By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Bengals' dormant pass rush will have a chance to come to life Sunday at Houston.

The Texans have given up a league-high 44 sacks, while the Bengals come in with just eight sacks in seven games.

But, say Bengal defenders, before they worry about sacks, they must stop the run.

The Bengals, who gave up 105 rushing yards a game last season, are yielding 142 this year through seven games.

Opposing offenses don't have to pass as much because they've jumped ahead. The Bengals have trailed by at least 20-0 in five of their seven losses.

"We haven't been ahead very often, and that's when your sacks are going to come," coach Dick LeBeau said. "If we continue to improve, our sack total will come up."

Defensive ends Reinard Wilson and Justin Smith, who combined for 17.5 of the franchise-record 48 sacks last season, have just one between them this year.

Wilson, who has none, says he is not on the field enough. He played about 20 downs a game last season, when he posted a career high nine sacks. This year he is getting on the field about 10 times a game.

Smith never comes out of the game. He plays on running downs and sometimes he drops into pass coverage.

"We got to get our assignments better," said Smith, who realizes the Bengals have a great opportunity against the Texans' offensive line.

"They're not communicating right," he said of the Texans. "They're sometimes sliding the wrong way. We definitely need to take advantage of it."

David Carr, the Texans' rookie quarterback, knows the Bengals will be aiming for him. So does his coach, Dom Capers.

"I think sometimes (the number of sacks) gets blown out of proportion a little bit," Capers said. "A number of those have been David running out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage and that type of thing."

INDEFENSIBLE

After seven games, the Bengals are ranked 23rd in the NFL in defense (total yards). They finished ninth last season. The overall ranking isn't the only category in which the Bengals' defense has fallen: Year Points per game Red zone scores Yards per game Rushing yds. (rank) Turn- overs Passer rating Sacks 2001 19.3 49% 302 105 (11th) 28 85.4 48 2002 30.1 62% 342 142 (28th) 21 101.7 18 Note: 2002 numbers for turnovers and sacks are 16-game projections based on seven-game totals.

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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