11-11-01, 4:00 p.m.
BY GEOFF HOBSON
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. _ The Bengals lost the penalty flags, their cool, and the lead in no particular order during the Jaguars' 21-point outburst in the first 14:14 of the second half.
After the Bengals took a 13-7 half-time lead on Neil Rackers' career-long 52-yard field goal on the last play, Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell hit 10 of his first 11 passes of the second half to give the Jags a 28-13 lead after three quarters.
The Bengals' only two drives between the first two Jacksonville touchdowns of the second half got blown up early. One on right guard Mike Goff's hold and left guard Scott Rehberg's false start and the other on tight end Tony McGee's third dropped catch of the day as their momentum from Rackers' kick was wiped quickly away. The Bengals got just two first downs in the first 20 minutes of the second half.
On the second half's opening drive, Brunell started to find receivers Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell and when free safety Darryl Williams got flagged for a late hit, Brunell was in position to flip a five-yard touchdown pass to Smith working a fade pattern on Bengals cornerback Artrell Hawkins to give the Jags a 14-13 lead with less than five minutes gone in the half.
Then came the game's key play. With Hawkins covering Smith on the inside on a route down the sideline, the Bengals were incensed when Hawkins was called for a 38-yard pass interference penalty after two flags were dropped and a conference ensued.
Bengals defensive captain Takeo Spikes then apparently argued too vehemently, got flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, and the Jags were suddenly on the Bengals 13. Three plays later, Jags running back Stacey Mack scored from two yards out to put the reeling Bengals in a 21-13 hole with 4:25 left in the third quarter.
With Dillon carrying just twice for one yard in the first 18 minutes of the second half (giving him 42 yards on 14 carries), the Bengals could go nowhere on offense.
Brunell then took a deep breath, got a big 15-yard run from Mack around the Bengals' right end and then rolled out right to hit McCardell on a 20-yard touchdown pass over the zone of safety Cory Hall and cornerback Mark Roman.
Brunell hit 19 of his first 30 passes for 181 yards, with Smith (63) and McCardell (61) combining for 124 as the game wheeled into the fourth quarter.
With Bengals wide receiver Darnay Scott out for the game with a neck strain, rookie T.J. Houshmandzadeh answered the call with the first three catches of his pro career to help give the Bengals the half-time lead here against the Jaguars.
Rackers took the cue and delivered the longest field goal of his career on a 52-yarder on the last play of the first half for his second field goal of the day and the club's longest since Doug Pelfrey's 54-yarder beat the Vikings at the Christmas Eve gun.
The Bengals made the push after losing Scott and left guard Matt O'Dwyer early in the second quarter with a left knee sprain.
Houshmandzadeh, who had three catches for 35 yards, and receiver Danny Farmer came off the bench to make third-down catches to keep alive a 59-yard touchdown drive. Dillon, who finished the half with 41 yards on 12 carries, capped the drive with his longest run of the day on a seven-yard sweep to the left for the touchdown that gave the Bengals a 10-7 lead with 4:03 left in the half.
Houshmandzadeh and receiver Peter Warrick made the run possible with blocks on the cornerbacks as Houshmandzadeh took out Aaron Beasley and Warrick took out Fernando Bryant.
Dillon had trouble getting going against a Jag defense that played tight to the line of scrimmage, so Bengals quarterback Jon Kitna threw 25 passes, hitting 14 for 148 yards.
Kitna's 31-yard pass to Warrick on third-and-seven got the Bengals back into a game they trailed, 7-3, with 9:33 left in the first half.
Rackers, pushed for his job back home by the practice squad's Jaret Holmes, kicked a 26-yard field goal to end a drive that had been set up by blitzing Darryl Williams' sack of Brunell.
The Bengals kept good pressure on Brunell with two sacks (the other on an inside blitz from the outside linebacker Spikes) and forced him out of the pocket several times. Brunell finished the half completing eight of 16 passes, but the longest was for just 14 yards.
The Bengals couldn't stay away from the game-changing mistakes and penalties early when they were backed up in their own end. A sack, a fumble, and a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on a punt put the Bengals into a 7-0 hole after the first
quarter.
And their best drive of the quarter, a 13-play drive in which Dillon carried once, stalled when Warrick was called for going forward while he went in motion.
The penalty forced a punt, negating Kitna's third-down passes underneath the Jags' soft zone. Tight end Marco Battaglia caght one and Houshmandzadeh got one for his first NFL catch.
The tone for the first half got set in the first five minutes.
One play after Bengals left tackle Richmond Webb got a five-yard penalty for getting out of his stance too early, Jags defensive end Tony Brackens beat Webb inside on third down and knocked the ball from Kitna in the end zone for Kitna's fourth fumble of the season.
Kitna recovered at his one, and on the ensuing punt, Bengals linebacker Adrian Ross was called for unnecessary roughess to give the ball to the Jaguars on the Cincinnati 14. Five plays later, Mack scored from one yard out to give the Jags a 7-0 lead with 8:18 left in the first quarter.
The Bengals had the ball for 9:17 in the quarter and had no points. Dillon had 19 yards on five carries and Brunell hit five of nine passes for 42 yards.
The groin injury to Fred Taylor ( three 100-yard games against the Bengals), has straitjacketed the Jags' running game. Their running backs had combined for just 25 carries in the previous two games and against the Bengals they started Frank Moreau, a second-year player who came into Sunday's game with six carries. His longest run is 14 yards on a team where Brunell has the longest with 38.
Robert Bean, the Bengals cornerback who missed the last game with a hamstring problem, responded well in pre-game warmups and started the game as the nickel cornerback.
The Bengals shelved veteran cornerback Tom Carter for the season on injured reserve Saturday after he re-aggravated his injured knee in Friday's practice.
His spot is taken on the roster by rookie Kevin Kaesviharn, whose journey from arena ball to the XFL to the NFL is now complete. With Carter gone, the Bengals are left with two rookie free agents in Kaesviharn and Bo Jennings and two second-year players in Bean and Mark Roman out of the five cornerbacks who face Jacksonville's Pro Bowl passing game Sunday. Four-year veteran Artrell Hawkins is the senior statesman with 53 NFL games compared to the combined 25 games from the other four.
Carter, a nine-year veteran, missed the last game with a partial tear of his posterior cruciate ligament, joins Rodney Heath on IR, where the Bengals now find their Opening Day starting left cornerback and nickel back.
"It's the kind of injury that's very difficult because of the position he plays," said Bengals trainer Paul Sparling. "There's a lot of running backwards and stopping and starting and there just wouldn't be any consistency of when he'd be available. He looked fine Wednesday and Thursday, but one break Friday put him right back where he was."
It marks the second straight Saturday before a game that Kaesviharn has been activated from the practice squad. Kaesviharn, 25, who was teaching high school gym in Sioux Falls, S.D., the week before his NFL debut against the Lions, has been on a whirlwind. He used last weekend's bye to go home and get clothes that he hadn't been able to pack because of his quick signing to the practice squad.
The Bengals took note of Kaesviharn's 23 interceptions in two years in the Arena Football League and three last year for the Los Angeles Demons in the XFL. He signed with the Packers after the XFL, but got cut at the end of training camp.
He didn't take a snap against Detroit, but played on special teams.
