the bottom of the list.

        The field at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, home of Super Bowl XXXV, was rated the best in the NFL.

        In the various “worst field” ratings, Paul Brown Stadium's surface was ranked the fourth worst, behind only artificial turf surfaces in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and the two-team natural-grass field at Giants Stadium.

        On a chart titled “Home Field Quality,” 44 of 54 Bengals players rated the Paul Brown Stadium field as “poor.” Nine players rated it “fair,” and one player said it was “good.”

        Brown has explained several times about the temporary nature of the field and the reason the Bengals were forced to install it. He said other NFL teams faced similar field problems when they moved into new stadiums, which the Bengals did before the 2000 season.

Bengals not happy with training staff

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