Wednesday, September 25, 2002
Bengals simply have no clue
Akili Smith is starting Sunday because the Bengals have nothing else they can do. Three weeks into it, the Bengals are down to their last dollar. They're spending it on a lottery ticket.
Akili can run from Warren Sapp on Sunday a whole lot faster than Gus Frerotte or Jon Kitna could. He'll also bring in several thousand curious fans who would not have suffered either of the other two. Mike Brown does not like empty chairs in his free building.
But this is what Smith starting says about the Cincinnati Bengals. Here is the message his early appearance screams:
The Bengals don't have a clue. As an organization, they make Inspector Clouseau look like Lee Iacocca.
Hey, kids, let's take the guy who, until now, we didn't think was good enough to run our offense in practice, and make him the starting quarterback.
Let's a take a guy whose growth we've helped stunt for four years and ask him to save our season. What a great idea.
We spent millions of dollars and months of time on Kitna and Frerotte.
Let's ditch them after three games, for a guy we would have cut if we didn't have to take such a salary cap hit. Let's surround him with two of the finest offensive minds in the business: Kenny Anderson, who hasn't improved a QB in a decade, and Bob Bratkowski, who puts Levi Jones at tight end.
Here's a clue for Sunday, to the offensive coordinator: Hand Corey Dillon the ball. Then hand it to him again. Is this hard?
The Bengals have better players now than they've had since 1990. But the management is the same. The coaches are getting gray and comfortable. The philosophy, beyond making money, is invisible. The vision, the direction, the plan: all as empty as a Bengal promise. All as fleeting as the next quarterback change. LeBeau didn't mean to indict the organization Monday when he said “I don't know what we are.” But it's a tidy metaphor.
“If it isn't working with Plan A or Plan B, it's reasonable to see what you can do with Plan C” was Mike Brown's analysis Tuesday. I asked him what I asked LeBeau Monday:
“What does it say about management and coaches that you've invested all this time and money on Frerotte and Kitna and now you're going back to a guy who has been here all along?”
“It says we're in trouble,” Brown said.
It also says the collective candle-power of the Bengals' brain-trust couldn't light a broom closet.
“We have to get the passing game up and running,” LeBeau decided. LeBeau is starting to get that glazed-ham look first seen in David Klingler and popularized in the last decade by every Bengals coach and most of their QBs.
“We're not just going to sit and watch,” the coach said. At this rate, neither will anyone else.
But hey, swell, start Akili Sunday and hope he isn't maimed. Then do him a favor: Leave him back there the rest of the year. See what he can do. If he does well, do him a bigger favor:
Trade him.
E-mail Paul Daugherty at pdaugherty@enquirer.com. Past columns at www.enquirer.com/columns/daugherty
Bengals Stories
Reds 1, Cubs 0
Reds Box, Runs
Reds Notebook: LaRue irks Boone by hiding injury
Sosa strikes out in HR countdown
Giants widen wild-card lead
Rockies rookie dooms Dodgers
D'backs wrap up playoff berth despite loss
Mariners stay alive - barely
Angels still waiting for playoff clincher
UC's Guidugli cited for drinking
Lorenzen has Kentucky rolling along
OSU should have Clarett for Indiana
Ross denies he's leaving Buckeyes
City may get '06 skating nationals
Letter threatens Highlands players
Kings new No. 1 in small-school poll
Elder still atop Div. I poll
No. 1 Dixie faces supreme test
Ohio Football Notebook
Lakota West soccer team rolls on
Dixie Heights golfer No.1 in state
Boys cross country results
Boys golf results
Boys soccer results
Boys water polo results
Girls cross country results
Girls golf results
Girls soccer results
Girls tennis results
Girls volleyball results
Girls water polo results
• Return to Bengals front page...
DAUGHERTY: Bengals simply have no clue
