By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Levi Jones didn't need to see the stat sheet after Sunday's game to know how the offense did running the ball.

The Bengals left tackle looked at the Paul Brown Stadium scoreboard toward the end of the game. "They're there in big gold letters, saying that we've got 49 yards rushing, and that's disheartening," Jones said Monday.

The Bengals finished with 59 rushing yards but defeated Baltimore 34-26.

Through Week 7, the Bengals are ranked No. 31 in rush offense at 73.8 yards a game. Only Arizona ranks behind them. At the same time, the Bengals are No. 11 in passing, and it's as if they have evolved from a tough running offense to one that moves the ball better through the air.

Still, coach Marvin Lewis has said he wants the Bengals to run the ball. He wants a balanced offense.

"We are not running it as well as we would like," Lewis said. "If you look at the teams that are leading (their divisions), they are doing three things: They are running the football well, they have a lot of first downs and they are defending the run very well."

The Bengals' reputation and recent success as a hard-running team appear to have stayed with them. The threat that the Bengals can run appears to be affecting opposing defenses - especially when Corey Dillon, healthy or limited, is in the lineup.

"We're are getting a lot of guys in there to block, and we are throwing the ball effectively because of that," Lewis said of how defenses are stacking the line of scrimmage.''

Wide receivers Chad Johnson and Peter Warrick have combined for 65 receptions, 882 yards and seven touchdowns through six games.

Plus, the three tight ends - Reggie Kelly, Tony Stewart and Matt Schobel - have combined for 30 receptions and are on pace for 80. The last time a Bengals team had 80 or more receptions from tight ends was 1981, a Super Bowl season that came in an era in which the Bengals were known as a passing team.

But recently the reputation offensively was different. The Bengals were a top-10 rushing team three times from 1997-2000, ranking as high as No. 2 in 2000.

As the rushing rank dropped from No. 2 to 18 and 21, the passing number rose from 31 to 23 and 13.

Two factors explain the drop in production in the run game. A pair of nagging injuries have affected tailback Dillon, preventing him from finishing four of his five games and causing him to be inactive Oct. 5 for the first time since 1999.

Dillon has rushed for just 203 yards (3.3-yard average) and two touchdowns.

Without Dillon playing consistently, the line has not gained its rhythm in the run game. "That's the biggest key, we have to get our timing down and get in sync with Corey," Jones said. "We haven't had enough looks with him. As soon as we get that back, we'll be all right."

Rushing attempts have been divided between Dillon 62; Brandon Bennett, 41; and Rudi Johnson, 38. In the past three seasons, Dillon has had 315, 340 and 314 rushing attempts. He has rushed for 1,100 or more yards in each of his first six seasons, and the desire to have him reach 1,000 for a seventh season is motivating the offensive line.

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

Getting offensive

Bengals year-by-year NFL rankings on offense for the past full 10 seasons and in 2003:

Year	Rush	Pass	Total
1993	24	27	27
1994	18	18	18
1995	24	11	17
1996	13	12	10
1997	9	13	10
1998	19	17	17
1999	6-tie	23	15
2000	2	31	29
2001	18-tie	23	23
2002	21	13	18
#2003	31	11	23

#Through six games

Rankings are based on average yards per game.