By Mark Curnutte
Enquirer staff writer

GEORGETOWN, Ky. - The Bengals moved up their flight to Florida in an attempt to arrive before Hurricane Charley.

Originally scheduled to depart at 3 p.m. today, the team charter instead was to leave at 10 p.m. Thursday. The flight was to Orlando, not Tampa, and the team would take buses the 70 miles to Tampa either today or Saturday for the preseason opener against the Buccaneers.

Coach Marvin Lewis added a morning walk-through to the schedule Thursday, and he moved up the afternoon practice an hour.

"It gave us a chance to put everything together the way we should, because we're going to probably miss a day with the rain (in Florida)," Lewis said Thursday.

The team would have another walk-through in a hotel ballroom in Orlando today.

Tropical Storm Bonnie hit landfall Thursday north of Tampa near the Florida Panhandle, and 380,000 residents of low-lying areas around Tampa Bay were evacuated in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Charley. Packing 105 mph winds, Charley is expected to hit the coast today, forecasters said.

"The commissioner's office is in frequent communication with Bucs and Bengals officials, security and weather officials," NFL spokesman Steve Alic said from New York. "We are looking forward to a Saturday night kickoff, but we are monitoring the weather closely."

Flying in Saturday, after the worst of the storms is expected to be past, was not an option.

"Teams that have gone on Saturday have said they're tired," Lewis said. "It's too much. I don't know if you're tired, you're just not rested. We've had a tough camp, and in a way, maybe we give the guys a little extra time off their feet."

BIG DRAW: Georgetown College officials said they parked 700 cars for Wednesday's two night practices.

Official attendance is not kept, but officials estimated the crowd at 3,000. The night featured fireworks and an autograph session.

So far, the total number of parked cars for camp is 4,600, running about 900 ahead of the total showing of 3,700 cars for all of camp in 2003.

Camp reopens Monday and has eight practice days remaining for the fans.

SKILLED POSITIONS: In addition to quarterback Carson Palmer's anticipated start Saturday night, the Bengals are likely to line up a mix of old and new faces at the offensive skill positions.

Chad Johnson will start at one wide receiver and probably be joined by T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Peter Warrick's status is uncertain because of an injured knee.

James Lynch will start at fullback in place of injured Jeremi Johnson (groin), and Tony Stewart will start at tight end because of injuries to Reggie Kelly (thumb) and Matt Schobel (hamstring). Larry Moore will start at left guard in place of Eric Steinbach (elbow).

GOOD NEWS: Lewis remains confident that the rush defense is better than last season, despite its poor performance in the intrasquad scrimmage a week ago.

"It's a huge increase," Lewis said when asked about the increase in physical play at camp. "But we needed it as a team, because that's where we were the worst on defense. The running yards we gave up were due to our perimeter run defense and guys not being where they belonged and missing tackles."

The Bengals finished tied for 25th in run defense last season at 138.6 yards a game.

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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