By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The 40-plus Bengals players who attended the first day of the new strength and conditioning program were greeted Monday by a remodeled weight room, lunch and a positive attitude.

For the first time, the Bengals provided a meal for players at the voluntary workouts. Grilled chicken wraps, tuna salad, a salad bar and fruit were on the menu, said strength and conditioning coach Chip Morton.

"They were enthusiastic," Morton said. "Everybody seemed positive about the changes. Now the test will be to maintain the enthusiasm and build it through the minicamp and into the season. It was a great first day."

Coach Marvin Lewis, reached Monday night at the NFL meetings in Phoenix, declined to get overly excited about the report from Paul Brown Stadium.

"It's no different than anything," said Lewis, implying that the Bengals' program was the norm throughout the NFL.

But the first day of this program was different than the past. Players estimated attendance at the voluntary workouts at 45, where fewer than 10 attended last year.

The revamped weight room and strength coaches Morton and Kurtis Shultz impressed third-year wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

"It's something like college, but it's not college," he said. "It makes it fun. It's cool. It wasn't hard, but it was not easy at all. In my two years here, it's never been like that. We warmed up for 30 minutes. It's completely different."

Hip hop, not rockabilly music, blared from the speakers. The fresh white walls were lined with mirrors and motivational sayings. The most unusual came from Proverbs 27:17 - "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

Third-year tight end Sean Brewer, rehabbing a knee injury since early February, has seen the transformation of the weight room unfold daily.

"This is awesome," he said. "You're excited to go in there and work out. I worked out with 20 guys today, and maybe only three of us had been in there before. Everybody's in there working hard and excited to be there. It's a positive thing."

Second-year tackle Levi Jones also liked the new program.

"It was a lot of similar stuff I did in college and at Athletes Performance (training club) in Arizona," he said. "Obviously, things weren't right before, and you want to better a program. Changes needed to be instituted."

Fourth-year linebacker Armegis Spearman said he liked how the new coaches emphasized working the entire body, not just selected muscle groups. Players in the past had complained that the team did not work legs.

The goal is to turn the Bengals from the league's worst team to one of its best.

In Phoenix, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue on Monday announced four more national television games on opening weekend. The season will open Thursday night, Sept. 4, when the Jets visit Lewis' old team, the Washington Redskins. Rematches of AFC and NFC title games will be played Sunday and Monday night.

Lewis wants his Bengals in a showcase game in the near future. "That's why you play this game," he said. "You want to be the attraction. That's something that will come down the line, and I have no doubt in my mind it will happen."

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Email mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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