Professor

The Enquirer - Bengals audition backup RBs

Tonight is the A.I. game for the Bengals.

That's "After Irons."

With projected change-of-pace tailback Kenny Irons lost for the season, the Bengals will turn to a trio of candidates on the roster and audition them.

The tailback with the most to gain is second-year player Quincy Wilson.

Wilson, a former featured back at West Virginia, has been in the Bengals' offensive system for more than two years.

He figures to get double-digit carries against New Orleans' first- and second-team defenses in the second preseason game tonight.

Irons had outside speed. Wilson, at 5 feet 9, 220 pounds, is more akin to starting tailback Rudi Johnson, an inside runner.

But as offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski said after Irons was injured Aug. 9 at Detroit, the Bengals are going to run their offense - and that means somebody is going to run outside.

This week, it was Wilson and Kenny Watson getting the reps in practice. Wilson, behind strong blocking by the right side of the line - guard Bobbie Williams and tackle Scott Kooistra - broke loose a couple of times around right edge in practices Thursday with the Saints.

Inside, outside, it doesn't matter to Wilson.

"A lot of people get caught up in whether you can get outside," he said. "If you can get 5 or 6 yards, that moves the chains. Rudi is a perfect example of a guy who moves the chains. I can move the chains."

The Bengals want a home run threat, though. The scarlet number for the offense is 22, as in 22 yards, the longest rush play from scrimmage in all of 2006. It was a touchdown run by Johnson in the opener at Kansas City.

Rookie Curtis Brown, like Wilson and Watson, will get some work, too.

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