SUPER BOWL XXIII: CINCINNATI BENGALS vs. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS : Notebook : When 49ers’ McKyer Opens His Mouth, Bengals Roar

Meet Tim McKyer, 49er cornerback.

Many Cincinnati Bengals are lining up for just that purpose.

McKyer has hit the big time, ending years of the 49er-style, Bill Walsh-enforced pregame diplomacy.

Said McKyer:

--”Eddie Brown can’t compare to Jerry Rice. He doesn’t come close. He’s not in Jerry’s class.”

--”Lewis Billups (a Bengal cornerback) makes more noise than the law allows. He’s a big talker but he’s been quiet this week. That’s because he’s feeling the pressure of playing against us.”

--”I think we can blow those guys out. We’ve got better skill people on offense and our defense is better than theirs. Do you guys see why we’re favored?

--”Their receivers don’t have any nicknames or anything. I guess they don’t have any kind of rep.”

McKyer said all this Wednesday. On Thursday, the Bengals howled.

“I understand we won’t have any nicknames,” Cris Collinsworth said. “I guess Eddie Brown’s not much. Tim McGee and I, we don’t get a mention, so we’re not much.”

Were the 49ers getting under his skin?

“Not all of ‘em,” Collinsworth said. “But there’s one or two.”

It appears safe to stand down on the Jerry Rice watch.

The 49ers are listing their star wide receiver, who has a sprained right ankle, as probable.

Rice went dancing Wednesday night and said the ankle held up fine.

The NFL Players Assn. announced that it has submitted a new proposal to management, calling for unrestricted free agency after 6 seasons, salary arbitration until then, and a split draft by each conference, so that players coming into the league can negotiate with two teams.

The players have played without a collective bargaining contract since their 1987 strike and are suing the owners in federal court in Minneapolis. The union hopes a trial date will be set for this year.

Union head Gene Upshaw refused to discuss an investigation by the Justice Department of a $100,000 loan he took from the association.

Said Upshaw: “The facts are in the hands of the people who need to know the facts.”

Roses are red, violets are blue . . . Offensive tackle Bubba Paris of the 49ers, who checks in at 6 feet 6 inches and 306 pounds, spends his quiet time off the field writing poetry. Funny, but no one’s dared make fun of him.

“I won’t just say it in the locker room, because it’s just too sacred to me,” Paris said of his work. “I take it extremely seriously, because it describes my emotions and how I feel at the time.”

Paris started to recite a few lines for reporters, then stopped after getting embarrassed. But he swears it’s good.

“I’ve had over 100,000 people request copies of my poetry,” Paris said.

Offensive tackle Harris Barton of San Francisco said he has spouted so many cliches during mass interview sessions this week--”I think we’ll play hard this week.” “The best team will win.”--that he can’t stop.

During a telephone conversation with an old friend, who wanted the inside scoop on the game, Barton apparently fired off the same old answers.

“The guy told me, ‘Hey, I grew up with you and you call me with the exact same quotes, the exact same things you’ve said all week,’ ” Barton said.

There’s no place like the road: The 49er players and their wives are staying in separate hotels this week, though Coach Bill Walsh is allowing players a 2-night pass to spend with their families.

“We want to concentrate on football,” Walsh said. “We’ve been a very good road team. I think maybe one of the very best--ever. We have a way of doing things on the road, a regular schedule, time-wise and work-wise, and we’ve tried to retain that. That does not include loved ones or anything of that nature.”

And what of the brief family reunions?

“We hope there won’t be any major conflicts developing during that time,” Walsh said.

Ram Coach John Robinson agrees that the strategic question of the game is whether Cincinnati Coach Sam Wyche can successfully operate his novel no-huddle offense against old friend Walsh.

“The way the 49ers play defense, they use a lot of different players--more situation substitutes than most teams,” Robinson said.

“The no-huddle is Cincinnati’s way of keeping you from making specific substitutions against specific offensive players. It keeps you off balance, disturbs your concentration. They’ll try it, sure.”

About half the time this season, they didn’t.

“It depends on who Cincinnati is playing,” Robinson said. “Teams that play a more basic defense don’t see the no-huddle that much. There’s no point in it if the defense isn’t trying to run in a bunch of situation players.

“The no-huddle was especially designed for use against teams like San Francisco--teams that change their (defensive) personnel on every down.

“The Super Bowl will be the big test--Wyche’s no-huddle against one of the NFL’s most imaginative defensive teams. It will be interesting to see how well it works.”

The Bengals will be the first no-huddle team to play in a Super Bowl but they certainly aren’t the first no-huddle team.

The first were the first teams to play football. At the turn of the century, when the game was evolving, nobody huddled before the ball was put in play.

Thus, in a sense, the Bengals are a throwback to the era when--as offensive teams lined up on the line of scrimmage--the signal callers simply shouted out the numbers, using a simple code.

The difference now is that NFL offensive plays are more complex.

Accordingly, as he stands behind center on a no-huddle play, Cincinnati quarterback Boomer Esiason will be talking to his teammates in an elaborate code that mixes nonsense words with numbers.

“It’s fun,” Esiason said. “It picks up the pace, and drives people crazy. That’s what I live for.”

George Seifert, defensive coordinator of the 49ers, concedes that to some extent, the Cincinnati offense is a pain.

“On defense, philosophically, we try to be as attacking as we can,” Seifert said. “We take an offensive philosophy (on defense). We don’t relish the idea of having the offense dictate to us.”

That’s what the no-huddle does.

“It restricts some of the things we can do,” he said. “It will limit some defensive substitutions.

“I think you have to resign yourself (on some plays) to stay with the original 11 (players).”

Said Walsh: “One problem is that both teams fatigue more quickly, especially if it’s a warm night. The ball is put into play faster. You fail to execute as well.

“But the (no-huddle) is definitely the wave of the future.”

As Cincinnati’s backup quarterback, Turk Schonert, said: “Huddles are boring. This is exciting.”

Is the no-huddle legal?

Wyche says it is.

Walsh says it is--barely.

Robinson wonders.

“If it’s an extension of the 2-minute drill, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Robinson said. “If you’re just going fast, fine.

“But if your purpose is to create a penalty, well, some people are going to object to that.”

Buffalo Coach Marv Levy objected to that. So did the Dallas Cowboys.

“If the purpose of the no-huddle is to catch me--and penalize me--for substituting late, it isn’t football, and it isn’t legal,” Dallas President Tex Schramm said.

Robinson said: “What (the Bengals) are doing--what it adds up to--they’re denying the other team the opportunity to substitute.

“The Bengals aren’t just (managing) their own offense. They’re preventing the defensive coaches from managing theirs.

“And that’s a big difference from the 2-minute drill.”

Walsh’s present inclination is to support Wyche on the no-huddle.

“They skirt the edges--they are right on the edge--but they’re well within the rules,” he said.

“If they were a boxer, it wouldn’t be like a thumb in the eye.”

Quote Dept.:

--Walsh on Esiason vs. Montana: “The quarterbacks are outstanding, but the running game and defense will make the difference.”

--Wyche on life as a Super Bowl underdog: “We plan to show up for all 4 quarters. Our guys took a vote.”

--Sam Kennedy, reserve 49er linebacker, on why he charges sportswriters 25 cents apiece to interview him: “I wondered why reporters got paid, the editors got paid, but the guy giving the information didn’t. . . . (A quarter) gets the first question answered, and the rest are free.”

--Tim Krumrie, Cincinnati’s Pro Bowl nose tackle from Wisconsin, on being drafted 10th: “I’ll never get over it. Even if I win all the awards there are, I’ll always be a 10th-round draft choice. They had a little trouble measuring my heart.”

--Jim Skow, Cincinnati defensive end from Nebraska, on Krumrie’s cauliflower ear: “He got that in college. He was a really good wrestler in college.”

--Doug Williams, Washington quarterback, on dealing with 1,700 sportswriters at the Super Bowl: “When I got off the plane in San Diego last year, my . . . biggest concern was waiting to see what the media hype was about. An immature player might say something he doesn’t want to. I mean, questions come at you from all over the place. Last year, they asked me how long I had been black.”

--Jerry Rice, San Francisco’s All-Pro wide receiver, on game-day attitude: “Some people say if you’re scared, you should take off your uniform. But I feel like there’s nothing wrong with being a little bit scared. I think you play your best football when you’re scared.”

Times staff writers Chris Dufresne and Bob Oates contributed to this story.