 |
| |
|
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
|||
EVENTS
CENTERS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|
 |
Kitty competition Bengals head to camp with three-man race at QB
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Jon Kitna, Akili Smith or Scott Mitchell? The Cincinnati Bengals have no inkling which will emerge from training camp as their starting quarterback. All three will get a chance to win the job that no one ever holds for very long. In keeping with tradition, the Bengals are opening camp Friday in Georgetown, Ky., with an overriding concern about their quarterback. The position has passed through six sets of hands in the last four years alone. Blake. Esiason. O'Donnell. Justin. Smith. Mitchell. Who's next? They don't know. "You guys may think it's talking to hear my head rattle, but we literally are going to let them fight it out," head coach Dick LeBeau said. The team with the NFL's worst record for the past decade feels a little better about its chances of being competitive this season. In the offseason, the Bengals added depth to their lines and signed record-setting running back Corey Dillon to the biggest contract in franchise history. That's nice. But their inability to settle on a quarterback remains the common thread in their ongoing futility - no more than four wins in any of the last three seasons. Dillon can break records galore, but it won't matter if the Bengals once again can't throw the ball. They passed for an averaged of only 122 yards last season, by far the worst in the NFL. Receiver Darnay Scott is back from the broken leg suffered in training camp last year, but no one knows how he'll respond the first time he gets knocked around and someone lands on the leg. That will be one of the most closely watched moments in training camp. "By the time he's been up there for five or six days, he won't even think about it anymore," LeBeau said. "Initially, he will. "He's been ahead of schedule in all of his rehab, but we all know that in everything, the proof is in the pudding." The Bengals also have to adjust to the new offense brought in by coordinator Bob Bratkowski, who coached Kitna when he was in Seattle. LeBeau has given Bratkowski freedom to open up an offense that hasn't changed philosophically since founder Paul Brown developed it. The old offense depended upon a tough running back complementing a quarterback who can complete a lot of short, high-percentage passes. The new offense will depend upon the tight ends getting downfield for catches and multiple formations to stretch defenses in different directions. "That might not sound like great change to you, but to me that is indeed significant change because we've always operated with the pass offense my father developed when he was up in Cleveland," general manager Mike Brown said. "It was a good offense. It was effective for us. It can work, but it wasn't working for us." The new offense won't work, either, unless the Bengals finally develop a quarterback. Although LeBeau insists all three have an even shot at the job, Kitna has the advantage as training camp opens. Smith struggled mightily and lost the job after the 10th game last season, and Mitchell wasn't any better. That prompted the Bengals to look for someone else. LeBeau intends to give all three the same amount of time running the offense in practice and the early preseason games, hoping one will look good in the new system. "This will be a logistical problem for our staff, but it's one I'm willing to undertake because we simply need to improve at that position," LeBeau said. "You have to keep an open mind about all three of those players."
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
