Browns defensive end Myles Garrett has sacked Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow plenty of times in his career.
But if Garrett brings down Burrow during Sunday’s season finale, it’ll be historic, as Garrett needs one sack to capture the NFL’s single-season record.
Garrett did not register a sack against the Steelers and quarterback Aaron Rodgers last week. Garrett remarked after Cleveland’s win that it appeared Pittsburgh was more concerned about not letting him get the sack record than winning.
Asked about his approach to facing Garrett in Week 18, Burrow noted there are situations where taking a sack might be his best option.
“Yeah, I’m certainly not going to overcompensate either way,” Burrow said in his press conference. “I’m not going to go out of my way to not let him get the record. And I’m not going to go out of my way to let him get the record either. I’m going to go and play football.
“There’s going to be situations that a sack is the best of the bad outcomes of that play, and maybe I take one. And there’s going to be other situations that I’m about to get sacked and I need to throw it away in that situation. Such a situational game that I don’t think you can go in thinking one way or the other. Every play is so different.”
Being divisional opponents, Burrow has a better idea than many other QBs what makes Garrett so effective.
“He’s more athletic than everybody else on the field — bigger, stronger than everybody else,” Burrow said. “He has a mindset that he’s not too high or too low at any point, which is pretty unique for a defensive lineman. I think he’s probably got a unique mindset as far as that position goes. But it’s one that you can appreciate.
“He’s a guy that I’ve kind of gotten to know over the years and I like him as a person. He takes his job very seriously and is a guy I have a lot of respect for.”
And if Garrett happens to bring Burrow down, he acknowledged that won’t be out of the ordinary.
“He’s gotten me a lot,” Burrow said with a chuckle. “He’s gotten me a lot.”
Bengals running back Chase Brown missed Wednesday’s practice with an illness.
Brown has played in all 16 games this season, rushing for 947 yards and six touchdowns on 219 carries. He has never had a 1,000-yard season, rushing for 990 yards last season.
The Bengals saw five other players sit out the final Wednesday practice of their season.
Tight end Cam Grandy (chest), defensive tackle B.J. Hill (ankle), wide receiver Charlie Jones (ankle), cornerback Josh Newton (hamstring) and defensive end Joseph Ossai (ankle) spent the session rehabbing.
Center Matt Lee (knee) was limited. He is in his 21-day return-to-practice window.
Cowboys linebacker Logan Wilson played zero snaps on Christmas Day against the Commanders despite being healthy and active. Backup quarterback Joe Milton was the only other active player not to play a down.
Wilson had averaged 28 snaps per game since the Cowboys acquired him from the Bengals at the trade deadline in November.
Not only was Wilson confused about his absence, so, too, was owner Jerry Jones.
Coach Brian Schottenheimer said the team planned to play Wilson. The Cowboys didn’t play Wilson because, well, they sort of forgot about him.
“We only had 21 snaps [on defense] in the first half,” Schottenheimer said Monday, via Joseph Hoyt of the Dallas Morning News. “We kind of messed the rotation in the second half. It’s not the first time it has happened. It won’t be the last time. It happens with receivers. It happens with defensive linemen. It shouldn’t happen. But we take that as a coaching staff.”
Jones said the day after the game he didn’t have an explanation for why Wilson was MIA.
“We planned to have him in there. He needs to be in there. He has good instincts,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan. “The reason we got him was because he reads the play quick and can basically be in his lane of responsibility and react quick. It’s critical that a linebacker have quick reacting [ability]. He’s able to do that. That’s why we got him.”
Schottenheimer said it was a mistake to play Kenneth Murray all 44 snaps, Shemar James 36 snaps and Marist Liufau two snaps at linebacker without getting Wilson on the field.
“We do keep track of [snap counts],” Schottenheimer said. “Occasionally, you look at the numbers and they don’t make sense, and this one certainly didn’t make sense. We have to do better as a coaching staff with that.”
If Browns defensive end Myles Garrett sets the single-season sack record in Week 18, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow will likely be on the receiving end of the record-breaking play.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor confirmed at a Monday press conference that Burrow will get the start for the team in their final game of the regular season. Taylor said that Burrow gives the team the best chance to win by way of explaining why that’s the case.
Burrow missed most of this season with a toe injury before returning to lead the team to a win on Thanksgiving. He played one of the worst games of his career two weeks later, but has rebounded with 614 yards and six touchdowns in back-to-back wins in the last two games.
That gives the Bengals a chance to finish the season with a three-game win streak, but it won’t solve their three-year streak of missing the playoffs and that’s an issue of more significance than Week 18 as Taylor moves forward in his current role.
Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase did not catch a touchdown for seven straight games heading into Sunday’s game against the Cardinals, but he put an end to that streak in the first quarter.
Chase caught a 13-yard pass from Joe Burrow to open the scoring and then added another score in the second quarter of Cincinnati’s 37-14 win. That moved him up to seven receiving touchdowns for the season and Chase joined Randy Moss as the only players to reach that total in each of their first five seasons.
It also made Chase the first player in NFL history to record at least 1,000 yards, 80 catches and seven touchdowns in each of their first five seasons.
“It’s a blessing,” Chase said of reaching that mark, via a transcript from the team. “It’s a great opportunity — a great position, great guys around me and a great organization. I feel like I’m in the perfect place.”
Chase’s personal achievements are tempered by the Bengals missing the playoffs for the third straight year. Figuring out how to keep Chase playing at a high level while also building a better overall team will be the priority in Cincinnati this offseason.
The Bengals and Cardinals were both mathematically eliminated heading into today’s game and had nothing to play for, but the Bengals showed up while the Cardinals did not.
Bengas quarterback Joe Burrow had an excellent game, completing 24 of 31 passes for 305 yards and two touchdowns (both to Ja’Marr Chase) and no interceptions. Bengals running back Chase Brown added 22 carries for 101 yards and two touchdowns of his own.
The Bengals won 37-14, and it wasn’t even that close, as the score was 37-7 in the third quarter before the Bengals took their foot off the gas.
It was a meaningless game and the Bengals were winning a blowout, so in the third quarter they decided to have some fun, lining up offensive lineman Cody Ford at wide receiver and throwing to him — and he caught the ball, broke a tackle and gained 21 yards. Today is Ford’s 29th birthday, and that was a great gift.
The Cardinals’ lone bright spot came in the form of tight end Trey McBride, who caught 10 passes and set a new NFL record for catches in a season by a tight end.
With the win, the Bengals improve to 6-10 on the season. The Cardinals fall to 3-13.
The Panthers added rookie Tetairoa McMillan to their injury report with an illness on Sunday morning, but they won’t have to go without their top wide receiver against the Seahawks.
McMillan is active for their home game against the NFC West frontrunners. The first-round pick has 65 catches for 924 yards and seven touchdowns so far this season.
The Panthers will win the NFC South on Sunday with a win and a Buccaneers loss to the Dolphins. If they don’t get that combination of results, the two teams will okay for the division crown in Week 18.
Seahawks at Panthers
Seahawks: WR Hunter Renfrow, S Demani Richardson, DT Jared Harrison-Hunte, TE James Mitchell, DT Tershawn Wharton
Panthers: QB Jalen Milroe, CB Coby Bryant, LB Jared Ivey, T Charles Cross, G Bryce Cabledue, OL Mason Richman, DL Brandon Pili
Steelers at Browns
Steelers: QB Will Howard, WR Calvin Austin, RB Kaleb Johnson, CB Brandin Echols, CB James Pierre, G Isaac Seumalo, EDGE T.J. Watt, DL Logan Lee
Browns: OL Jeremiah Byers, QB Dillon Gabriel, OL Kendrick Green, CB Myles Harden, DL Sam Kamara, TE David Njoku, WR Jamari Thrash
Patriots at Jets
Patriots: QB Tommy DeVito, WR Kayshon Boutte, OT Marcus Bryant, G Jared Wilson, NT Khyiris Tonga, LB Robert Spillane, LB Harold Landry
Jets: QB Tyrod Taylor, OL Marquis Hayes, WR Quentin Skinner, TE Mason Taylor, DL Mazi Smith, S Chris Smith
Saints at Titans
Saints: S Ugo Amadi, WR Mason Tipton, CB Rejzohn Wright, RB Alvin Kamara, G Cesar Ruiz, TE Zaire Mitchell-Paden, DT Bryan Bresee
Titans: S Jerrick Reed, OL Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson, OL Garrett Dellinger, OL Drew Moss, DL Cam Horsley
Jaguars at Colts
Jaguars: CB Keith Taylor, RB Bhayshul Tuten, G Patrick Mekari, C Robert Hainsey, TE Hunter Long, DL Danny Striggow, DT Maason Smith
Colts: C Tanor Bortolini, RB Tyler Goodson, S Reuben Lowery, S George Odum, OL Dalton Tucker, DL JT Tuimoloau
Buccaneers at Dolphins
Buccaneers: QB Connor Bazelak, WR Sterling Shepard, S Rashad Wisdom, LB John Bullock, OT Tristan Wirfs, EDGE Anthony Nelson
Dolphins: QB Tua Tagovailoa, S Minkah Fitzpatrick, WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, OL Kendall Lamm, C Aaron Brewer, LB Derrick McClendon
Cardinals at Bengals
Cardinals: S Budda Baker, OL Evan Brown, TE Pharaoh Brown, CB Kei’Trel Clark, K Joshua Karty, CB Kalen King, DL PJ Mustipher
Bengals: QB Jake Browning, WR Charlie Jones, CB Josh Newton, S PJ Jules, DE Joseph Ossai, TE Cam Grandy, DT Jordan Jefferson
For the second consecutive season, Cardinals left tackle Paris Johnson Jr. will end the year on injured reserve with a knee injury.
Johnson injured his knee in the Week 14 loss to the Rams and hasn’t played since. He missed the final two games of the 2024 season with a knee injury.
The Cardinals now have 22 players on injured reserve, with Sean Murphy-Bunting on the non-football injury list.
Rookie Josh Fryar has replaced Johnson this season, with Demontrey Jacobs also getting some snaps at the position.
The Cardinals used the roster spot to promote defensive lineman Zachary Carter from the practice squad.
They also announced they elevated cornerback Jaden Davis and wide receiver Steven Sims from the practice squad for Sunday’s game against the Bengals.
The Cardinals ruled out safety Budda Baker (concussion/thumb). He did not practice this week after experiencing concussion symptoms.
Baker played all 17 games of the 2024 season, and he last missed a game in Weeks 2-6 of 2023 when he sat out with a hamstring injury.
The ninth-year veteran has totaled 111 tackles, 1/2 a sack, two tackles for loss and five pass breakups this season.
Rabbit Taylor-Demerson will make his fourth start of the season, replacing Baker.
Fellow safety Jalen Thompson (hamstring) is questionable to play.
The Cardinals also ruled out left tackle Paris Johnson Jr. (knee), cornerback Kei’Trel Clark (back) and left guard Evan Brown (personal). None of the three practiced this week.
Outside linebacker Josh Sweat (knee/ankle) also didn’t practice this week, but he is questionable to play against the Bengals.
Wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. (heel), center Hjalte Froholdt (elbow) and cornerbacks Max Melton (heel) and Will Johnson (thumb/chest) also are questionable.
Bengals center Matt Lee was designated to return from injured reserve, opening his 21-day practice window.
Lee, a second-year player, landed on injured reserve on Oct. 28 with a knee injury.
He has played five games this season, seeing action on 16 special teams snaps.
A seventh-round pick in 2024, Lee played all 17 games as a rookie, including one start. He saw action on 27 offensive snaps and 86 on special teams.
The Bengals play the Cardinals on Sunday before closing out the season against the Browns.
