European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 20, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page .30 r the stars and stripes sports tuesday september 20, 1994 72 is too Many byjoe Posnanski the Cincinnati Post week three lesson for the bengals in football teams use 11 players. This is a pretty Basic guideline. You Are allowed to play 11 Guys at one time in professional football. You Are not allowed to play 12 Guys because this would be unfair to the other team. You Are allowed to play with 10 Guys but that would leave your team at a Dis advantage. Eleven. It s a Good number the bengals struggled with the concept sunday. We got confused out there bengals coach Dave Shula said. Confused this was not like forgetting which one was Kate and which one was Allie. This was not like mixing up Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. No eleven men play football. It has been that Way for quite some time. Still in sunday s 31-28 loss to new England the bengals had 12 men on the Field on one play and be cause this was too Many they called timeout. Four plays later the bengals again had 12 men on the Field so in a move of utter brilliance two men ran off the Field leaving 10, which was too few so the Beng als called timeout again. And then the bengals were penalized for having 12 men on the Field hint too Many when the Patriot seemed to want Only to run out the clock at the end of the first half. We made too Many mental mistakes out there bengals linebacker Rico Mcdonald said. See this is the part we Don t understand. There ate mental mistakes. A linebacker gets faked out. Of. That s a mental mistake. A quarterback throws into double coverage of. That s a mental mistake too. These things will happen to every team in the nil a running Back fumbles. A safety misreads coverage. A lineman misses a Block. Mental mistakes. Playing too Many men is not a mental mistake. It s a disgrace a pathetic display of coaching and playing arid everything else. It s a insult to the fans who build their weekends around the games a knife to the heart of season ticket holders. This is a Bowler commentary at the end of the game defensive lineman Dan Wilkinson said he played pretty Well. He had one tackle. Cornerback Mike brim said the defense did t play too terribly bad. The patriots scored 31 Points and had 447 Yards of offence. Defensive line Man Alfred Williams said the team will come around soon. Players have been saying that every single week. This is like waiting for Amelia Earhart to show up. Williams said. We can t Patriot Mike Jones 96 forces David Klingler to Fumble. Dropping the Ball on his foot. This is a Tennis player hitting herself in the head with a Racket. This is car Lewis in the olympic 100-meter dash forgetting his pants. A " v the Only thing More stupid than playing 12 men would be us Well maybe fair catching a punt at your own 1-Yard line. The bengals Corey Sawyer did that also. I can t explain that Shula said. They re regressing. That s the sad part. The bengals played at Home sunday against a mediocre patriots team with a Lousy defense and they lost. They fumbled. They missed blocks they missed tackles they missed open receivers they missed an extra Point. They did not sack quarterback Drew Bledsoe. The played with too Many men on the fiend. It s going to happen play like this no  at least the bengals fought Back at the end. It s hard to say this is a Good sign especially since no body knows whether the bengals will win a game any time soon but it s something. These bengals Are not bad Guys they re not a Bunch of losers who Don t care. After sunday s game they looked despondent angry scared. As they ran off the Field some fans yelled insults. They do have Pride. They really do. Unfortunately they Don t have much Speed or size or Power. They Don t have a pass Rush they Don t have a Guy who can cover a receiver and they Don t have too Many Offen Sive linemen left. They Don t have a single Star they Don t have a Leader and much of the time they Don t have a clue. It s hard to watch. We want somebody to blame for All this like mrs. O Leary s cow but this has been a True team Effort president Mike Brown did not spend enough Money and Effort to build a competitive team. The College drafts in recent years have been both bad and worse. Shula and his staff have not inspired nor steadied this team. Sunday at riverfront stadium the patriots bullied the bengals and overwhelmed them and outsmarted them and eventually beat them Cincinnati is 0-3. The Road ahead is paved with losses. The bengals want so desperately to win to play Well to finally enjoy a Sun Day evening but so far no Good. No Good at All. No wonder the bengals tried to play with 12 men distributed by scrupps Howard news service oilers in Shell Shock by Barry Wilner a football writer alter three weeks and three losses who is More Shell shocked buddy Ryan Wade Phillips or Jack Pardee it s been a Tough beginning to the sea son for those three coaches whose teams have self destructed and Are 0-3. Ryan promised the folks of Arizona a Winner at Long last. Instead after a 32-0 loss sunday at Cleveland the cardinals Are in familiar territory even if buddy is not they Are the Only wingless team in the pfc. Denver picked by Many to win the acc West behind a vastly improved of sense once More was clueless on defense against the los Angeles raiders. Jeff Hosteller picked apart the Bron cos for 338 Yards in a 48-16 Romp which was Denver s worst Home loss since 1968. The oilers who won their last 11 games in 1993 to win the acc Central Are going in the opposite direction with a stagnant offence. They fell 15-7 to Buffalo on sunday. Ryan in t giving up on his new team even after sustaining the first shutout of his six year coaching career. I Don t think anybody quit on me today said the truculent Ryan. I pulled a couple of Guys because they just did t have that look in their Eye that i want to see.". The Broncos Haven t had that look for some time with six straight defeats. The latest was their 10th in 11 meetings with the raiders since Art Shell became the los Angeles coach. This game was t even close Phillips said. I still believe we have Talent but Well have to re examine everything  so must the oilers whose offence has disappeared without Warren Moon traded to Minnesota and with replace National football league ment Cody Carlson injured Browns 32, cardinals 0 the Browns 2-1 got their first shut out at Cleveland stadium since 1983, stopping the cardinals on the 2 with . Vinny Testaverde stung by six interceptions in his previous two games ran for one touchdown and passed for two More including an 81-yarder by Rookie Derrick Alexander. Raiders 48, Broncos 16 at Denver where the Broncos have lost five of the last eight Hosteller threw for four touchdowns As the raiders 1-2 continued to dominate the Broncos. For the third straight game John Elway threw an interception that was re turned for a touchdown this one a 15 yarder by cornerback Terry Mcdaniel. Bills 15, oilers 7 at Houston Steve Christie kicked five Field goals and Bruce Smith had four sacks for Buffalo 2-1. Houston is 0-3 for the first time in 10 seasons kicking indoors is a lot easier. I prac Tice in the wind. But once i hit the first one i Felt like i was getting into a  said Christie whose overtime Field goal in a 1992 wild card game beat the oilers 41-38 and capped the biggest comeback in nil history. Chiefs 30, Falcons 10 Joe Montana got his seventh Victory in a Row in Atlanta the other six coming with the san Francisco 49ers. It lifted his career record in starts against the fal cons to 14-5, including 12 of his last 13. Montana completed 28 of 39 passes with to tosses of 13 and 34 Yards to . Birders the chiefs Are 3-0 for the first time since 1966, when they ended up in the first super bowl losing to Green Bay. Dolphins 28, jets 14 at Miami the dolphins controlled the game from the outset and the jets wilted in the heat. Terry Kirby rushed for a career High 100 Yards and the dolphins injury plagued defense intercepted four passes by Boomer Esiason. Dan Marino finished23-for-31 for 289 Yards and two scores. Giants 31, redskins 23 the Host giants Rode the versatility of Dave Meggett replacing injured Rodney Hampton in the Backfield. Meggett had two Short scoring runs and a 16-Yard to pass his third in As Many career tries All against the redskins 1-2. John Friesz hit 32 of 50 for a career High 381 Yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. 49ers34, rams 19 at Anaheim calif., Steve Young went 31-for-39 for 355 Yards and two touch Downs Jerry Rice had 11 receptions for147 Yards John Taylor had seven for 103 and tight end Brent Jones had six for 60 for san Francisco 2-1. Eagles 13, packers 7 Reggie White s return to Philadelphia was a disappointment for the Star defensive end who was double and triple teamed and had Only three tackles. He did however draw three holding Calls on tackle Broderick Thomas steelers31,colts21 at Pittsburgh with the Steeles decked out in Garish uniforms representing the 1933 Pittsburgh pirates football team Pittsburgh out gained Indianapolis 1-2 500-179, led by the ground game. Barry Foster ran for 179 Yards upstage ing Colts Rookie Marshall Faulk who was held to just 61. Ronald Humphrey went 95 Yards with the opening Kickoff and Quentin Coryatt had a 78-Yard Fumble return for the Colts. Vikings 42, bears 14 at Chicago Warren Moon finally hit stride completing 22 of 29 passes for 236 Yards and getting plenty of help from Terry Allen and Cris Carter. Moon sparked an attack that had just one touchdown before meeting the bears 1-2. Allen who had two touchdown runs gained 159 Yards on 22 carries for Minne Sota 2-1. Carter had eight of his nine catches for 79 of his 86 Yards in the first half. Jake Reed caught seven for 90yards. Minnesota s Dewayne Washington had an 81-Yard interception return for a third Quarter touchdown. Patriots 31, bengals 28 at Cincinnati the bengals fell to 0-3 As new England 1-2 kept up its offensive onslaught. Drew Bledsoe had a club record fourth straight 300-Yard game going 30for-50 for 365 Yards. Michael Timpson had 10 receptions for 125 Yards and Ben Coates added 108 on eight. Saints 9, buccaneers 7 at Tampa the saints defense made turnaround after two weak efforts allow ing just one touchdown. In its first two losses new Orleans 1-2 yielded 68  of the saints scoring came on Field goals by Morten Andersen from 43 Yard twice and from 31