By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PALM BEACH, Fla. - Against the wishes of the Bengals, NFL owners are expected to extend instant replay for at least another five years and could make the review process permanent.

The league's competition committee has recommended that replay become part of the game, and the issue will be voted on Tuesday here at the NFL's annual meetings.

"No comment" is what Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said Sunday at the Breakers Resort when asked how the Bengals would vote on replay.

Lewis said he was speaking for the organization, but team president Mike Brown has made it clear that he is one of the most ardent instant replay detractors. Replay is just one of several issues - including playoff expansion, revenue sharing and choreographed end zone celebrations - owners will address at the meetings.

There also is a chance this week that Brown will speak with Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis about a possible trade of disgruntled Bengals running back Corey Dillon.

Replay review for game officials, used on a one-year basis during the 2000 season, was extended through 2003 at the meetings in 2001.

"The committee would like to see it in permanently only because it allows you to go forward without any hesitation or question," said committee member Bill Polian, Indianapolis Colts president.

The proposal needs 24 of 32 votes to pass.

The competition committee also wants to grant a team a third replay challenge if its first two challenges are successful.

If replay becomes permanent, three-fourths of owners would need to vote to get rid of it.

Brown has consistently spoken out against replay.

"They don't always get them right no matter what they do. I think that will always be," Brown said in an interview last fall with a Pittsburgh reporter. "Human beings make mistakes. I don't have a problem living with an on-field decision that's quick and you go on. It evens out over time."

Brown no longer speaks on the record to reporters who cover the Bengals. He declined comment on Sunday.

"We keep telling ourselves that it works, but what's it really doing?" he told the Enquirer in 2000. "We're delaying the game, stopping the flow, tinkering with the game for those few plays."

Last season, the Bengals had 19 plays reviewed on instant replay. Ten of the rulings favored the Bengals. Only three were reversed, and only one of Lewis' five challenges was reversed. Opposing coaches challenged seven calls during Bengals games, and one was reversed.

NFL replay officials, not coaches, can call for the review of a play inside the two-minute warning.

The general sense among league officials is that replay will be extended, either permanently or for five years, because it has become a part of the game.

Baltimore and Indianapolis are two teams that are also believed to be against replay. Ravens coach Brian Billick was fined $15,000 by the NFL last season after speaking out against replay.

"Our experience with it has been so bad with it that it's hard to be enthusiastic," Polian said of the Colts. "But when you look at the bigger picture, it's probably been a positive."

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E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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