The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 28

B-16BengalS THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Monday, October 10, 1988 AAMO Bengals 36, Jets 19 1 M1 Bengals CONTINUED FROM PAGE B-l going," Esiason said. "We've got one of the best defenses in the league and that affords us the luxury of doing that." The defense shut out the Jets in the second half and held Jets QB Ken O'Brien in check with 151 yards passing and one touchdown on 18 completions in 38 attempts. O'Brien entered the game averaging 238 yards passing. A A 4 Ickey CONTINUED FROM PAGE B-l drive trucks through those holes." Indeed, they were. Anthony Munoz, Bruce Reimers, David Douglas (filling in for injured center Bruce Kozerski), Max Montoya and Joe Walter were having their way with the Jets' defensive line.

But the holes weren't that big. Take it from Munoz. "Hey," Munoz said, "there were times when they tried to tackle Ickey and it looked like they were going to get him for a 2- or 3-yard loss and he ran right through them. There are holes, but there are no holes that big in the NFL." Used primarily in short-yardage situations in the first five games, Woods had 125 yards on 31 carries and three touchdowns before Sunday. But no one, particularly Munoz, doubted his ability.

"I was not surprised, not really," Munoz said. "To me, he is right there biting at the bit to get the ball. Today we gave it to him and let him go." And go he did. But mostly in the second half. Woods didn't start, but entered the game on the Bengals' third possession, with the Jets leading 9-0 on a safety and touchdown set up by Wilson's fumble on his own 7-yard line.

Woods' first half performance was modest 35 yards on seven carries but coach Sam Wyche, his staff and players had spotted a distinct trend. The Bengals' line was manhandling the Jets' defense. At halftime, that element of the game was discussed. "The offensive line was just blowing them out of there," Woods said. "So we just decided to run the ball." "We just decided to give it to the big guy and let him roll with it, which he did a little bit," said Munoz.

Woods carried the ball 23 times in the second half and turned it into 104 yards and two touchdowns, one from 17 yards out that gave the Bengals a 33-19 lead. Besides that big gainer, he had runs of 10, 12 and 21 yards. His average gain was 4.6 yards. He had a day. And finally when he was pressed, over and over again, his modesty began to fade.

Sitting at his locker, wearing a T-shirt with a Superman logo on the front, part of the booty given to the "Star of the Game" by WKRC radio, Woods couldn't keep from smiling. "I just went out and played a great game," he said. And no one could argue with him. Douglas does j'ob David Douglas took over at center for the Bengals when Bruce Kozerski injured a shoulder and handled the job well, principally facing Jets nose tackle Scott Mer-sereau. "It was a little rough in places, but I guess I got by," Douglas said.

Leo Barker (53) closes in on Jets quarterback Ken O'Brien Sunday. The Bengals' defense had another the Jets to three points, with offensive miscues accounting for the other 1 6. itiff defense grounds Jets' 'J, and they really didn't hurt us too much after that." Freeman McNeil, a long-time nemesis of the Bengals with his cutback runs, gained but 50 yards on 13 rushes. "Pursuit is what kills the cutback," Zander said. "If you have a lot of people flying to the ball, which we've had this year, that's what has made the difference for us." Added free safety Solomon Wil-cots: "We told ourselves we were going to swarm on McNeil and Roger Vick, because you don't want just one guy tackling them.

The more you swarm, the less room they have to run." Cincinnati's secondary allowed no major damage by receivers Al Toon (5 catches, 46 yards), Wesley Walker (3 for 22) and Mickey Shuler (5 for 50). The longest completion was 15 yards to Shuler. "We wanted to force them into a long passing game," Williams said, "because with our corner-backs and safeties, we feel our cornerbacks and safeties can come down with it." Eric Thomas, strong again at BY JIM MONTGOMERY The Cincinnati Enquirer Carl Zander, the fourth-year linebacker from Tennessee who calls defensive signals for the Cincinnati Bengals, sets high standards for the troops. He was almost satisfied with what the defense did in Sunday's 36-19 win over the New York Jets. "I thought we played about as good as we're capable of playing," Zander said after the Jets left town with 226 net yards on 66 plays.

"There were a couple of things we obviously could have played better," Zander continued, "but they had a total of 220-some yards, I believe, and that's our best day statistically to date. I feel like the Jets had the most balanced and powerful attack we've played, so we were pleased with that." Of the Jets' 19 points, only one field goal came as the result of a sustained drive. The other scores were traceable to the Bengals' offense, which gave up a safety and two fumbles, each setting up short-range touchdowns. That part wasn't to Reggie Williams' liking. "Even though they got the ball inside our 10, our goal is to force them to kick a field goal," Williams said.

"We didn't, so we have the opportunity to improve." The early safety and fumble-re-lated score put the Jets ahead, 9-0, with just 6:41 elapsed. "There was no panic," Williams said. "There was a sense of 'let's get ourselves We persevered through a lot of adverse circumstances early in the game. In my opinion, this was the best game we've played as a team, because we played a game which demonstrated our character. I was proud to be part of it." Williams finished with seven tackles and a sack.

Hard-driving Tim Krumrie caused a fumble, had a sack and put his shoulder into four tackles. The latter is a bit low for him, but served to point up the overall deeds of the defense. "We're playing consistently. We're playing good ball," Krumrie said. "We're getting our offense back on the field to let them score points.

They Gets) hurt us outside some early, but we shut that down St? The linebackers stifled Jets running back Freeman McNeil, who had 50 yards on 13 carries. His tendency to cut back and pick up big yards had hurt the Bengals in the past. All of this pleased Wyche to no end. But he wasn't about to bestow the mantle of greatness on his team. Great is reserved for the Wall in China and the Greek conqueror, Alexander.

And Super Bowl champions. Good is reserved for a 6-0 team that matched its best start in the franchise's history (1975). "We're not there yet," said tackle Anthony Munoz. "If we had come out and didn't make all those mistakes in the first half, then we'd have something. "We're a pretty good team because we came back to overcome those things.

We've got to take all the stuff that happened, look over it and learn how to play mistake-free football." Offense clicks Take away the mistakes and the Bengals played a great game. Fullback Ickey Woods, who took for Wilson following the first fumble, had a career-best day and the second best day of a fullback in the Bengals' history. He rushed for 139 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries. It was the most rushing yards given up by the Jets this year. The previous high was 65 by Houston's Mike Rozier.

Esiason was 10-of-20 for 220 yards and three touchdowns, including a 60-yard TD to Eddie Brown, who finished with five receptions for 103 yards and two touchdowns. Esiason was sacked four times but also picked up 61 yards on three carries. "Boomer's a star, man," Wyche said. "He's a football player." Despite the miscues in the first quarter, the Bengals had faith that they could come back and win. "We weren't worried about being down nine points," Esiason said.

"Twenty-one points is no big deal when you can strike with one play. You saw that on the touchdown pass to Eddie." That was the Bengals' first touchdown of the game. Brown blew past Jets cornerback Bobby Humphrey and strong safety Rich Miano. No-huddle befuddled Jets The Bengals also frustrated the Jets with their no-huddle offense, which caused the Jets two delay-of-game penalties for having too many men on the field. "The no-huddle was by design," Wyche said.

"It's something we picked up in our film studies. They liked to substitute a lot on defense, which indicates they aren't in great shape. We didn't want to give them a chance to rest." Two of the delay calls came at crucial times for the Jets. The first was called on a third-and-4 on the Jets' 44 in the second quarter. The 5-yard penalty, which gave the Bengals a first down at the Jets' 39, set up the Bengals' second touchdown of the game and gave them their first lead, 12-9.

The second delay came early in the third quarter, following a 21-yard run by Woods. The Bengals had the ball at the 19, and the penalty gave them the ball at the Jets' 14 and a first-and-5. Two plays later Woods carried the ball over for a 5-yard touchdown, and the Bengals were ahead for good, 26-19. The no-huddle offense came as no surprise to Jets defensive coordinator Bud Carson. "We spent time on it," Carson said.

"They're very good at it. We had a difficult time getting people in and out of the game. It was more a problem getting people out than in." If every great journey begins with a small step, then the Bengals took a huge leap by downing the Jets, who entered the game with the No. 1 defense in the AFC and the No. 2 offense.

"In the course of a good year you've got to overtake a lot of hurdles," Wyche said. "And thus far they've come in all shapes and sizes. I don't know of one we haven't seen that we haven't handled." N.Y.Jth 3 7 0-1 1 10-36 First Quarter NYJ-Safety, Esiason tackled in end zone by Lyons, I. NYJ-VIck 1 run (Leahy kick), 6:41 On-Brown 60 pass from Esiason (kick failed), 12:09 Second Quarter On Brown pass from Esiason (kick blocked), 3:49 NYJ-FG Leahy 30, 12:37 Gn-McGee 31 pass from Esiason (Breech kick), 14:12 Third Quarter NY Toon 11 pass from O'Brien (Leahy kick), Cln-Woods run (Breech kick), 6:32 Fourth Quarter Cln-Woods 17 run (Breech kick), 11:51 Cln-FO eech 25, 13:26 Bengal 'prototype' Walter manhandles Gastineau X' The Cincinnati EnquirerCheryl Haselhorst strong game, essentially holding attack one corner, rather expected more deep throws. "I thought they'd try it, especially after they got down.

They tried me once and I thought they might come back to it, but our pass rush had a lot to do with that," Thomas said. Lewis Billups, the other corner, allowed Toon one catch. "I wanted to shut him out," Billups said, "but he got one on a little hook and slide route." One bomb that had a chance went incomplete, courtesy of safety David Fulcher. Ken O'Brien aimed it for Toon from the Bengals' 41 with Cincinnati leading, 26-19, in the fourth quarter. "We were in two-deep coverage," Fulcher recounted, "and they made a good play fake.

I wanted to help on the run, and they faked so well they caught me up. I saw him (Toon) take off, and all I could do was turn and go after him. I was hoping he wouldn't throw it, but he did." Fulcher caught up with Toon in time to knock the pass away in the end zone. "We played pretty good," Fulcher said. "The score was a little different than it looked." Lineman gets BY GREG HOARD The Cincinnati Enquirer Bengals offensive line coach Jim McNally coined the phrase, and Max Montoya repeated it Sunday following the Bengals' 36-19 victory over the New York Jets.

"Joe Walter," Montoya said, "is the prototype offensive lineman of the '80s. He's got great strength, great quickness, great balance and those big ol' 48-inch arms to push people around." The Bengals' right tackle may be more than a prototype: he may also be an All-Pro. Four weeks ago he blanked Philadelphia's Reggie White. Last week, he neutralized the Raiders' Howie Long, and Sunday he humbled the one and only Mark Gastineau. Gastineau was not a factor.

His number wasn't called all day. "I was as high for (Gastineau) as I was for anybody all season," Walter said. "I did everything I could to keep him off the quarterback." What he did was keep Gastineau on his back most of the day. Although Walter was reluctant to boast, he acknowledged that Gastineau showed signs of meeting an opponent he could not handle. "I think he was getting frustrated toward the end because he couldn't get to the quarterback," Walter said.

"You could see it in his eyes, the way he was looking around." After the game Gastineau refused to talk to reporters, saying he had contracted a stomach virus sometime between Saturday night and the game. His performance weakened, Gastineau finished the day with three tackles and no had it sit i v- rave reviews come into the game tied in the NFL for sacks with Kevin Greene of the L.A. Rams. Both had seven. Walter, a fourth-year pro out of Texas Tech, didn't do anything special to prepare for the showdown with Gastineau.

He watched films and concentrated as much as he could. When faced with such an opponent, Walter sees no purpose in cramming sessions. "There are players you can't figure out," Walter said. "You've just got to go out and play them." So far, he has done that and in extraordinary fashion. But when the topic of All-Pro comes up, Walter is all shucks and gee-whiz.

"I don't think of myself in that way," Walter said. "I've got a lot of work to do. The real All-Pros on this team are Max (Montoya) and Anthony (Munoz). They've taught me a lot. I've had a lot of help." That may be the case, but if so, Montoya and Munoz aren't about to take credit for Walter's performance.

"All we've done is give him tips, advice," said Montoya. "He's a good player." Said Munoz: "When we got him, we knew we had a good right tackle. He has improved every year. Few would argue with that, but Walter will. "I've got a lot of work to do," he said.

"I can play a lot better." Walter's reward Sunday afternoon was the satisfaction that only a lineman knows. He was going home exhausted. "I'm very tired," he said. "I had a good time. I had a great time.

(Gastineau) is so quick, sometimes you feel you have to chase him. Maybe I had too good a time. I'm really tired." i The Cincinnati EnquirerJohn Samora Bengal lineman Joe Walter keeps Mark Gastineau at arm's length Sunday during Cincinnati's 36-19 win. The Bengals' offensive line was once again a big factor in their offensive success. tp.