European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 24, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday december 24,1988 the stars and stripes Page 26 kill i Yii bengals need their Side by hosteling Bull injure Sun Miter Cincinnati quarterback Boomer Esiason had one thought in mind when the Washington redskins Chip Lohn Iiller lined up 10 try a 29-Yard Field Goat with 11 seconds left against inc bengals last saturday. For whatever it Means loll Milter banged his kick off the right goalpost and the bengals went on to win. 20-17, in overtime. Think destiny. It might be the bengals Best Hope. In die Battle for the super bowl the american football conference could use destiny. Nothing else has worked lately. For the last tour seasons inc acc representative in the super howl has Hen beaten by a combined score of 165-56. The closes inc acc has come in that Span was the Denver Broncos 39-20 loss to the new York giants two years ago. The Good news for the acc is that the National football conference can t beat up on the Broncos again. They did t qualify for the playoffs after losing the last to super bowls by a combined 81oo. The bad news is the acc has t come up with any other it am that seems Capa ble of scaring the pfc Champion even though Cincinnati goes in As the team to beat with the Home Field advantage throughout the playoffs. Two of the acc teams the Houston oilers and Are dome learns that will be forced to play outside in cold weather. A dome team never has made inc super bowl Houston is a Good team hat might look formidable m the super bowl in Miami. The trouble is that to gel to the super bowl the oilers would have to Wilt consecutive games at Cleveland Buffalo and probably Cincinnati. For a team that apparently has tear and Loath ing of Snow it is a Ough assignment. Seattle is an up and Down team that is Only As Good As its quarterback. The trouble is its quarterback Dave Kring. Is like inc Little girl with the curl. He s very very Good or horrid. The Odds arc against his playing Well every week. Then there s the cold weather. In their last cold weather game at new England dec. 4 the so Hawks got 65 Yards and iwo first Downs and lost 13. We will handle the cold better this Lime than when we went to new eng land coach Chuck Knox said. If surviving in cold weather is the key that leaves the Cleveland Browns Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati. Buffalo is Host to inc Cleveland hous ton Winner and Hopes to gel Houston because the oilers Haven t won a game in below to re citing temperatures since 1980. It May not be freezing in Cleveland saturday however. The temperature soared to 60 one Day this week and May be in the 40s saturday. It also does t help Cleveland that the Browns Are play without quarterback Bernic Kosar who still is bothered by a knee injury. Don Elrock Quanor backed the Browns to a comeback Victory Over Houston in the Snow last sunday but it May be difficult for Stock to pull it off two weeks in a Row without the help of frigid weather. Houston seems to have the advantage in Talent. Bum Phillips the former Houston coach said last Wiek believe me. When i say this football team not Only can beat Cleveland but it any Lime any pm any Day. It s the Best football team Thouston s Ever had Phillips May be trying to put pressure on the oilers because he s still annoyed at Houston general manager Ladd her leg for firing him in 19so. Bui he probably is right when he says this is Llie Best Houston team. It s Bette than 1 Hillips one Man gang of Earl comp Bell which lost to the Pittsburgh St Clare in Cincinnati bengals coach sum Wyche discusses so ratty Ullh quarterback Boomer sift san. The 1918 and 1979 acc title games f Houston survives Cleveland in goes to Buffalo. Buffalo would have a Good shot Al beat ing Houston. Beating Cleveland would be another Story. The Bills would t have a cold weathered Geon Cleveland and Kosar might be Back by then. The Bills main problem is thai for their coach Marv Levy and most of the players this will be the first playoff appearance. They May have to least How to handle playoff pressure. Assuming Cincinnati beats Seattle in will be Host to Cleveland Buffalo or Houston in he acc title game. The bengals arc 8 at Home. The bengals Are a hawed team on de sense though. They re sixth in the acc in that category. Washington which had trouble running the Ball All year was Able to hand off to Jamie mor Ris a record 45 times last saturday. The one Lime the bengals stopped Morris was on a fourth and on play in the fourth Quarter. Explaining Why he went for it. Coach Joe Gibbs said he was t impressed with Cincinnati s de sense against the run. Thought in was the first Lime we played a Short yardage defensive team we were belter than in quite a while Cribbs said. "1 Felt like we were a Tot bet Ter. They Haven t really slopped very Many people in Short yardage for being As Good As they Are.". The bengals run defense could Cost. Them a super bowl berth but they like to think they be got one thing going for them destiny. ,. In the acc this year destiny May be enough to Tarn the bengals a trip to. Miami for the super bowl. A rundown on the five acc teams Cincinnati offence ranked no. 1 in acc de sense no.6. i Cincinnati is going to the super bowl it will do so on the strength of its offence. With Esiason throwing juries Brooks running and icky Woods Shuf fling the bengals have the most potent offence in inc league. The bengals also Are Good in the take away give away department. They re plus nine the second Best Mark in inc acc and fourth Best in the league. But the bengals Are vulnerable on defense. They have Only two pro bowl players nose tackle Tim Krumrie and safety David Fulcher on defense. The game plan against the bengals is to run the Ball and keep their High scoring offence off the Field. There also arc questions about their coach Sam Wychec. He May be coach of inc year this season but in has t been forgotten he pulled several Bonehead plays last year. The bengals go in As the favorite but not an overwhelming one. The bengals have to prove they can do it in the playoffs. Cleveland offence no 8 defense no. 3. The Browns started the season favo Redlo go to the super bowl but they be been hampered by quarterback injuries and the loss of assistant coach Lindy Infante who went to inc Green Bay packers. Head coach Marty took Over the play calling duties but he has a defensive background. The result has been a sputtering offence but the Browns have proved they re a Gritty earn that won t give up. They proved it in their comeback a Mclory Over Houston sunday no they be got to do it for the second time in six Days without Kosar although Elrock did a Good Job in Relief sunday. The Browns have to be worried about their pass defense which was no. 1 Early in the season but now is fourth in the acc. They were strafed by the Miami dolphins Dan Marino to weeks ago and even Houston s Warren Moon passed for 287 Yards against them in bad weather sunday their defense has to get it together again. -.,. Houston. Offi my no. 6. Defense no. 4. The oilers have the third rated acc quarterback in Moon plus the third leading receiver in Drew Hill who caught 72 passes this year and the rusher in Mike Roi incr who gained 1,002 Yards this season. But the oilers loss to the new York jets and Philadelphia eagles earlier in the year when Moon was injured. If Moon had t been hurl and the oilers had won those two games they would be 12, with the Home Field advantage throughout the playoffs and they Dow favored to go to the super bowl. Instead they Are 10 and a wild card team and they have to win on the Road in cold weather to make the playoffs. The oilers make in worse because they All but psyche out their own players by complaining about it so much. They even tried to get the Browns to switch sides of the Field in Cleveland for the warm ups tomorrow because inc fans were throwing snowballs at them sunday. In probably will be too warm for snowballs. Buffalo offence no. 4 defense no. I defense find cold weather can be a Tough combination to brat. The Bills were no. I in Yards allowed on defense. In the acc. Wanh Bruce Smith Corneli us Bennett and Shane Conlan leading the defense the Bills will be hard to Ben in a Low scoring defensive game played in bad weather. Their defense though has been hampered by injuries. They re Wor ried about Conlan who missed most of he last four games with a fool injury. 11 probably was t a coincidence mat inc Bills faded late in the season losing two of their last i rec on the Road when con Lan was ail ing. Coach Levy figures he can use the two weeks off so Conlan plus Art still and Fred Smerlas both of whom suffered knee injuries last week have Lime to heal. Besides the injuries the questions about the Bills Are their Lack of playoff experience and heir con scr alive offence. Neither Levy nor Ted Marchibroda the former Baltimore Colls coach who is the offensive coordinator believe in led ing quarterback Jim Kelly play a wide open game although that May not make much difference in bad weather.-. \ Seattle offence no. 12 defense no. 12 the sea Hawks Aren t impressive for a division Champion. It does t help thai their lop runner Curt Warner suffered a sprained ankle in he final Quarter last week. His status for the Cincinnati game. Is Uncertain. Rookie Kevin Harmon is Likely to replace him if Warner can t play. Sea Hawks coach Chuck Knox in t noted for having a lot of Success in inc playoffs. In his 5-year career he has taken three teams the los Angeles ram. Bills and sea Hawks to inc play offs bul he never has gone to the super bowl and his Overall playoff record is 7 10. What the sea Hawks need to pull an upset is a Good game from Krieg. Krieg who started nine of the 16 games led the team to a 6 record in those games when he was healthy. In the six games he won. Kring threw 15 touchdown passes and was intercepted just four times. In inc la Rise games he loss Krieg passed for three touchdowns and was intercepted four limes. Predictions wild card game Browns Over oilers divisional games bengals Over sea i tasks Browns Over Bills. Acc title garai1 bengals Over Browns
