By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnati's Justin Smith (90) would rather have a better pass defense than individual stats for sacks and hits. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

The Bengals are in the second season of a sack drought.

But there's a difference between 2002 and 2003.

Though the Bengals are 31st in NFL rankings with two sacks this year, the overall pass defense is better - ranked fourth at 150 yards allowed per game.

That's better than where they finished in 2002, ranked 13th in pass defense at 203.9 yards a game. The Bengals were tied for 30th with just 24 sacks.

The Cleveland Browns, the Bengals' opponent Sunday, have given up six sacks and plan to start an already immobile quarterback, Kelly Holcomb, who now has a hairline fracture of the right fibula - the smaller of two bones in the lower leg.

The Browns also are playing without their best offensive lineman, left tackle Ross Verba, who is on the injured reserve list with a torn biceps.

The lack of sacks in three games is a concern for the Bengals, but there's no panic in the locker room. There is, however, pride in the improved play against the pass.

"Of course we want more sacks and hits, but if we had 15 sacks and were ranked 20th in pass defense, I'd rather have whatever we have," said Bengals defensive end Justin Smith.

Smith led the Bengals in sacks for the previous two seasons combined, with 15 sacks.

He has neither of the two this year. They belong to end Duane Clemons and tackle Tony Williams.

An explanation for the low number of sacks is the defensive scheme brought in by coach Marvin Lewis and coordinator Leslie Frazier. The Bengals most often rush just the four linemen, as opposed to the blitz-oriented defense played by Dick LeBeau that frequently added the linebackers.

"We're leaving everybody else in coverage, which helps the coverage. Right?" Smith said. "The goal is to have a good, sound defense and not huge stats one way or the other."

Lewis said he is not upset with the performance of the defensive line.

"You have to have balance," he said of sacks and passing yards. "It's important that you play team defense."

Lewis consistently says, when asked about one aspect of the defense - the line or secondary - that the defense consists of 11 players.

He said the better those 11 players work together, the more consistent and effective the defense will become over time.

"Right now we're learning step one," he said.

Limiting points allowed is a primary goal, Smith said. Twice the goal of 17 has been met, against Oakland (16) and Pittsburgh (17). Denver scored 23 points against the Bengals defense. That's a respectable 18.7 average.

The Bengals also have four interceptions this season, compared to nine in all of 2002.

A troubling trend that has carried over from last season, though, is the big numbers the Bengals give up in the rush game. They're 28th against the run at 152 yards a game. Last year they were 22nd at 125.2 a game.

Sack opportunities were down last year because the Bengals rarely played with a lead and opposing offenses ran most of the time.

The Bengals have not led this season, and opposing offenses have run 98 rushing plays and 89 pass plays.

Smith said the defense has to stop the run, force some three-and-outs and play with a lead. Then, he said, he and the rest of the line would be able to rush quarterbacks more aggressively.

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com