Bengals make Steelers look like fools
Posted: Thursday October 15, 1998 07:46 PM
As Cincinnati Bengals
quarterback Neil
O'Donnell walked up to the line of scrimmage in the closing seconds of
last week's game against his old team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the
nine-year veteran had a decision to make: Spike the ball and set up a
42-yard field goal that would win the game ... or try something sneaky.
"Clock, clock," he called out, which alerted his teammates that something
sneaky was about to come.
The trickery worked, the Bengals pulled out a win and found some newfound
hope for the season -- and the Steelers ended up red-faced.
The Steelers, expecting the spike and the field goal to come, mostly stood
around -- except for veteran Carnell Lake. He suspected
something sneaky and ran over to the right side of the line to cover
receiver Darnay Scott.
O'Donnell saw that as he strolled up to take the snap, so he gave a quick
look to receiver Carl
Pickens on the other side, who saw it, too.
Pickens bolted for the end zone.
O'Donnell took the snap, dropped back, looked right, turned left and lofted
the pass up. The Steelers barely rushed the quarterback.
Pickens outjumped cornerback Dewayne Washington at the
5, walked into the end zone and the Bengals had a 25-20 win.
"There was a scramble of bodies. I saw half of them milling around,"
O'Donnell said. "Just a lot of bodies. You can't practice that."
A lot of NFL teams have the play in their playbooks, but few ever get a
chance to use it. The Miami Dolphins' Dan Marino pulled it off
successfully four years ago against the New York Jets -- he actually
motioned for the spike as he walked up to the line.
O'Donnell didn't do anything other than bark the "clock, clock" call. He
would have been perfectly willing to let Doug Pelfrey try a
game-winning field goal if the play hadn't presented itself.
Neil O'Donnell relishes the Bengals triumph over the befuddled Steelers AP | |
But the Steelers -- who had just allowed a huge 50-yard
O'Donnell-to-Pickens pass to let the Bengals get into field-goal range --
fell right into the trap by strolling up to the play.
"Next time it happens," said Steelers linebacker Levon Kirkland, "I think
we'll be ready for it."
The Steelers weren't the only ones caught off-guard.
"I didn't even know we scored," Pelfrey said. "I had been kicking into the
net, expecting to go out for the game-winning field goal. I thought we
would just run the clock down. The next thing I heard was somebody saying
'Come kick the extra point.'" Around the AFC
EAST : Don't blame it all on Manning. Peyton Manning, the Indianapolis Colts' No. 1
pick, is hardly eating up the league. But the Colts are 27th in the league
in running the ball (91 yards a game), have yet to score a rushing
touchdown (the only NFL team to be without one) and, on the other side of
the ball, are the worst team in the league against the run, giving up a
whopping 175.5 yards a game on the ground ... Big question in Miami is
whether the Dolphins will keep the chains off Dan Marino, as they did in
Monday night's loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Marino had his 57th 300-yard game in the loss, giving the Jaguars a lot
more trouble than most people expected ... Why does Bill Parcells want to
stick with Glenn Foley?
He's 1-7 as a starter. Vinny
Testaverde will start this week, but Parcells is leaving the door open
for a Foley return ... Parcells, by the way, has warned players he may fine
them if they talk to the media about their injuries.
CENTRAL : Among the weirder names suggested for the Nashville
Oilers: Presidents, Talons and Troopers. Maybe the biggest misnomer:
Conquerors ... The Pittsburgh Steelers have selected a site for their new
football-only stadium, just west of where Three Rivers Stadium now sits.
The new stadium, which could cost upwards of $200 million, will have
stunning views of downtown Pittsburgh and the "Golden Triangle." It's
scheduled to open in 2001, the same year Pittsburgh opens a new
baseball-only ballpark a few blocks east of Three Rivers.
WEST : Denver
Broncos running back Terrell Davis is averaging
144.2 rushing yards a game this season. At that pace, he'll run for a
record 2,307 yards this season, smashing Eric Dickerson's record of 2,105
set in 1984 ... Derrick
Thomas, the Kansas City
Chiefs' rush linebacker, talked about breaking the single-season record
for sacks after getting six in the season-opener against the Oakland Raiders. But he's
had only one in five games since then. Around the NFC
EAST : The situation is dire with the New York Giants, who are
2-4, with their only wins against the winless Washington Redskins and
the sliding San Diego
Chargers. They have a huge divisional showdown with the Arizona Cardinals this
weekend. In the second half of the season, along with the regular NFC East
foes, the Giants face the Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers, Denver
Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs ... Redskins coach Norv Turner told
reporters this week he won't consider resigning.
CENTRAL : The Chicago Bears have 13
turnovers in the past two weeks. They've given away a league-high 14
fumbles this season -- five more than anyone else ... No one can quite tell
if the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers are going to be as good as they were last year. A stat to
the negative: The Bucs haven't scored an offensive touchdown in the first
half this season ... Minnesota Vikings
quarterback Brad
Johnson is walking without a limp and jogging some, but doesn't expect
to be ready to play now until November 1. He broke his fibula on September
13. His replacement, Randall
Cunningham, is the league's top-rated passer.
WEST : The Atlanta
Falcons are a second-half team, outscoring opponents 96-37 after the
half. The Falcons (4-1) are off to one of their best starts ever. In fact,
only once have they started a season 5-1, that in 1986. They host the New Orleans Saints on
Sunday ... You have to wonder about how the Carolina Panthers are
doing things. The Kerry
Collins saga cost them their first-ever first-round pick. Another '95
first-rounder, cornerback Tyrone Poole, was traded
before the season after he refused to take a demotion from his starting
role. And running back Tim
Biakabutuka, the team's first-round pick in 1996, is now third string
and looking for a way out. Biakabutuka, set back by a knee injury he
suffered in his rookie year, has started only two of the team's last 10
games and doesn't have a carry this year.
Around the NFL appears every Thursday on CNNSI.com.
| 
