In fact, the Bengals can expect opposing offenses to run right at them until they prove they can stop somebody. The challenge Sunday will be Cleveland tailbacks William Green and Lee Suggs.

Suggs, as a rookie, had 186 rushing yards in one game against the Bengals - opposed to 103 in six games against other teams.

The Browns had 264 rushing yards in the 22-14 victory that knocked the Bengals from playoff contention in the 2003 season finale.

The woes against the run from the last four games of 2003 have stretched into the first four games of 2004.

The Bengals are last in the NFL against the run (165.9 yards).

"They've got to feel like they've got to try to run the football," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said of the Browns. "Everybody's going to try to run the football at us until we prove that we can stop it play after play, slow it down."

The Bengals have stopped nobody - except running back-depleted Miami - in the past eight games. Opponents have rushed for 200-plus yards four times in the past eight. The Bengals are allowing 183 yards a game, even factoring in the 25 yards gained by the Dolphins.

Bengals safety Kim Herring missed that game. He is questionable for Sunday with a foot injury.

"I think we have the players who can fix it," Herring said. "We haven't shown that we can stop it."

The run-oriented offenses played in the AFC North mandate that a defense stop the run. In losing two games to division opponents, the Bengals allowed 254 rushing yards to the Ravens and 165 to the Steelers.

Including the season finale in 2003 against the Browns, the Bengals have allowed an average of 227.7 rushing yards a game in the last three against division foes.

"We have running backs like Duce Staley, Jamal Lewis and Suggs," Herring said. "We're going to get that every week. Why not? Until we stop it, we should be surprised if we don't see it."

Besides Suggs' 186, Lewis also ran for 186 yards and Staley 123 individually against the Bengals. Green ran for 96 yards in a 2002 game against the Bengals.

Cleveland will run this week, too.

"As the season started, it was an area we felt like was a strength with this football team," Browns coach Butch Davis said.

This season, Green has rushed for 252 yards on 63 carries (4.0 average). Suggs, inactive for the first three games because of a neck injury, has rushed for 112 yards in two games (3.4 average). The Browns are 17th in rushing offense at 107.8 yards a game.

They're not in Staley and Lewis' class, but they are dangerous.

Green played in a one-back offense at Boston College and in his first two seasons in Cleveland, which did not use a fullback. Suggs, who played in an offense at Virginia Tech that used a fullback, knows how to use one as a lead blocker.

Apparently leaning toward playing Suggs as their featured back, the Browns signed blocking fullback Terrelle Smith as an unrestricted free agent in March. Another signing, right guard Kelvin Garmon, has helped, too.

But Green has had trouble adjusting to the fullback and has even collided with him on run plays.

"Terrelle is an outstanding fullback (and) a good mentor to both of those guys," Davis said. "As the weeks go along, we're becoming a little bit more experienced at being able to read how Terrelle is going to take on blockers."

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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