No Joy in Loserville for Warrick

On his first day as a Cincinnati Bengal, receiver Peter Warrick threw his head back, glanced at the hillsides and mused about his new stage.

“Looks like California or something,” he said on that sunny draft-day afternoon. “I’m looking at the hills and [thinking] Hollywood.”

The playmaker from national champion Florida State intended to have a leading role in remaking the NFL’s worst team. Instead, he’s been relegated to a bit part in yet another losing season.

Hillsides aside, this isn’t Tinseltown. It’s not even Tallahassee. Instead, Warrick is in the NFL’s Loserville, where defeats comes as readily as the touchdowns came at Florida State.

“I don’t enjoy it and I don’t want to get to enjoying it,” Warrick said. “It sure makes you enjoy winning.”

There’s been little of that. The Bengals are 2-9, headed for a typical finish and another high draft pick. They lost more games than any other NFL team in the 1990s and haven’t gotten any better in a new stadium in a new millennium with a heralded new receiver.

It’s wearing on Warrick, who lost a total of four games in four years at Florida State.

“It’s hard, man,” he said, his voice trailing off.

It’s not all his fault. The Bengals knew they were in for a lot of growing pains when they made Warrick and Florida State teammate Ron Dugans the top targets for second-year quarterback Akili Smith.

Dugans and Smith eventually were benched as the Bengals’ passing game floundered, ranking last in the NFL. Warrick has kept his job, though his patience has been stretched.

Last month, Warrick took his frustrations public, saying he wanted to get more passes thrown his way. No one was surprised.

“Any time you’ve got a guy who was a Heisman candidate who gets reverses and throws the ball and lost maybe three or four games in five years at Florida State, there’s a reason to be frustrated,” Smith said. “I just told him to keep working with the team. He said he was trying, that it’s hard.”

Through 11 games, Warrick’s best moments have come as a runner rather than as a receiver. He has 37 catches for 417 yards and two touchdowns--not much for 11 games, but tops on the team. He’s also the fourth-leading rusher, with 11 carries for 143 yards and two touchdowns.

When Warrick gets the ball on a reverse, he’s dangerous. The problem is that the Bengals can’t get him the ball as a receiver--Smith isn’t good yet at completing the short timing pattern that could spring him.

When backup Scott Mitchell took over last Sunday, Warrick had a season-high seven catches for 79 yards and a touchdown.

“Having Scott Mitchell out there is great,” Warrick said. “He’s smart and gets the ball there on time. But Akili’s a great quarterback, too. We’ve just got to be all on the same page.

“Our receivers are getting our timing down. We’re just catching the ball first. Usually we take our eyes off the ball and worry about what we’re going to do, especially me.”

That’s been Warrick’s biggest problem as a rookie. He has dropped an average of one pass per game, some of them when he was in position to make a big play. With extra work at practice, he’s become more sure-handed.

“Pete’s problem was that he was trying to rush everything,” receivers coach Steve Mooshagian said. “He was cutting routes short, running past holes and it took away opportunities for him. They have to learn that patience.”

It wasn’t this way in college.

“At Florida State, you’re going against Miami of Florida one week, then Wake Forest the next,” Dugans said. “Now you’ve got tougher opponents. It makes you work harder.”

Every morning, Warrick spends a half-hour with Mooshagian watching film of veteran receivers, picking up tips on how they handle tough coverage.

“Being open in the NFL is a lot different than being open in college football. Being open in the NFL might be as far as you to me right now,” Mooshagian told a reporter standing less than 2 feet away. “In college football, there’s one guy and the rest of the field. They’ve had to get used to making contested catches with guys all over them.”