A funny thing happened
in the wee hours Monday morning. A national sports-talk radio show had on as a guest a
reporter who covers the Cincinnati Bengals. That in itself is newsworthy, because the
Bengals, perennial doormats, are seldom worth one’s time of day. This time, not only
were they the subject of the interview, but it was a feel-good radio segment.They came
to praise the Bengals, not disparage them.
Cincinnati has come to terms with its first-round draft pick, Peter Warrick, well
before the start of training camp. For only the third time in the last 10 years, the
Bengals’ top pick will be in camp on time. No holdouts, no muss, no fuss.
The Warrick signing comes on the heels of the Bengals’ aggressive re-signing of OT
Willie Anderson to a multiyear pact. Both moves are viewed as signs of change in
Cincinnati — indications that the organization, under the leadership of old-school
son-of-a-legend Mike Brown, is finally becoming attuned with the ways of modern times.
While the Bengals — whose roster is suddenly loaded with exciting, young players
— position themselves to one day succeed the Jaguars and Titans as kings of the AFC
Central, Cincinnati’s archrival, Pittsburgh, continues to slide in the opposite
direction. While the Bengals can look forward to a season of tangible progress, if not a
coming-out party, the Steelers face one of those crossroads years.
The Bill Cowher-Kordell Stewart era has reached a fork in the road. To the right is
redemption, a return to the postseason-contender status enjoyed in the early years of the
Cowher regime. To the left is, well, Cincinnati — on the map if you’re coming
from the south, in the basement if the team doesn’t turn things around.
It says here that the Steelers are headed south, that Stewart won’t last the
season as the starting quarterback and that Cowher will be dismissed shortly after the
2000 season has ended.
The fates of these two men are inextricably linked; Stewart’s performance will
have a huge impact on Cowher’s job security. If Stewart can turn around his career,
the Steelers can rise again. They have surrounded him with weapons, using their last two
first-round picks on wide receivers and loading up on offensive linemen, in quantity if
not in quality. Stewart, who was worse last season than in ’98, when he was pretty
terrible, has no excuses now. If he doesn’t step up, he can kiss his career as a
quarterback goodbye.
Stewart has worked to improve the last couple of years, as anyone who plays
football’s most important position should. But his confidence has eroded, his
instincts and reactions as a pocket passer remain questionable and his timing and accuracy
were frighteningly off last season. I seriously question whether he can correct all of
those problems under very intense scrutiny and pressure.
The Steelers’ three biggest marquee players — RB Jerome Bettis, C Dermontti
Dawson and LB Levon Kirkland — are on the downside of their careers. Only one,
Bettis, has a suitable replacement (Richard Huntley) backing him up.
All of this does not bode well for Cowher, who has done a great job overall in
Pittsburgh (his teams made the playoffs in each of his first six seasons as head coach)
but whose résumé has been smudged by back-to-back bad seasons. Steelers management
placed its faith in Cowher, who won an internal power struggle with personnel man Tom
Donahoe, but one wonders how much more patience the Rooney family will have with a new
stadium on the horizon and the rest of the AFC Central making positive strides.
That group includes the Bengals, who, at least on paper, have the makings of a pretty
decent ballclub. They still have some issues to resolve — re-signing star RB Corey
Dillon, shoring up the secondary and determining whether Bruce Coslet is the right coach
are foremost among them — but Bengals fans and players have to be encouraged by the
new approach being taken by Brown and his management team.
Not only have the Bengals acted progressively in securing Warrick and Anderson, but
they are about to open a new stadium and already have christened a new practice facility.
For the first time in a long time, there is a good vibe surrounding this team. Folks will
still make jokes about Brown (there’s no truth to the rumor that current Disney
release "Dinosaur" is actually a biography of Cincinnati’s owner and GM),
but the Bengals won’t be a laughingstock for long.
Well before this spring’s steps in the right direction, Brown made a critically
important and correct decision when he turned down overtures to trade down and selected QB
Akili Smith with the third pick in the ’99 draft. Smith has much to prove as an NFL
quarterback, but he has the potential to be a franchise-caliber player. Remember his
in-your-face celebration after leading a comeback victory over the Browns last season? I
expect more of the same in the coming years.
