Bengals' sure thing is Pickens

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Monday, October 12, 1998

BY PAUL DAUGHERTY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Carl Pickens, right, is hugged by Darnay Scott after making a big catch in the first quarter. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

Nobody seemed to know what to do. Thirty-eight seconds to play, no timeouts, clock running, ball on the Pittsburgh Steelers 25, Bengals behind by two. Line up, get set. What do we do?

"A lot of people running," was what the quarterback, Neil O'Donnell, said he saw. "A lot of people walking." Bodies all over the place, O'Donnell said.

Now what? Nobody seemed to know.

Carl Pickens knew. On the field, Pickens always seems to know. Ever see Pickens drop a well-thrown ball? Ever see him not fight for the extra yard or two after the catch? "There isn't a bigger competitor in this locker room," center Darrick Brilz said.

Pickens knew. He saw O'Donnell fake the clock-stopping spike. He saw O'Donnell look to the other side of the field. He saw Pittsburgh's All-Pro corner Carnell Lake all over Darnay Scott. "Nothing going on to Darnay's side," Pickens said.

So he took off. Left sideline, past the other Steeler corner, Dewayne Washington. "Just trying to make something happen," Pickens said.

In the frantic ends to scratch-and-claw games, the Bengals can always look to Pickens for some sanity. He is their surest commodity. Has been for years. With 38 seconds to go, he knew what to do.

Run. Jump. Catch. Score. Stand over Washington like he'd just knocked him out. Like Pickens was Cassius Clay, Washington was Sonny Liston and this was 1964.

The quarterback's pick

The Bengals beat the Steelers, 25-20. Just like that. O'Donnell is learning what Jeff Blake before him knows. When you have to have a play, throw the ball high and deep and tell Carl Pickens to go get it. "If I can get my feet set and go up and get it, that's what I do best," Pickens said.

Seconds earlier, he'd done just that. O'Donnell launched a 50-yard prayer on 4th-and 12 from Cincinnati's 15. The Bengals were on fumes. Pickens ran, jumped, caught. "He might not have (great) speed," Brilz said, "but he has some of the best hands in the league." And great hops. Arguably the best.

Interesting guy, Pickens. Also, confounding, intelligent, charming, arrogant, mercurial and different. Three days before the Bengals opener last year against Arizona -- a win similar to this one, in which Pickens' talents also played large -- he sat down with me for an hour and answered every question I had, and some I didn't. Pickens is a musician (bass and piano), a country guy, someone who at that time still spent the offseason at his parents home in the mountains of far western North Carolina. He told me all that. The next time I said hello to him, he looked right through me.

He may be the only player who has been called both a cancer and a leader in the locker room, at the same time. Getting a read on Pickens is as easy as defending him one-on-one.

He caught 13 balls Sunday. In the first half, he took apart Steelers rookie Jason Simmons, a fifth-round draft pick who probably is still popping Dramamine for his dizziness. Washington bore the load in the second half. Not that it mattered.

Will he stay?

Pickens was asked about his future. His contract is up after this year, and he has made it clear he wants to win. In fact, teammates say some of Pickens' less-than-pleasant image has been molded by his frustration with the constant losing in his seven years here.

"I want to stay," Pickens said. "But this is just one game." Those seeking significance from this win would do well to keep that in mind. But it was a hell of a show, wasn't it? That touchdown was strictly sandlot.

Go long. Get open. I'll get it to you.

"I was going to take a shot, no matter what," O'Donnell said, and he did.

Pickens was there, waiting. He knew.

Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments at 768-8454.

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