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Browns fight hangover and other Steelers-Bengals questions for Steelers Wire

Here’s a look at the opponent from a Steelers expert.

The Cincinnati Bengals enter Week 12 looking to avoid the worst start in franchise history by overcoming…the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It is a fitting predicament given the history there. The Bengals are hurting but so are the Steelers, both thanks to injuries and last week’s fight with the Cleveland Browns.

We sat down with Curt Popejoy, managing editor of Steelers Wire, for a Q&A to get a better idea of what to expect.

Bengals Wire: Who is the fixture of Pittsburgh’s offense over the weekend if the trio of JuJu Smith-Schuster, Diontae Johnson and James Conner can’t go?

Curt Popejoy: I look for a heavy dose of running back Jaylen Samuels as a rusher and receiver. Mason Rudolph loves to dump it off to Samuels so if the run game can’t get going, Samuels could easily see double-digit catches again this week.

Bengals Wire: Bengals fans were antsy when the Steelers jumped up for Devin Bush, which looks even worse now that the Bengals have had horrific play from their linebackers. How’s he looked so far?

Curt Popejoy: It’s funny, at the start of the season we saw Bush make several big plays every game. But as the season has done on and guys like Minkah Fitzpatrick and T.J. Watt have emerged, Bush’s efforts are staying below the radar. He still leads the team with 75 tackles but isn’t stealing headlines anymore.

Bengals Wire: Speaking of ‘backers, Bud Dupree has enjoyed a wicked breakout this year. How does that impact Sunday? Think the Steelers dole out a big payday to keep him?

Curt Popejoy: Dupree has been much better than I expected. His ability to make plays has really opened things up for Watt on the other side and that should be scary for any quarterback. As for a big payday, I wouldn’t count on it. I’m sure Pittsburgh will make him an offer but if he wants really big money he might have to look elsewhere.

Bengals Wire: It goes without saying, but the fallout of the fight with the Browns continues to command headlines. Think it impacts how the Steelers perform?

Curt Popejoy: I look for the Steelers to come out pretty fired up. If there’s a downside to it all, it could be the Steelers’ players might be looking past the Bengals at that Browns rematch the next week. It might not cost them the game but I could certainly see another slow start and some sloppy football.

Bengals Wire: Is it upset alert time? How do you see this one playing out?

Curt Popejoy: I don’t think the Bengals will pull off the upset but I expect this game to be closer. The Steelers are going to struggle to put points on the board and need the defense to have a bounceback game after a miserable effort last week. Steelers 17, Bengals 7

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JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Conner headline final injury report

The Bengals won’t have to face some key Steelers names.

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The Pittsburgh Steelers won’t have two of Mason Rudolph’s top weapons in Week 12.

That’s a boon for the winless, hosting Cincinnati Bengals. The home side still won’t have A.J. Green on the field — though coaches aren’t willing to say Green is out for the year yet.

Also out for the Bengals is second-round pick Drew Sample, though that hurts more in the long-term outlook then it does in actually giving the Bengals a chance to win the game.

More importantly, the Steelers won’t have starting back James Conner on the field. He’s rushed or 390 yards and four scores this year. JuJu Smith-Schuster will also miss the game. He leads the Steelers with 524 yards and three scores so far.

Here’s a look at the final injury report for both teams:

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Zac Taylor isn’t ready to rule A.J. Green out for the season

Zac Taylor isn’t ready to hint whether A.J. Green could miss the rest of the season.

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Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor knew the questions were coming.

Friday, once the team made it clear A.J. Green would miss yet another game, Taylor had to spar with the media and massage the concerns of curious fans.

According to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com, Taylor wasn’t ready to rule Green out for the rest of the season.

“Because if it’s Monday, he might feel like he’s ready to start practicing again. So I don’t want to make any predictions for the rest of the year,” Taylor said. “Just planting off of it right now, I think is a little uncomfortable for him. We’ll get to that point where he feels comfortable and he’ll be ready to go.”

For now, the fact Green is having problems planting and cutting sounds like a big issue. This after a few weeks ago experiencing a setback with swelling after trying to get ready for a full-go. He has yet to even be a full participant in practice.

With the Bengals still winless it would make sense if both parties are being overly cautious. The team presumably wants him back and Green has to think about his long-term future over the next five years.

But with planting and cutting presenting an issue and keeping Green working on rehab, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Taylor and the team change its tune sooner rather than later and ending the star wideout’s season.

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A.J. Green will officially miss another week with key offseason looming

A.J. Green won’t play against the Steelers.

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The Cincinnati Bengals again won’t have star wideout A.J. Green on the field in Week 12 when the Pittsburgh Steelers come to town.

After a swelling setback a few weeks ago, Green hasn’t done much besides rehab. He didn’t put in notable practice this week before skipping Friday, per The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Tyler Dragon.

Green — who has made it clear he doesn’t care about your fantasy football teams — still hasn’t played since suffering an injury on the first day of training camp. Each time it seems he’s almost ready the needle doesn’t move and it makes the decision not to place him on injured reserve seem stranger.

With each inactive day, one needle that does move is the idea Green and the Bengals could be heading for a split. He’s still without a contract and if he doesn’t suit up at all this season it might not bode well for the two sides coming to an agreement on an extension.

In the short term, the underdog Bengals won’t have their best offensive player on the field when Ryan Finley looks to upset the Steelers and avoid the worst start in team history.

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Cincinnati Bearcats take swipe at Bengals while promoting showdown vs. Temple

The Bearcats decided to promote the city’s best game of the year.

Were this a normal year for football in the city of Cincinnati, this weekend might have been massive.

After all, the Cincinnati Bengals play host to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the University of Cincinnati hosts Temple.

But this year hasn’t been exactly normal — one team is 0-10 and staring its worst-ever start in the face.

The team that isn’t on a historically bad pace decided to have some fun recently, commandeering the “Dey” usage the Bengals so love to promote their upcoming game:

The Saturday showdown has loads of implications for the Bearcats. A win would clinch the American Athletic Conference East Division and further postseason ambitions for a team ranked 19th in the College Football Playoff poll. The Bearcats haven’t beaten Temple since 2014.

Given how the Bengals have performed this year, especially in contrast to the 9-1 Bearcats, it’s hard to argue with their assertion that it’s “Cincinnati’s Game of the Year.”

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When should Jake Dolegala get a shot over Ryan Finley?

When should the Bengals go to their other rookie QB?

Is it too early to talk Jake Dolegala for the Cincinnati Bengals?

Perhaps, as fellow rookie Ryan Finley only has two starts on his resume. The Bengals have made it clear the fourth-round pick will get more time despite his recent struggles.

But those struggles have been…quite bad. That 13 of 31 line with a fumble, interception and near pick-six in the loss to Oakland needs to improve or the coaches who traded up to get Finley might not be able to justify keeping him in the lineup no matter how much the evaluation angle makes sense.

Should that happen, Dolegala makes more sense than going back to Dalton.

Dolegala might be one of the most interesting players on the Bengals roster. Alongside Finley, he was one of the only two quarterbacks to take official pre-draft visits with the team. Those arm concerns with Finley don’t exist with Dolegala, the 6’6″, 240-pound physical standout.

After landing with the team that wanted him, Dolegala flashed enough in the preseason to stick on the final 53, forcing the Bengals to roster three quarterbacks.

The backstory is incredibly interesting. Dolegala was getting notable offers before hurting himself making a tackle. He went to Milford Academy in 2014 while recovering, then spent four years at Central Connecticut State. He only threw 48 touchdowns and 20 interceptions over those four seasons with 18 rushing scores, but stats are rather limited on a team like the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils.

Dolegala was something of a question mark in the draft for obvious reasons. Could he start reading pro defenses? Would he reach for the alluring upside that other rookie had already seemingly maxed?

Hard to say, but he sure had teammates like Joe Mixon impressed in July.

Given the physical upside, going to Dolegala if Finley keeps struggling makes more sense than turning back to Dalton. It’s clear the Dalton era is over and the last thing the team needs now is to muddy that outlook by a late-season Dalton surge that picks up a few wins.

In the theme of evaluation mode, the Bengals should probably see what they have with Dolegala before spending big on a rookie in the next draft.

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Steelers-Browns suspension appeals verdicts still help Bengals

With the appeals official, games against the Browns and Steelers will look different for the Bengals.

In the aftermath of the NFL hearing appeals from those involved with the Pittsburgh Steelers-Cleveland Browns fight from last week, the Cincinnati Bengals still come out looking like winners.

Those in charge decided to uphold the Myles Garrett suspension, meaning the Bengals won’t have to worry about the star pass-rusher when they meet the Browns in Weeks 14 and 17.

As for Steelers offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey, he had his suspension reduced from three games to two. That doesn’t end up impacting the Bengals though, as they won’t have to deal with Pouncey this weekend.

Given Cincinnati’s insistence on sticking with and evaluating rookie passer Ryan Finley, it’s a big blessing to avoid a top-tier defender like Garrett twice.

And while missing Pouncey is nice, one has to think the sheer distraction of all the drama between Mason Rudolph and Garrett could have the Steelers off their game Sunday.

And at this point, the Bengals will take whatever they can get as they still scratch and claw for that first win.

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Steelers-Bengals is one of two Week 12 games all experts agree on

Here’s who experts see winning the AFC North clash.

The NFL experts behind weekly picks again aren’t big fans of the Cincinnati Bengals.

This time the experts don’t see the Bengals emerging from another encounter with the Pittsburgh Steelers as winners.

According to NFL Pick Watch, 100 percent of the experts polled see the Steelers winning. That, besides New Orleans over Carolina, is the only game on the schedule with a 100 percent pick rate.

It is at least a little surprising this time. The Bengals are only 6.5-point underdogs this time out against a Steelers team that just dropped a game against the Cleveland Browns and could be without JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner — never mind all the distractions coming from the fight with Myles Garrett.

And yet, the Bengals struggled to get anything going offensively a week ago in a loss to Oakland. The history against the Steelers remains there too after this season’s 23-7 loss in Week 4.

The Bengals might pull off an upset and grab that first win of the season. But in a straight-up pick ’em, it makes some sense experts aren’t rolling with the winless Bengals.

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Jaguars expect to face a much different Titans team on Sunday

Things weren’t pretty for the Tennessee Titans offense in Week 3’s 20-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Things weren’t pretty for the Tennessee Titans offense in Week 3’s 20-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

But a lot has changed since then.

Ryan Tannehill has since replaced Marcus Mariota at quarterback, and has posted a 3-1 record as a Titans starter while doing so.

He’s completed 71.3% of his passes this year, throwing for 1,161 yards and eight touchdowns. Tannehill has looked much more confident and decisive in the pocket than Mariota did at the beginning of the season, and it’s clear the offense is running more efficiently with him at the helm.

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Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone expects to see the team at full force, and believes this is the best version of Tannehill he’s gone up against.

This is a team that will likely put points on the board much earlier than it did in the third week of the season, when the Titans remained scoreless until the fourth quarter.

“I think, obviously, they’re getting healthier,” Marrone said on a conference call.

“With Ryan (Tannehill), obviously I was in Buffalo when he was in Miami. Watching him now, I really think he’s playing the best I’ve seen him play. He’s playing with a lot of confidence. He’s putting the ball into tight windows, he’s able to run. Obviously, Derrick Henry is an outstanding runner behind a very good offensive line. You’ve got guys on the outside and four tight ends. I mean, there’s a lot of challenges. When you look at them on offense, it’s almost like pick your poison. If you try to stop one, the other guys are good enough to kick your butt. Our defense is going to have to play real good, sound football all the way around.”

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The Titans’ offensive line set a low bar for themselves the last time the team took on Jacksonville, allowing a total of nine sacks in one game.

Marrone looks to see better pass protection and overall more improved o-line unit overall this time around.

“Yeah. I mean, it’s always tough,” he said. “They’ve got one of the better offensive lines in the league, the quarterbacks playing really well, so it’s a challenge every week.”

The Titans and Jaguars are set to kick off at 3:05 p.m. CT on Sunday in Nissan Stadium.

Titans, Jaguars have equally rattled opposing quarterbacks in 2019

Both teams have respectively been one of the best in disrupting the dropbacks of opposing quarterbacks.

The Tennessee Titans (5-5) and the Jacksonville Jaguars (4-6) share a division in the AFC South, but that’s not the only thing the two teams have in common ahead of Sunday’s matchup.

Both teams have respectively been one of the best in disrupting the dropbacks of opposing quarterbacks.

In fact, the Titans and Jags are tied in that particular area.

The two teams rank 10th overall in the league is disrupted dropbacks defense, with a percentage of 17.0%.

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They trail only the New England Patriots (26.2%), San Francisco 49ers (24.3%), Pittsburgh Steelers (21.8%), Minnesota Vikings (20.7%), Carolina Panthers (18.8%), Buffalo Bills (18.6%), Green Bay Packers (17.8%), Philadelphia Eagles (17.5%) and the Oakland Raiders (17.1%).

Here’s a further look at the breakdown.

It will be interesting to see just how much trouble each team is able to give the other’s signal-caller on Sunday. Both teams have changed quarterbacks between the last time they met, with Ryan Tannehill replacing Marcus Mariota in Tennessee and Nick Foles making his return over Gardner Minshew in Jacksonville.

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The Titans and Jaguars are set to kick off at 3:05 p.m. CT on Sunday in Nissan Stadium.