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Bengals vs. Raiders: How to watch, listen and stream Week 11

Here’s how to watch Bengals vs. Raiders.

The Cincinnati Bengals take to the west coast for a late kickoff against the Oakland Raiders in Week 11.

The hosts have won two in a row and have a winning record as they hope to stick behind the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West. A strong ground-based attack continues to deliver.

Those visiting Bengals remain winless and risk 0-10, one of the worst starts ever for the franchise. Rookie passer Ryan Finley will make his second start, though he still won’t have playmakers like A.J. Green or John Ross on the field.

 

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Oakland Raiders on Sunday, November 17 (4:25 p.m. ET)

TV info: CBS

Stream: fuboTV (try it free)

Radio: Cincinnati – WCKY-AM (1530), Cincinnati – WEBN-FM (102.7), Cincinnati – WLW-AM (700)

Location: RingCentral Coliseum

Forecast: Cloudy, 48 degrees

Referee: Shawn Smith

Odds: Oakland -10.5

[Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.]

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Jeffery Simmons has been everything the Titans need him to be

Simmons had a good rehab and recovered fast, making his first appearance for the Titans in Week 7 against the Los Angeles Chargers

Plenty of haze surrounded Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons after the team drafted him at No. 19 overall in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

The former Mississippi State Bulldog suffered an ACL injury in February, and many suspected he’d be out for the season.

But Simmons had a good rehab and recovered fast, making his first appearance for the Titans in Week 7 against the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Titans dodged a 2-5 start to the season partially due to Simmons’ efforts, who finished the victory out with four tackles and a sack on Philip Rivers.

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On the season, Simmons now totals 12 tackles and a sack over just four appearances.

In his final season with the Bulldogs, Simmons recorded 63 tackles, 18 for loss, two sacks, four passes defensed and one forced fumble.

Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox made note of Simmons in one of his latest articles reflecting on the 2019 rookie class.

“Not only did Simmons make it back to the field by Week 7, but he’s been a difference-maker since entering the lineup,” he wrote. “He’s been dominant at the point of attack, stonewalling ball-carriers and making life miserable for opposing quarterbacks.”

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The Titans will look for Simmons to continue to grow as a piece of Dean Pees’ defense as they face the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars at 3:05 p.m. CT on Nov. 24 in Nissan Stadium.

Ryan Finley’s development and other top storylines for Bengals vs. Raiders

Here are some top storylines in Bengals vs. Raiders.

The Cincinnati Bengals don’t have an easy task in front of them against the Oakland Raiders if Zac Taylor is to avoid matching Dave Shula’s 0-10 start.

An A.J. Green-led injury report isn’t kind to the Bengals, nor is the state of the opposition. The Raiders have won two in a row, sit at 5-4 and appear on an upswing.

Here are some of the top storylines to know heading into the game.

 

Ryan Finley’s development: Last week was Finley’s welcome-to-the-NFL moment. The fourth-round pick accounted for 14 Ravens points off his turnovers in a 49-13 loss. That would’ve lost the Bengals the game if the Ravens offense hadn’t scored at all. But coaches spoke highly of Finley and understand growing pains were part of the plan. Can he eliminate some of those behind a messy offensive line against a Raiders defense with 20 sacks and 57 pressures? Whether he can or not has much more riding on the outcome than this week alone.

Revving up the running game: Joe Mixon and Co. have been silent for most of the season. The backs themselves, poor line play and equally bad scheme approach played a part. But that started to change out of the bye against the Ravens. Mixon carried it 30 times for 114 yards, and while that isn’t even four yards per tote, it’s a whole lot better than what the team put on the board in the prior eight games. If the ground game can keep trending in the right direction, it betters the chance of a win because it keeps a struggling defense off the field.

Defensive pulse: Is there a pulse at all? Coming out of a bye, the Bengals let the Ravens put up 35 points on just 23:49 of possession at 8.2 yards per pop with a four of six mark on third down. Lamar Jackson is good, but the performance wasn’t exactly out of line with past pre-bye showings. Now the task for the Bengals defense it taking a lengthy trip and attempting to stop stellar rookie running back Josh Jacobs, who has 811 yards and seven scores on a 4.8 per-carry average. Don’t forget Derek Carr, owner of a 70.8 completion percentage with 14 touchdowns against four interceptions. Preston Brown got cut and rookie Germaine Pratt will keep seeing developmental snaps, but will anything change?

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Bengals nab Joe Burrow and overhaul offensive line in new 3-round mock draft

The Bengals get a big haul in a new 2020 mock.

Yet another mock draft has the Cincinnati Bengals grabbing LSU quarterback Joe Burrow with the top overall pick in 2020.

Quarterback seems like a forgone conclusion for the winless Bengals led by a coaching staff that didn’t hesitate to bench Andy Dalton during a bye week.

Which isn’t to say Burrow isn’t a fun topic of discussion. But perhaps more interesting now is what the Bengals might do with their other top-100 selections.

A new mock from Luke Easterling of Draft Wire tackles this very subject thanks to its three-round nature. The Bengals grab Burrow at No. 1, then offensive linemen Trey Adams from Washington at No. 33 and Trey Smith out of Tennessee at No. 65.

Taking consecutive offensive linemen might seem a bit boring at first. But it might be the only way to quickly correct a depth chart where one could argue four of the starting five need replaced.

Landing both Adams and Smith in the same draft, paired with a returning Jonah Williams, could go a long way toward revamping the offense and hopefully providing a situation where a rookie quarterback can develop and eventually succeed.

This is one of many scenarios it is easy to see playing out for the Bengals, the NFL’s lone winless team with plenty of problems to patch between now and next season.

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Titans LB David Long Jr. impressed in 35-32 win over Chiefs

He accounted for eight tackles and a forced fumble against Kansas City on Sunday.

Tennessee Titans linebacker David Long Jr. didn’t receive a great deal of recognition after the team’s latest 35-32 win over the visiting Kansas City Chiefs.

But he was effective, despite only seeing action on 28 snaps.

He accounted for eight tackles and a forced fumble against Kansas City on Sunday.

On the season, the rookie originally selected out of West Virginia at No. 188 overall in the sixth round of the 2019 NFL Draft has recorded a total of nine tackles and a forced fumble over eight appearances.

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Titans team reporter Jim Wyatt recently addressed a question defense in a mailbag post saying that he was “very impressed” with Long, and thinks “his future is bright” with the team.

“He’s an instinctive player,” head coach Mike Vrabel said of Long last week. “There’s a lot of stuff that we’ve got to continue to coach on him and improve, but he has shown since he’s gotten here that he is an instinctive player, that he makes tackles, that he gets around the football. He got an opportunity to play and showed up. He got the ball out. The thing that I appreciate about David, you can get on him and coach him hard, and he knows when he’s out on the field that he’s going to go play. He’s just a young, instinctive player that has been improving through the course of the season on the show team.”

In college, Long was a defensive force for the Mountaineers, racking up 252 career tackles — 169 of them solo.

Starting at 12 games at Will linebacker, Long led West Virginia with 111 tackles, averaging 9.3 per game, and also led the team in sacks (8), tackles for loss (19) and solo tackles (76).

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He was Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, and was also a Butkus Award semifinalist.

The Titans face the division rival Jacksonville Jaguars next at 3:05 p.m. CT on Nov. 24 in Nissan Stadium.

Bengals-Raiders injury report tabs A.J. Green, Drew Sample and Lamarcus Joyner out

Here’s the final injury report for Bengals-Raiders.

The Cincinnati Bengals don’t get any notable returns from the injury report in Week 11.

With A.J. Green still rehabbing after a setback coming out of the bye, the star wideout joins two other players listed as out.

One, rookie tight end Drew Sample, might end up on injured reserve. The other, Alex Redmond, is a backup offensive lineman. Speaking of injured reserve, the Bengals sent starting cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick there this week, essentially shutting him down so he could focus on recovery.

Geno Atkins is listed as questionable but should be good to go after some maintenance days. Ditto for right tackle Bobby Hart.

As for the Raiders, tackle Trent Brown and returner Dwayne Harris are listed as 50-50 to play. Defensive back Lamarcus Joyner and tackle David Sharpe are out.

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Former Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict rips NFL after Browns-Steelers fight

Vontaze Burfict took aim at Roger Goodell and the NFL.

It was only natural Vontaze Burfict’s name was going to come up.

When the fight between the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers went down Thursday night — with suspensions that have a big impact on the Cincinnati Bengals — Burfict started trending on social media.

It isn’t hard to see why the former Bengals and current Oakland Raiders linebacker came up. He was suspended for the year after a hit on Sept. 29.

Burfict spoke out this time by giving a lengthy interview about the situation with Vic Tafur of The Athletic:

“The NFL had to suspend somebody for that last night, since that wasn’t a football act. My suspension was a football act,” Burfict said. “I was hitting somebody. I wasn’t taking a helmet off and swinging it at somebody.”

He continued, noting he turned the game off so his daughters wouldn’t see it: “I don’t want them to see that. Because that’s not what I do. That’s not part of football. I hit people on the field during the game. And they say that’s dirty, yeah, whatever. I get hit, too, during the games, so don’t complain. It’s football, bro.”

Burfict also had some choice words for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and those involved with the decision-making process that resulted in his season-ending ban.

While the former Bengals linebacker said he’s a target and he can’t change the media narrative around him no matter his off-field work, Burfict added he’ll attempt to make a return to the league next season.

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Steelers-Browns fight fallout and suspensions impact three Bengals games

The Steelers-Browns fight headlined by Myles Garrett has a big impact on the Bengals.

Chaos elsewhere in the AFC North might end up helping the downtrodden Cincinnati Bengals.

For those who (somehow) missed it Thursday night, Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett hit Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph over the head with his own helmet, prompting an all-out brawl.

That’s keeping it short and sweet, of course. Point is, the NFL dished out punishments the next day, suspending Garrett indefinitely. Browns defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi got a one-game ban and Pittsburgh center Maurkice Pouncey got hit with three games. All bans are subject to appeal as always.

From a Bengals perspective, this means they likely won’t have to deal with Pouncey during their Week 12 game against Pittsburgh. That should make life easier on the defensive line — no word on if Rudolph will be healthy enough to go. The Steelers also lost running back James Conner, receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson and others to injuries.

As for the Browns, they’ll have to go without Garrett for at least the rest of the season. Meaning, the Bengals won’t have to worry about one of the game’s most ferocious pass-rushers in Cleveland in Week 14 or when the Browns come to town in Week 17.

If nothing else, it’s nice the Bengals aren’t involved in the drama this time out and the happenings there give the team a chance to pick up some wins.

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Why the Titans shouldn’t have any interest in QB Colin Kaepernick

There’s hardly any doubt the Titans will make some major changes at signal-caller between this year and the 2020 NFL season — but Kaepernick probably won’t be and shouldn’t be a part of those plans.

Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been one of the most polarizing sports figures of the decade, and he hasn’t given up on a career in the league just yet.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, 24 teams are set to attend his Saturday workout in Atlanta, and those not there in-person have the chance to watch it on video.

The Tennessee Titans are a team with plenty of unknowns surrounding the quarterback position, with the benching of Marcus Mariota and Ryan Tannehill taking the reins in Week 6.

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There’s hardly any doubt the Titans will make some major changes at signal-caller between this year and the 2020 NFL season — but Kaepernick probably won’t be and shouldn’t be a part of those plans.

Casting all concerns about how controversial of a figure he’s been in recent times aside, it’s important to recognize Kapernick’s shortcomings as a quarterback overall.

Kaepernick was trending downward as a passer toward the end of his career, with a cumulative quarterback rating of 52.0 that placed him at No. 30 on a list of 32 quarterbacks.

He was 196-of-331 passing for 2,241 yards, with 16 touchdowns and four interceptions in 2016.

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On a six-year NFL career with the San Francisco 49ers, Kaepernick completed 1,011-of-1,692 passes for 12,271 yards, with 72 touchdowns and 30 interceptions, with a rating of 88.9.

Whether or not Kaepernick gets another chance to prove his worth in the league remains to be seen, but it doesn’t make sense for the Titans to add a mediocre passer like him to their roster at this point.

Titans QB Ryan Tannehill has been efficient up to bye week

It’s bye week for the Tennessee Titans, and the team should be pretty pleased with its change at quarterback to this point.

It’s bye week for the Tennessee Titans, and the team should be pretty pleased with its change at quarterback to this point.

Since replacing starter Marcus Mariota in the third quarter of Week 6’s shutout loss to the Denver Broncos, Ryan Tannehill has posted a starting record of 3-1.

He’s completed 97-of-136 passes for 1,161 yards with eight touchdowns and four interceptions.

The former Miami Dolphins signal-caller was key to leading the Titans to their most recent 35-32 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in Nissan Stadium, 13-of-19 passing for 181 yards with two touchdowns.

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Tannehill has looked more comfortable and decisive in the pocket than Mariota did this season, and has been a factor in bringing new life to what was a stagnant offense.

“I don’t think we’re playing clean football right now in the first half and that has come back to haunt us,” he said in a TitansOnline report. “We have to be able to come out early and play clean football. There is nothing complicated about it – we just have to be able to sustain drive and get points.”

The Titans’ record stood at 2-4 after Week 6, when Mariota was removed from the helm.

Mariota was 94-of-159 passes for 1,179 yards, with seven touchdowns and two interceptions before the decision to bench him was made.

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The Titans will hope to see continuity from Tannehill as they face the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars at 3:05 p.m. CT on Nov. 24 in Nissan Stadium.