By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The NFL stat sheet for Monday points out what the Bengals have to do Sunday to defeat Baltimore: Stop the run.

Baltimore's Jamal Lewis broke Corey Dillon's NFL single-game rushing record in Game 1 with 295 yards against the Browns (AP photo) | ZOOM |

The Ravens will bring the top-rated rush offense into Paul Brown Stadium. They're rushing for 199.6 yards a game. And their 231-pound tailback, Jamal Lewis, is averaging 148.4 yards.

"It's a big part of the game," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said Monday. "I think that will affect whether we win or lose the football game."

Stop the run, and the Ravens have to rely on the passing game of quarterback Kyle Boller, which is ranked last in the league at 97.2 yards a game.

"They're keeping it tight for him," Marvin Lewis said of Boller. "He's made some throws downfield ... when he's had to."

Marvin Lewis was Baltimore's defensive coordinator when the Ravens made Jamal Lewis their first-round draft choice (fifth overall) in 2000. He rushed for 1,364 yards as a rookie in the Super Bowl season. He had another 1,327 in 2002. In between, he suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first week of the 2001 training camp and missed the entire season.

"Last year, when he was playing, he looked different," Marvin Lewis said. "This year, he doesn't look different. It's been two years since his surgery."

Jamal Lewis set a single-game rushing record of 295 yards on Sept. 14 against Cleveland, breaking Corey Dillon's 3-year-old record of 278 yards.

After five games, Lewis is on pace to set an NFL single-season rushing record of 2,374 yards. Eric Dickerson holds the mark with 2,105 yards, set in 1984 with the Los Angeles Rams.

Jamal Lewis has rushed for 100 yards four times this season. He has four of the top 27 individual rushing performances league-wide. He has a 6.5-yard average, a long of 82 yards and five touchdowns.

A breakdown of his games:

Rank	Opponent	Yards	Attempts	Touchdowns
1	Browns	295	30	2
13	Chargers	132	23	1
14	Cardinals	131	21	0
27	Chiefs	115	26	1

"They've blocked them, he's run through them, he's run around them, he's run over them. He's kind of done it all," Marvin Lewis said of Jamal Lewis. "He's got great speed. He's a big man, he's an agile man, he can catch a football, and he's feeling it. He's feeling good about it. The offensive line plays better knowing the guy is going to make one guy miss."

The Bengals are ranked 22nd against the rush at 121 yards a game. The average is down from 152 yards a game because of a 69-yard effort at Cleveland in Week 4, and an 80-yard stand at Buffalo.

But Jamal Lewis and the Ravens are different. The Bengals are 1-4 and trail the first-place Ravens by two games in the AFC North. A victory Sunday gets the Bengals back into the race, and the target is on Jamal Lewis.

"This is a game we look forward to because it's a test," middle linebacker Kevin Hardy said. "They run the ball so well. At times, at critical times this year, we haven't stopped the run as effectively as we needed to."

Bengals tackle John Thornton will be on the first line of defense against Lewis.

"We try to stop the run every week," Thornton said. "You put a little more emphasis on it because of the back (Lewis), and he's strong. You want to get more people to the ball."

Marvin Lewis is stressing run defense.

"Gaps, tackling, stay on your feet, know what it is you're supposed to do," he said. "It's going to be a big week for that. It's going to be a huge week."

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com