The Bengals' rush offense looks better than last year when it was the NFL's second-best.

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Corey Dillon celebrates his 87-yard TD run with JoJuan Armour. (Michael E. Keating photo) 600 | 800 | 1024

        Paced by Corey Dillon's 92 yards — 87 coming on a first-quarter touchdown run — the Bengals ran for 227 yards Thursday in their preseason finale against Indianapolis. The four-game preseason total is 817, a 204-yard average.

        Quarterback Jon Kitna, making his first start since being named regular-season starter Monday, threw for 117 yards and said the pass offense could make the run game stronger.

        “The way we're running the ball, play-action is going to have to be huge for us,” Kitna said. “I have to, and we have to, make teams pay in the passing game. If we can, that guy (Dillon) can gain 2,000 yards.”

        The Bengals did have 220 yards passing Thursday.

        For the preseason, the Bengals had 1,579 yards of offense, compared to 1,074 for their opponents. That's an average of 126 more yards a game for the Bengals, yet they finished 1-3.

        PUNTING: Nick Harris, brought in at the last moment to complete for the Bengals' punting job, had kicks of 49, 42, 40 and 31 yards. Incumbent Daniel Pope had punts of 44 and 42 yards.

        PUNT RETURNS: Peter Warrick, given the job this week, returned two punts and fumbled one of them.

        ROSS SIGNS: Veteran linebacker Adrian Ross has signed a three-year contract extension with the Bengals.

        He had signed a one-year con tract before this season, and his new deal runs through the 2004 season. Ross is a fourth-year player from Colorado State. He played in 13 games with four starts last season and made 33 tackles.

        WAIVED: The Bengals waived second-year wide receiver Chad Plummer from the injured reserve list with an injury settlement. Plummer suffered torn hip cartilage Aug.25 against Buffalo.

Bengals lose Mitchell for six weeks Colts 23, Bengals 17 Replacement referees get mixed reviews Bengals run up rushing stats Bengals-Colts statistics Bengals' Barndt charged with DUI

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