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Sunday, September 03, 2000

The Bengals might have pulled a first -- the earliest players-only meeting in history. They held one on Wednesday at the behest of linebacker Takeo Spikes, tackle Willie Anderson and quarterback Akili Smith because of the team's poor performance in the final exhibition game against Detroit.

John Jackson, a 13-year veteran, reportedly was the strongest speaker at the meeting. He's the only Bengal with a Super Bowl appearance on his resume, made with the Steelers in January 1996. He talked about the effort the Steelers put into making the playoffs almost every season.

The Bengals responded with what was judged to be a sharp practice.

Seminoles starting

This still has the historians stumped: Are the Bengals the first team in NFL history to start two rookies from the same college at wide receiver in the opener?

It won't happen until next week because the Bengals don't play this weekend, but they announced that former Florida State teammates Ron Dugans and Peter Warrick will be their starting wide receivers.

"They want to prove this is no fluke," said Steve Mooshagian, who coaches Cincinnati's wide receivers.

Warrick was their first pick in the draft, Dugan a third-rounder.

After Bam

Kansas City, which did not have much success with the Bam Morris experiment, has moved fullback Tony Richardson to starting running back.

Their committee of backs was ordinary and it hasn't gotten any better.

"I think I'm going to look at myself and say, 'Tony Richardson is a football player.' You put him in there and tell him what to do and he's going to go in there and play hard and give everything he has."

It doesn't count

Baltimore is the first team to go unbeaten three consecutive summers in the exhibition season since Green Bay did it from 1960-62.

The Packers went to the NFL championship game all three years, winning twice, and won three more NFL championships in the 1960s, including two Super Bowls.

But times have changed. Teams no longer play their first units for long in exhibition games. Since 1988, only one team that went unbeaten in the preseason won the Super Bowl -- the New York Giants of 1990. Dallas won three Super Bowls in the 1990s and not once did the Cowboys have a winning preseason before they did it.

Searcy's pleas

Leon Searcy talked Jacksonville Coach Tom Coughlin into keeping him on the roster and not putting him on injured reserve, which would have ended his season. Searcy has a torn thigh muscle, much like the one that ended the career of former Steelers teammate Justin Strzelczyk. It occurred July 24 during a blocking drill in camp.

He thinks he can return late in the season to help the Jaguars' playoff chances.

"It was a very tough decision," Coughlin said. "But we feel, from gathering all the information, that Leon has a chance to be back on the field in November and contributing in December. His presence on this team until then will be important for the young players."

"That's what I wanted to hear," said Searcy, who made his first Pro Bowl last season. "Just give me the opportunity to come back. It's good to see that Coach Coughlin had trust in my professionalism and my seriousness about getting back."

If the Jaguars have more injuries, however, and have to sign players to replace them, Searcy likely will go on injured reserve.

You can look it up

Just to show that football research can be as mundane as that in baseball, we present this factoid: Since Terry Bradshaw was the first player drafted in 1970 by the Steelers, no quarterback drafted first overall has ever won a season-opening game against Kansas City.

The list includes Bradshaw, Troy Aikman, Jeff George, Drew Bledsoe, Vinny Testaverde, John Elway and Jim Plunkett. Bradshaw had to wait until 1981, when the Steelers lost their opener to the Chiefs, 37-33.

Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, the draft's No. 1 pick in 1998, plays in Kansas City today.