The Titans practiced without four players Wednesday.
The absences included defensive tackle John Franklin-Myers (groin) and rookie wide receiver Carnell Tate (shoulder).
Both are new additions to the injury report.
Tate had five catches for 69 yards in the loss to the Browns. He visited the sideline medical tent in the fourth quarter but missed only one play before returning.
Running back Tyjae Spears (knee) and punter Tommy Townsend (left knee) were also out of practice. This marks the third week for Spears to be on the report.
Wide receiver Calvin Ridley (hip) was limited, the second consecutive week he’s been on the report.
Linebacker Dorian Mausi (foot) was a full participant. He is in his 21-day return-to-practice window.
Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase did not participate in Wednesday’s practice, but it doesn’t seem like he’s at risk of missing Sunday’s matchup against the Titans.
Cincinnati listed Chase as a non-participant with an ankle injury, but also with rest.
That implies that Chase could have practiced on Wednesday, but he also received some treatment on his ankle.
Chase was on the field for 87 percent of Cincinnati’s offensive snaps in the Week 7 victory over Baltimore — the same as fellow receiver Tee Higgins.
In six games so far this season, Chase has caught 32 passes for 351 yards with five touchdowns. He has not yet had a 100-yard game.
Also on the injury report, safety Kyle Dugger (quad) and defensive tackle Jonathan Allen (rest) did not participate.
Safety Jordan Battle (hamstring) and linebacker Joe Giles-Harris (calf) were limited.
The Bengals’ offensive explosion in the second half in Baltimore last Sunday got the most attention, but they also got a strong effort on special teams from punter Ryan Rehkow.
Rehkow punted four times in the game and the Ravens never got the ball in better field position than their own 12-yard-line after those kicks. Two of the kicks left them on their own 6-yard-line and another had them starting a drive from their own 3.
The NFL noticed that performance and named Rehkow the AFC special teams player of the week on Wednesday. It’s the first time that Rehkow has received that award.
The Bengals’ offensive outburst was also recognized by the league as quarterback Joe Burrow is the AFC offensive player of the week.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow only had one good half in last Sunday’s game against the Ravens, but it was a really good half.
After going 6-of-12 for 43 yards while the Bengals fell behind 13-0 in the first 30 minutes of play, Burrow returned to the field and went 16-of-18 for 249 yards and three touchdowns as the Bengals stormed back for a 35-13 win over their AFC North rivals. It was the first time this season that any quarterback threw four touchdowns in one half of play.
The outing was recognized on Wednesday when the NFL named Burrow the offensive player of the week. It is the ninth time that Burrow has taken that prize.
The win moved the Bengals to 4-2 and they’ll try to keep pace with the Browns and Steelers against the Titans at home this Sunday.
Alabama cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick Jr., the son of former NFL cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick, has been dismissed from the team.
Coach Kalen DeBoer announced the move on Tuesday, via Alex Scarborough of ESPN.
Kirkpatrick Jr. was arrested on Friday for doxxing and making harassing communications with a police officer. He had been suspended before Saturday’s game against Texas A&M. The officer had been involved in a 2025 arrest of Kirkpatrick Jr. for reckless endangerment, attempting to elude police and speeding. Alabama suspended him in October 2025. He did not play again last season.
More recently, Kirkpatrick Jr. allegedly texted the officer, among other things, “text me back don’t be no bitch!” Kirkpatrick Jr. also allegedly posted a photo of the officer and his family on Facebook.
“After gathering more information on the situation, Dre Kirkpatrick Jr. will no longer be a part of our program,” DeBoer said in a statement. “He did not live up to the standards and expectations that I have set for this team and our players.”
Separately, Kirkpatrick Jr. is facing a misdemeanor charge from June 2026 of leaving the scene of an accident.
Dre Kirkpatrick Sr. was a first-round pick of the Bengals in 2012. He spent 10 seasons in the NFL with Cincinnati, Arizona, and San Francisco.
Kirkpatrick Jr., who was a second-string defensive back, joined Alabama in 2024.
An injury in Sunday’s win over the Ravens has led to the Bengals to make a couple of changes to their tight end room.
They have placed Erick All on injured reserve and they have signed Cam Grandy off of the Vikings’ practice squad to replace him on the 53-man roster. They also placed tight end Josh Kattus on the practice squad injured list and signed Caden Prieskorn to their practice squad.
All injured his knee in the win over Baltimore. He had three catches for 26 yards in the game and eight catches for 56 yards on the season.
Grandy spent the last two seasons with the Bengals and appeared in 13 games. He had seven catches for 35 yards in those appearances.
The decision to make defensive end Shemar Stewart a healthy scratch on Sunday was the subject of a question for Bengals head coach Zac Taylor at a Monday press conference.
Stewart was a first-round pick in 2025, so seeing him on the inactive list would seem to be a negative sign for his development to this point in his career. Taylor noted that Stewart missed time with a knee injury he suffered this summer and said the second-year player is “doing all the right things,” but got caught in a numbers game due to how much depth the team has up front on defense.
“It’s a really deep D-line group and it’s really tough to choose who’s gonna be inactive there,” Taylor said. “Keep encouraging him because he’s doing everything the right way and he’s really making the progress we’re hoping to see. I don’t want to do that every week, but we’re gonna have to be creative with where we pull from. That’s just part of it.”
The Bengals had nine defensive linemen active on Sunday, so, progress or not, Stewart is pretty low on the depth chart relative to his draft status. If that doesn’t change in the coming weeks, there will likely be more questions about what kind of future he has in Cincinnati.
The Ravens had a choke of epic proportions on Sunday.
Winning 13-0 at halftime, Baltimore ended up losing to Cincinnati, 35-13. The Bengals’ win was the first time since 1950 that an NFL team has won a game by 20 or more points after trailing by 13 or more points at halftime.
It’s hard to describe just how much the Bengals dominated the second half. The first 10 possessions of the second half went like this: Bengals touchdown, Ravens punt, Bengals touchdown, Ravens turnover on downs, Bengals touchdown, Ravens punt, Bengals touchdown, Ravens interception, Bengals touchdown, Ravens turnover on downs.
The Ravens’ loss was their second consecutive ugly second half: A week earlier, Baltimore was beating Cleveland 10-0 at halftime but ended up losing 13-10. Over the last two weeks, the Ravens have been outscored 48-0 in the second half.
Whatever the Ravens are doing at halftime, it’s not working, and it needs to get fixed ahead of this Sunday’s game at Buffalo.
The Bengals’ performance in the first half of Sunday’s game against the Ravens left wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase in a foul mood.
Baltimore was winning 13-0 and the Bengals had just 59 yards over their 20 offensive plays, so Chase made sure that his teammates knew that the effort was unacceptable.
“I came in here screaming, saying, ‘Somebody’s got to make a play for us, somebody got to make a play,’” Chase said, via Ben Baby of ESPN.com. “And I told our offense [that] we can’t look at our defense the whole time. We’ve got to step this s—t up and make something work.”
Chase may have a future as a motivational speaker. The Bengals scored 35 points while picking up 298 yards during the second half of a 35-13 win that played out in very improbable fashion.
Chase and company will try to keep things flowing into next Sunday’s home date with the Titans.
The AFC North and NFC North are loaded, to an unprecedented extent in NFL history.
All eight teams in the two North divisions are above .500 after Week 7. Never before has the league had two divisions with every team having a winning record heading into Week 8.
The Browns lead the AFC North at 5-2 because they have the head-to-head tiebreaker with the 5-2 Steelers. The Bengals are 4-2 and the Ravens are 4-3.
The Vikings are 6-0, the only remaining undefeated team in the NFC. The Bears are in second place in the NFC North at 5-2, followed by the Lions at 4-2 and the Packers at 4-3.
If the playoffs started today, the Browns would be the No. 3 seed in the AFC. The Steelers would be the No. 6 seed and the Bengals would be the No. 7 seed. The Ravens would be out of the playoffs.
In the NFC, the Vikings would be the No. 1 seed and the three other teams would be the three wild cards: The Bears would be the No. 5 seed, the Lions would be No. 6 and the Packers would be No. 7 — as they have been each of the last three years.
We’re a long way from the playoffs, but right now, it looks like most of the biggest games down the stretch will be played in the North.
