The Bengals are dealing with several injury concerns, but there’s a chance they could have two key offensive players back for Thursday night’s key divisional matchup against the Ravens.
Receiver Tee Higgins has not played since the club’s Week 7 victory over the Browns, and offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. has been out since the Week 8 loss to the Eagles. But both players could return in a few days.
“We’ll see,” head coach Zac Taylor said in his Monday press conference. “We’re limited in our field work, but both of those guys have the right attitude about it. So, that’s step one, is they both want to do it. And now, just physically, we’ll put them through everything we can over the next couple of days to see where they can help us.”
Taylor noted that the team got better news than expected on defensive tackle BJ Hill’s rib injury. But running back Zack Moss will be out indefinitely with a neck injury.
The Bengals will “be open to everything” when it comes to potentially adding a player at running back with Moss out.
Additionally, rookie tight end Erick All suffered a torn ACL and will be out for the rest of the season.
“Horrible for him,” Taylor said. “He obviously rehabbed, put himself in a position from the previous one a year ago and did all the things he could do to help us win. Just a guy you love being around and appreciate.”
All recorded 20 receptions for 158 yards in nine games this season.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow threw five touchdowns to power a blowout win over the Raiders on Sunday, but you wouldn’t have known that it was a positive day by looking at Burrow on the sideline.
Burrow looked like he was on the wrong side of the 41-24 final score throughout the game and he was asked about his dour expression when he spoke to reporters at a press conference after it was over. Burrow said that the team didn’t play well in the third quarter and that there was “just a combination of things that I felt like we didn’t do good enough” over the course of the afternoon.
“I’m not just going to ignore the bad and dwell on the great that we did today,” Burrow said, via a transcript from the team. “I don’t think that’s a recipe for improvement. I don’t think that’s a recipe for getting better. I’m going to be hard on myself. I’m going to be hard on us to execute the way that I feel like we need to. And I feel like we didn’t put ourselves in great positions in times of that game to finish off the right way. We ended up doing it. The defense came up big, but I think we could have done better.”
The win moved the Bengals to 4-5 on the season and they have a Thursday night game against the Ravens on tap, which provided further reason for Burrow not to rest on how things went against a two-win Raiders team.
“Yeah. I think just how the season has gone, knowing what’s ahead of us, knowing what we’re going to have to do to get back into this,” Burrow said. “One win isn’t going to make or break our season. So, I’m going to strive for perfection every — every day and every game. So, until that happens, what’s there to be happy about?”
If the Bengals can find the kind of form that Burrow is looking for, there’s an opportunity for them to be a playoff team in the AFC. This week would be a good time to show that they’re capable of that kind of performance.
The Bengals’ inactive list for Sunday’s game against the Raiders had an unexpected name on it.
Wide receiver Jermaine Burton was a healthy scratch after quarterback Joe Burrow and others had spent the week talking about how the third-round pick was ready for a bigger role with Tee Higgins battling a quad injury. According to multiple reports, Burton missed the team’s walkthrough on Saturday.
Head coach Zac Taylor did not get into specifics for why the team chose to sit Burton, but said it was a necessary reaction to something that happened late in the week.
“Jermaine was a big part of the plan, and as the week unfolded there were a lot of positive things people were saying about him,” Taylor said, via a transcript from the team. “It was all true, and then late in the week we’ve just got to handle all of our business the right way. I can sit here and say it was a difficult decision to make him inactive, but it was absolutely the right decision with all the information we had. He’s a guy who’s going to have, I think, a really good career here, and we’re going to support him. He wants to help us win and do things the right way. Today was just a necessary step we had to make, but we’re going to get him back in the fold and keep him moving along and becoming a pro. There’s a lot of things to love about Jermaine, so his best days are in front of him and we’re going to make sure he achieves that.”
While playing for Alabama, Burton struck a female fan during a game at Tennessee and former Alabama coach Nick Saban said the wideout’s “emotional maturity” as an issue he had to work on as a professional. Taylor said during the draft that he was comfortable with Burton and reiterated that on Sunday, but it’s clearly still a work in progress for the rookie.
Bengals rookie tight end Erick All Jr. injured his right knee during a 6-yard reception with 10:05 remaining until halftime. All was unable to reach the sideline without assistance, and the Bengals quickly listed him as doubtful and then out.
Coach Zac Taylor said afterward that he is “concerned” about the injury.
“I worry about it. . . . I don’t have all the information yet, but I’m concerned about it,” Taylor said, via Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
All had two catches for 24 yards Sunday, and he has 20 receptions for 158 yards in nine games this season.
He tore the ACL in the same knee last season at Iowa and wasn’t cleared to practice until the middle of August.
All will undergo an MRI on Monday.
“I hate to think about it,” Taylor said of All’s injury. “I don’t know all the information yet with Erick, because he was having such a tremendous rookie season. He’s just an all-around great football player. He’s got that mindset, and he means a lot to this offense. When he went out, it certainly affected a lot of things.”
The Ravens play the Bengals on Thursday Night Football.
The Raiders’ ugly 2024 season is getting worse.
Las Vegas played one of its worst games of a bad season today in Cincinnati, getting blown out by the Bengals, 41-24.
Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew was so bad that he eventually got benched and replaced by newcomer Desmond Ridder, who looked bad until a meaningless garbage time touchdown pass in the game’s closing seconds. No matter who’s at quarterback, this team stinks.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow had a good game, throwing five touchdown passes. He also had a bad throw on a pick-six to Jack Jones that provided one of the Raiders’ few highlights, but overall Burrow played very well.
Also playing well for the Bengals were running back Chase Brown, who finished with 27 carries for 120 yards, and tight end Mike Gesicki, who had five catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
The win improves the Bengals’ record to 4-5 and keeps them alive as they try to shake off a rough start and make a run at the playoffs. The Raiders drop to 2-7, and it’s hard to see them competing for anything other than the first pick in the draft.
