6 Cincinnati Bengals

Darryl Williams believes that times are changing for the Bengals. He sees young faces around him, eager for success, which was one of the big reasons he came back to play free safety in Cincinnati after four seasons with the Seahawks. He wants to be a part of the resurrection.

Such optimism is admirable, but this is still the franchise that lost more games in the '90s (108) than any other NFL team and won only 18 times during Williams's first tour, from 1992 through '95. The Bengals will move into 65,600-seat, state-of-the-art Paul Brown Stadium this season, but in the early part of the preseason they encountered some of their same old problems. They squabbled with holdout running back Corey Dillon over a new contract and released disgruntled wideout Carl Pickens. Then, less than two weeks into training camp, the club's only proven wide receiver, Darnay Scott, broke his left leg and was placed on injured reserve.

Nevertheless, Williams has not lost heart. "When something bad happened here in the past, it was always 'Here we go again—it's the same old Bengals,' " he says. "That's the mindset we have to get rid of. We're going to go through some adversity, but we can win. That's the only way you can look at it."

Williams and veteran defensive linemen Tom Barndt and Vaughn Booker are the key additions to a defense sorely in need of help. In 1999 the Bengals surrendered a league-high 28.8 points a game (which was also a franchise record). Injuries to the linebacker corps forced defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau to junk the 3-4 alignment he prefers in favor of a 4-3. By the end of the season, however, LeBeau so liked how the defense was performing in the four-man front, particularly against the run, that he decided to stick with the formation this year. He hopes the new set also will energize a pass rush that had only 35 sacks last year.

To that end John Copeland, the team's best pass rusher, moves from strong-side defensive end to the weak side. Booker, who had 3� sacks in 14 games with the Packers last year, will start at the other end. Barndt, a 300-pound run stopper who spent his first four seasons with the Chiefs, and holdover Oliver Gibson will start at tackle. Reinard Wilson, Cincinnati's first-round draft choice in 1997, will see some time at end on passing downs. If the Bengals don't get an improved pass rush, however, they'll have to depend on a secondary that, though bolstered by the addition of Williams, is still suspect. Cincinnati intercepted only 12 passes last year and ranked 28th in the league in pass defense, allowing 237.5 yards per game.

The Bengals chalked up the defense's struggles last year mostly to inexperience. Third-year players Steve Foley, Brian Simmons and Takeo Spikes may soon rank among the league's best sets of linebackers, but players such as Wilson, a disappointment at outside linebacker during his three seasons in LeBeau's zone-blitz scheme, and third-year cornerback Artrell Hawkins haven't progressed similarly. As coach Bruce Coslet says, "It's time for some of our young guys to graduate to the next level."

If the defense looks shaky, the offense has the potential for catastrophe. Dillon, who rushed for 3,459 yards in his first three seasons and has made it clear that he wants out of Cincinnati, didn't sign his new contract until Aug. 9—and it was a one-year deal at that. Second-year quarterback Akili Smith, who played in only seven games as a rookie, had been thrilled about the prospect of working with a three-receiver set that featured the deep speed of Scott and the shiftiness of first-round draft pick Peter Warrick of Florida State. Then on Aug. l, Scott, a seventh-year player who had his first 1,000-yard receiving season in '99, broke the tibia and the fibia in his left leg while blocking. Smith says he heard the bones snap from 40 yards away. "Going into this year we have a new home and a desire to get away from all that negative stuff of the '90s," says Smith. "Then to lose Darnay, one of our leaders, like that, it was very tough."

The Bengals' chances for improvement are further diminished by the strength of the AFC Central. In the past two seasons, Cincinnati is winless in a half dozen meetings against the division's three best teams—Jacksonville, Tennessee and Baltimore. So the road gets no easier for Coslet, who is 21-36 in three-plus seasons.

"We hope to be more competitive, and that's all the pressure I'll put on these guys," Coslet says. "I want to compete and look good doing it. Obviously, I want to win, but that will only come by our not making the same mistakes that have hurt us before."

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