By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Sunday's game

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Remember the story of the mule and its owner and how he had to hit the beast between the eyes with a 2-by-4 to get its attention?

The Bengals handed rookie coach Marvin Lewis a 2-by-4 Sunday with their performance in their preseason opening loss, 28-13 to the New York Jets.

The Bengals committed four turnovers and six penalties. The first- and second-team offenses scored no points, and the league's worst special teams units in 2002 have a long way to go before dropping that label.

And the offense, for the most part, moved up and down the field without scoring. They controlled the time of possession 32:17-27:43. The Bengals also had 305 total yards and 17 first downs, to the Jets' 155 and 10, but still lost by two touchdowns.

"We just keep on fixing the negatives. I don't think any of you believed me (that the mistakes) weren't going to show up," said an upbeat Lewis, appearing happy to have such a persuasive teaching tool as Sunday's game film.

Lewis downplayed the emotion of his first game as an NFL head coach.

WHAT THEY SAID

• Marvin Lewis: "We knew there would be mistakes, and now I'm excited about watching the video tape and improving on these mistakes." • Carson Palmer, on what he needs to improve: "Everything." • Jets coach Herman Edwards on what he said to Lewis after the game: "I told him to continue to believe in the process of how you want to develop your football team and hang in there. I wished him a lot of luck. I think he's going to do good things there." - The Associated Press

"The thing I'm excited about, what I enjoyed today was the fact (that) some of the things we've been talking about occurred. They thought I was crazy. It was raining, but there was a rainbow. Now we know where the end is. And we're going to fix it with the right guys."

True, it was just the preseason opener. But Lewis' 2003 Bengals looked a lot like Dick LeBeau's 2002 team.

After passing for a first down on the game's opening possession, quarterback Jon Kitna and center Mike Goff botched the snap.

"From what Mike tells me, he was trying to make a call in the cadence and just was late (snapping the ball)," Kitna said.

The Jets turned the turnover into seven points. They converted a fourth down and three from the 32, and Chad Pennington hit Santana Moss for a 21-yard gain to set up LaMont Jordan's 1-yard touchdown run.

On Sunday, the Bengals lost the turnover battle 4-2. In 2002, they were near the bottom of league rankings at minus-15.

Rookie quarterback Carson Palmer, who led the Bengals on a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown drives, also threw two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns.

The special teams play also was a problem Sunday.

Though it rained hard through most of the game, holder Nick Harris dropped two snaps. One came in the second quarter after the Bengals had lined up for a 38-yard Neil Rackers field goal attempt. Harris rolled right with the ball and threw incomplete to tight end Tony Stewart.

Harris also dropped the snap on an extra point at the end of the game. That miscue came after Palmer's 10-yard touchdown pass to rookie free agent wide receiver Chesley Borders.

"You can't do that," Lewis said. "We've got to look and see what the best options are there."

Harris and Travis Dorsch also had a tough day punting.

The Bengals, who were last in the NFL in 2002 with a 28.7 net punting average - the only team under 30 yards - were in familiar territory Sunday with a 29-yard net. The Jets had a 41.3 net.

Late in the third quarter, a low, 40-yard Harris punt was returned 32 yards to the Bengals 25-yard line by Albert Johnson. It set up a 5-yard touchdown run by rookie tailback Chad Brinker, who played college ball at Ohio University.

There was some good news on Sunday.

The first- and second-team defense made some big plays in its first game in coordinator Leslie Frazier's scheme.

End Duane Clemons had a sack and forced fumble that was recovered by Riall Johnson. But Clemons earlier was called for a 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty.

Linebacker Kevin Hardy made a running interception on a Vinny Testaverde pass to end a Jets drive, but defensive tackle John Thornton was called for a 15-yard personal foul on the return.

"We came into some adversity defensively, and we handled ourselves fairly well," Lewis said. "We can't hit the quarterback and give up yardage. We're not going to trick people as a football team. So we better understand how we're going to win."

The lessons start up again Tuesday morning with a training camp practice.

---

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

Bengals-Jets statistics

Bengals (0-1-0)

PASSING

	CP-AT	YDS	TD	INT
C. Palmer	12-22	140	1	2
S. Matthews	8-11	51	0	0
J. Kitna	4-6	24	0	0
N. Harris	0-1	0	0	0

RUSHING

	ATT	YDS	TD	LG
R. Jackson	14	54	1	7
R. Johnson	10	27	0	8
C. Dillon	1	5	0	5
C. Palmer	1	4	0	4
B. Bennett	3	0	0	5
J. Kitna	1	0	0	0

RECEIVING

	REC	YDS	TD	LG
D. Farmer	2	49	0	36
C. Borders	3	42	1	28
T. Stewart	4	25	0	7
R. Jackson	2	22	0	11
A. Ziesel	2	18	0	11
C. Edmonds	1	14	0	14
B. Bennett	2	13	0	11
L. Hamilton	2	13	0	8
C. Johnson	2	11	0	10
D. Smith	1	5	0	5
S. Brewer	1	1	0	1
R. Johnson	1	0	0	0

FUMBLES

	FUM	LOST	REC	YDS
R. Jackson	1	1	1	0
J. Kitna	1	1	0	-1
R. Johnson	0	0	1	0

KICKING

	FG	LG	XP	PTS
N. Rackers	0-0	0	1-1	1

PUNTING

	NO	AVG	I20	LG
T. Dorsch	3	43.0	0	55
N. Harris	4	34.5	1	43

KICKOFF RETURNS

	NO	AVG	TD	LG
R. Jackson	1	22.0	0	22

PUNT RETURNS

	NO	AVG	TD	LG
-	-	-	-	-

DEFENSE

	T-A	SCK	INT	FF
M. Roman	4-0	0.0	0	0
A. Ross	4-0	0.0	0	0
K. Abdullah	3-1	0.0	0	0
O. Gibson	3-1	0.0	0	0
J. Smith	3-0	0.0	0	0
D. Weathersby	3-1	0.0	0	0
T. Williams	3-2	0.0	0	0
R. Beckett	2-0	0.0	0	0
K. Hardy	2-1	0.0	1	0
A. Spearman	2-1	0.0	0	0
G. Steele	2-1	0.0	0	0
R. Wilson	2-0	1.0	0	0
D. Clemons	1-1	1.0	0	1
R. Johnson	1-1	0.0	0	0
D. Levels	1-0	0.0	0	0
M. Monds	1-0	0.0	0	0
L. Moore	1-0	0.0	0	0
E. Patterson	1-1	1.0	0	1
C. Powell	1-0	0.0	0	0
B. Simmons	1-0	0.0	0	0
M. Tucker	1-1	0.0	0	0

Jets ( 1-1-0 )

PASSING

	CP-AT	YDS	TD	INT
B. Bollinger	5-8	45	0	0
C. Pennington	3-8	34	0	0
V. Testaverde	1-3	8	0	1

RUSHING

	ATT	YDS	TD	LG
L. Jordan	10	37	1	15
J. Reese	6	16	0	7
I. Smart	3	8	0	3
C. Brinker	2	6	1	5
B. Bollinger	5	3	0	4
S. Bennett	1	1	0	1
J. Sowell	1	0	0	0
V. Testaverde	1	0	0	0

RECEIVING

	REC	YDS	TD	LG
J. Carter	1	29	0	29
S. Moss	1	21	0	21
A. Becht	2	15	0	8
P. McGeoghan	1	8	0	8
J. Sowell	1	6	0	6
G. Reid	1	5	0	5
I. Smart	1	-5	0	-5

FUMBLES

	FUM	LOST	REC	YDS
B. Bollinger	5	1	3	-2
W. Bautovich	1	1	0	0
V. Testaverde	1	0	1	-1
K. Campbell	0	0	1	3
J. Ferguson	0	0	1	0
W. Ofenheusle	0	0	1	0

KICKING

	FG	LG	XP	PTS
D. Brien	0-0	0	4-4	4

PUNTING

	NO	AVG	I20	LG
D. Stryzinski	6	44.0	0	48

KICKOFF RETURNS

	NO	AVG	TD	LG
A. Johnson	2	15.0	0	0

PUNT RETURNS

	NO	AVG	TD	LG
A. Johnson	1	32.0	0	0
S. Moss	2	6.0	0	0

DEFENSE

	T-A	SCK	INT	FF
K. Moses	4-1	0.0	0	0
R. Wingrove	4-0	0.0	0	0
K. Campbell	3-0	0.0	0	0
T. Carter	3-0	0.0	0	0
A. Davison	3-0	0.0	0	0
D. Hill	3-0	0.0	0	0
J. Reed	3-1	0.0	0	0
J. Abraham	2-0	0.0	0	0
W. Bautovich	2-1	0.0	1	0
S. Garnes	2-0	0.0	0	0
J. Glenn	2-3	0.0	0	0
J. Henderson	2-0	0.0	0	0
V. Hobson	2-0	0.0	0	0
K. Knight	2-0	0.0	0	0
K. Wright	2-1	0.0	0	1
D. Abraham	1-0	0.0	0	0
V. Alexander	1-1	0.0	0	0
S. Cowart	1-0	0.0	0	0
S. Ellis	1-1	0.0	0	0
J. Ferguson	1-0	0.0	0	0
L. Gibson	1-0	0.0	0	0
T. Grant	1-0	0.0	1	0
M. Jones	1-0	0.0	0	0
J. McGraw	1-0	0.0	0	0
R. Parent	1-1	0.0	0	0

Bengals' remaining preseason games

Saturday: DETROIT, 7:30 p.m.

Aug. 23: TENNESSEE, 7:30 p.m.

Aug. 29: at Indianapolis, 8 p.m.

Camp schedule

Bengals training camp is closed today. Camp re-opens Tuesday with practice from 8:45-11 a.m.

Return to Bengals front page...