Out of their cage

New coach, QB, attitude give Bengals a fresh start

This is the sixth in a series of postcards Peter King will e-mail from his annual NFL training camp tour.

Thursday, July 31

Team: Cincinnati Bengals

In horse country. Hilly Georgetown, Ky., just north of Lexington and 83 miles dead south of Cincinnati on I-75, is the home of Georgetown College. The school's president lured the Bengals to a sparkling new athletic complex and football stadium eight years ago, dreaming of sports grandeur. I haven't heard much about GC competing for the ol' national championship in anything lately, have you? It's a good facility, though, and it has the one thing players who have been crammed into dorms in other venues all love: single, air-conditioned rooms, four to a quad, with a common living room and kitchen.

1. Common name results: Johnsons 5, Smiths 3. Belton Johnson, Chad Johnson, Jeremi Johnson, Riall Johnson, Rudi Johnson to Derek Smith, Justin Smith, Ron Smith.

2. Name That City Dept.: The Bengals have a (Ray) Jackson, a (Brad) St. Louis, and a (Kelley) Washington, who is holding out.

3. Cincinnati has as many Kwazeons (one, Leverette) and Ja'Warens (one, Blair) as they do Johns (Thornton).

The son of a backup Bengals wide receiver is going to have a heck of a time perfecting his autograph. It's 24 letters long -- Karrington Houshmandzedeh. Son of T.J., who caught 41 balls last year for the striped club.

Guard Eric Steinbach. I loved that the Bengals got him so low (33rd in the draft overall) last April, because most teams thought Steinbach had first-round ability. And so on Thursday I watched him in a one-on-one blocking drill against an underrated young defensive tackle whom the Bengals signed via free agency from Tennessee, John Thornton.Two guys, both 297 pounds. On the first play, Thornton dug in, fired off the ball, and got stood up and neutralized by a solid Steinbach, then, cat-quick, Thornton got to the outside and reached the quarterback. On the second play, Steinbach got his arms into Thornton, just below the pads, and rode Thornton far outside the play. Steinbach has already moved into the starting left guard job, and the Bengals think he'll be a stud. He learned a lot of things about line play in the rain Thursday morning.

1. I think my early impression of Carson Palmer, from watching an afternoon practice held under friendlier weather conditions, is this: When the Bengals drafted him first overall last April, the book on Palmer was that he was smart, accurate and an excellent decision-maker. I watched Palmer take the second-team offense (he's working with the second team, ahead of Shane Matthews, just because the coaches want to see Palmer work with a crew of guys who will probably make the team and not just scrubs) at his own five-yard line in the hurry-up mode. His presence at the line of scrimmage was that of a veteran; he walked to the line quickly, and after completing a play he'd call out the next set of signals in a biting voice but with no panic. Only one time in seven plays did he even have a slight screw up. He called out "dot, dot, dot!" instead of "trips right, trips right, trips right!" But Palmer remedied that mistake in a split second and got the offense to the line the right away. In the drill, he completed four of five passes and brought his group almost to midfield. Of course, there wasn't a defense on the field, so I'm not exactly campaigning for Palmer to unseat Jon Kitna as the starter. All I'm saying is that from what I saw in the guy's fourth NFL training camp practice, there's something to be excited about.

2. I think the Aaron Boone trade Thursday afternoon means one more football-related thing: The Yankees are pushing Drew Henson closer and closer to a return to the NFL. How many third baseman do the Yanks have to acquire before the banjo-hitting kid gets the hint?

3. I think I couldn't have been more impressed today, in the inclement conditions, with wide receiver Peter Warrick. Now, this is his fourth year. He has just watched his buddy Laveranues Coles, become a playoff team's MVP, then scat to Washington for huge bucks. Warrick has been stuck in NFL purgatory. He has caught 174 passes in three seasons with Cincinnati, but how many of them have counted for anything? Zero. Well, in some of the worst conditions -- muddy, chewed-up field -- of any training camp playing surface I've seen, Warrick played like he was in the Super Bowl. Juking, sprinting, competing on every down. "We work pretty hard here, which I'm not sure people would know,'' he told me. "We're all out here trying to get better. We will be better.'' Judging by his work Thursday, I can see it happening.

4. I think Dennis Weathersby, the wounded third-round cornerback, showed no ill effects from the drive-by gunshot wound he suffered in April. At 6-foot-1 and 204, he's one of the bigger corners in the league, and he likes to get up in your face and bump. He showed me a lot of desire Thursday morning.

5. I think the Bengals might be pretty good at stopping the run. Oliver Gibson was an above-average DT as it was, and with the addition of the quicker Thornton, the Bengals might finally have an interior line to build their defense around.

Nineteen years ago, this was my beat. So it's always fun to come back, have a couple of cheese coneys, a four-way (last night's dinner) and take the temperature of the old ballclub.

This is my take: I think the Bengals are going to be better, and maybe a lot better, under new coach Marvin Lewis. He's instituting an attitude I haven't felt around the team in a long time, maybe since the Boomer Esiason/Sam Wyche union a little more than a decade ago. The attitude is a we-will-win-and-if-you-don't-believe-it-you-won't-be-on-this-team attitude. Lewis has approached the guys who he already considers team leaders, and told them to work on improving the professionalism of the rank-and-file on the club. He wants players to take things more seriously around here.

That's exactly what was needed. As Kitna told me after practice, the Bengals needed someone in charge who could do something about their fate. The players always have felt, for the past 10 years or so, that the head coach might control their lives on the field but that the coach had nothing to do with the entire product. In other words, the players have wanted the franchise's decision-making wrestled from owner Mike Brown forever, and the stubborn Brown has only just now agreed to do that by giving control (most of it, anyway) to Lewis.

Winning isn't guaranteed now by any means. But at least free-agents will want to consider playing in Cincinnati instead of viewing it as the Siberia of the NFL, and at least guys who become solid, productive players with the Bengals (Takeo Spikes, for example) won't be looking for the next plane out of town. That's what Marvin Lewis has going for him. He'll have to coach his rear off and win a few games to reach the next level -- actually competing for a playoff spot. But if the momentum continues the way it's begun, and if they draft well, I see the Bengals contending in 2004.

Check back soon for more of Peter King's Postcards from Camp.

 

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