Category: Latest News

Zac Taylor comments on injuries to A.J. Green, Drew Sample

Two injured Bengals remain under the spotlight after Week 10.

A day removed from taking one of the worst losses in franchise history, Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor couldn’t offer much on two of the more notable injuries plaguing the roster.

One, A.J. Green, has been in limbo since the summer now and suffered a setback last week. The other, second-round rookie Drew Sample, went down with an injury during the team’s 49-13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

On Green — who did rehab work with trainers before the Ravens game — Taylor said he doesn’t want to offer much other than a “day to day” tag after last week’s gaffe, per ESPN’s Ben Baby:

Last week’s gaffe, meaning when Taylor announced Green would play against the Ravens before the veteran wideout apparently suffered a setback.

On Sample, who had a boot on at the stadium Monday, Taylor offered the following:

For now, no word on Tyler Boyd, who left the field late in the fourth quarter after getting looked at by trainers.

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Players react to Titans’ 35-32 win over Chiefs

Hardly anyone saw it coming.

Hardly anyone saw it coming.

The Tennessee Titans (5-5) aimed to even out their record once more as the Kansas City Chiefs traveled to Nissan Stadium on Sunday, but many doubted their ability to accomplish that ahead of the game given the team’s overall inconsistency and struggles on offense this year.

But the Titans stayed competitive and came up with enough answers to beat the Chiefs, 35-32 at home.

Here’s a look at some player reactions from the thrilling victory.

The Titans face a visiting Jacksonville Jaguars team next on Nov. 24 at 3:05 p.m. CT in Nissan Stadium.

AFC North standings: Ravens sweep Bengals with Week 10 win

The Baltimore Ravens sweep the Cincinnati Bengals to keep their lofty lead in the AFC North standings through Week 10.

The Baltimore Ravens handled their business and beat the still-winless Cincinnati Bengals 49-13. It’s Baltimore’s first sweep of Cincinnati since the 2011 season and it marks another big win within the AFC North standings for the Ravens.

Baltimore will now finish no worse than 3-3 within the division, an important step to winning the AFC North. With a final game against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns left on the schedule, the Ravens appear to have an insurmountable lead over the division at this stage.

Behind Baltimore is Pittsburgh, with their Week 10 win over the Los Angeles Rams. While they’re surging themselves, owning a four-game winning streak now, they still sit firmly behind the Ravens.

The Browns picked up a big win of their own, defeating the Buffalo Bills in the final minutes of the game to get their third win of the season. Though they remain well behind the Ravens within the division standings, there’s still plenty of season left to completely count them out.

The Bengals, on the other hand, are done. Having moved to 0-9, they’re now guaranteed to have a losing season. Though the AFC North isn’t exactly the toughest division in the league this year, it seems almost certain that a winning record is going to be needed to sit at the top of it. And with the playoffs firmly out of reach, Cincinnati has clearly moved into figuring out what talent they have on their roster and perhaps if rookie coach Zac Taylor will return in 2020.

Let’s take a look at the AFC North standings after Week 10.

AFC North standings:

Team Record Division Record Conference Record
Baltimore Ravens 7-2 3-1 5-2
Pittsburgh Steelers 5-4 1-1 4-2
Cleveland Browns 3-6 1-0 3-3
Cincinnati Bengals 0-9 0-3 0-5

The Ravens effectively hold a three-game lead over the Steelers in the AFC North standings after Week 10, thanks to their current head-to-head and division-record tiebreakers. Their Week 17 game looms in the horizon if Baltimore were to lose half of their next six games.

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Titans-Chiefs: a look at defensive snap counts

Here’s a complete look at the defensive snap counts.

The Tennessee Titans (5-5) came into Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs (6-4) looking to get back to .500, and did exactly that as they pulled off a 35-32 win on their own turf.

Safeties Kevin Byard and Kenny Vaccaro along with cornerbacks Adoree Jackson and Logan Ryan played every snap of the game (82).

In special teams percentages, safeties Amani Hooker and Dane Cruikshank, in addition to linebacker Daren Bates all had 88%.

Here’s a complete look at the defensive snap counts.

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

Titans-Chiefs: a look at offensive snap counts

Here’s a complete look at the offensive snap counts from the victory.

The Tennessee Titans (5-5) entered Sunday’s contest against the Kansas City Chiefs (6-4) as heavy underdogs, but pulled off the 35-32 win in dramatic fashion in Nissan Stadium.

The Titans did a good job of feeding Derrick Henry the ball, and the rusher totaled 37 snaps.
Rookie A.J. Brown led wide receivers with 49 snaps, while Tajae Sharpe had 42 snaps, Adam Humphries played for 34 snaps and Kalif Raymond saw action for 10 snaps.
Raymond was also very involved on special teams, on the field for 47%, with tight end MyCole Pruitt next in line at 38%.

Here’s a complete look at the offensive snap counts from the victory.

The Titans face the Jacksonville Jaguars next at 3:05 p.m. CT on Sunday in Nissan Stadium.

Tank watch: Bengals get big breathing room in draft order as bad teams win

The Bengals are winning in the NFL draft order, at least.

The Cincinnati Bengals suffered one of their worst losses in franchise history against the Baltimore Ravens over the weekend.

But the team sure keeps winning in the draft order race.

Week 10 was quite fruitful in this pursuit. The Miami Dolphins picked up another win, this time over Indianapolis to make it two wins on the season.

Ditto for the New York Jets with a win over the New York Giants, as well as Atlanta upsetting New Orleans.

Those big winners of the weekend join the four teams sitting at two wins. Five more have three wins. Just one — the Washington Redskins — have a single win.

And then there are the 0-9 Bengals.

The Bengals stand alone atop the draft order and haven’t shown much in the way of progress on the field by comparison, to the point it’s fair to wonder if a coach could get fired.

With the way things have gone, it sure seems like the Bengals could keep a tight grip on the first pick without much of a problem. It’s hard to fathom 0-16, but one look at the remaining schedule doesn’t produce any guaranteed wins.

If nothing else, onlookers can take solace in the fact the top pick should mean the arrival of a new era at quarterback.

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The Bengals have to fire someone, right?

The theme of accountability is losing its luster.

There isn’t a Marvin Lewis to fall back on this time.

Remember 2018? The Cincinnati Bengals fired Teryl Austin on November 12, 2018. His defense had just coughed up 500-plus yards in a 51-14 loss to New Orleans.

Fast forward almost exactly a year, Lou Anarumo’s defense just gave up 379 yards in a 49-13 loss. Baltimore needed 23:49 of clock to do it. A late field goal stopped it from finishing as the worst loss in Bengals franchise history. Sunday marked the team’s 11th straight loss, tied for a team record, and it’s one step closer to matching the franchise’s worst-ever start of 0-10 — captained by one Dave Shula.

But there isn’t a Marvin Lewis this time. When the Bengals fired Austin, Lewis stepped in and helped the defense improve. The team fought.

No such fall back plan exists. The Bengals had problems getting a qualified defensive coordinator in the door in the first place. But one could easily make the argument Anarumo should be fired for his performance. Not only is he failing to establish scheme and adapt to opponents, but his units have also coughed up at least 460 yards in four its last five games.

If the team wanted to pull a stunner and can Zac Taylor, doing so would largely be unfeasible. Who takes over? Anarumo is having a rough time and Brian Callahan on the offensive side is inexperienced and helping craft these miserable gameplans. Does special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons, in his 17th year with the team, jump to interim head coach? What does that accomplish?

And yet, it is brutal to listen to the coaches wax poetic about accountability when this is the product on the field. Were the front office to step in and fire someone it would make plenty of sense.

That probably doesn’t happen. And the Bengals backed themselves into a no-win situation. They hired Taylor knowing he needed to develop as a coach and gave him control of his staff. There’s no easy out here, if they make a move at all. But the longer something doesn’t change, the more potential irreparable harm the team does with its fans.

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‘Disgusting’ and ’embarrassing’ loss featured plenty of bad history for Bengals

The Bengals were historically bad Sunday…even for them.

The Cincinnati Bengals didn’t just lose Sunday.

With a 49-13 knee-slapper of a performance against the Baltimore Ravens, the Bengals inched closer to the 2020 draft’s top pick while looking like a legitimate 0-16 contender.

Defensive end Carlos Dunlap called it “disgusting” and “embarrassing,” according to Fox 19’s Joe Danneman, which is only really beginning to scratch the surface of the disaster.

Keep in mind this all happened after a bye week. The Bengals held the ball for more than 36 minutes but scored 13 points. Baltimore technically didn’t need to take the field offensively thanks to two Ryan Finley turnovers that gave the Ravens 14 points — which would’ve won the game.

Remember that loss 51-14 loss to the New Orleans Saints last year? This slots comfortably behind it by a single point as the second-worst loss in team history. A field goal with 2:29 left stopped it from becoming the worst.

This was also the team’s 11th straight loss, which ties a team record.

Also consider the following from Jay Morrison of The Athletic:

And this miserable Bengals defense let up a historic day for the opposition, too:

At this point, words don’t do the situation justice. It shouldn’t have gotten to this point at all, and the options for improvement seem minimal.

Which is to say, the Bengals won’t run into a player like Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson every week, but wins are going to be hard to come by regardless given the lack of improvement out of the bye.

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