Category: Latest News

Report: Duke Tobin attended Oregon game to scout QB Justin Herbert

The Bengals were reportedly checking in on Oregon QB Justin Herbert.

The quest to evaluate the top passers in the 2020 NFL draft continues for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Most recently, it sounds like the Bengals had top brass checking in on Oregon Ducks passer Justin Herbert.

According to James Crepea of the Oregonian (via ESPN’s Ben Baby), Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin was in attendance at the Ducks’ November 16, 34-6 win over Arizona.

There, Herbert put on a show with 333 yards and four scores, moving the needle to a 69.6 completion percentage with 28 touchdowns against three interceptions on the season.

The Bengals were probably going to do due diligence on Herbert either way given the trajectory of the team’s first-round pick this year. But checking in on Herbert seems more important than usual in the wake of the serious injury to potential No. 1 overall pick Tua Tagovailoa out of Alabama.

Herbert remains a top-10 candidate even if he hasn’t had the hype of other passers lately. Cincinnati reportedly traveling to see him again reaffirms the direction the franchise will likely take this offseason.

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Everything Zac Taylor said about Ryan Finley’s status as starting QB

The Cincinnati Bengals won’t yank Ryan Finley from the starting lineup.

After a putrid performance from rookie quarterback Ryan Finley during a loss to Oakland, Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor had to answer some tough questions about the possibility of going back to Andy Dalton.

Later in the week, Taylor has further elaborated on the situation.

Asked by Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com if Finley is the guy for the rest of the year, Taylor didn’t hold back: “Yeah, candidly we want to see a bigger sample size on what he can do. I don’t think two games are fair to any young quarterback.”

Speaking with the media, Taylor noted the situation around the quarterback still hasn’t been entirely great:

“…I know everyone wants to nitpick his last performance, but I continue to see growth from him, and everyone around him needs to step up and do a better job as well. A lot of things get pointed at the quarterback. We, kind of, said the same things about Andy (QB Andy Dalton) as the season was going. Everyone else has to do their job as well. They need to catch the balls that are thrown to them, get open, and protect up front. It makes life easier on the quarterback. I’m excited to see what he can do this week against Pittsburgh.”

Finley has indeed shown strides but it was hard to look past his performance in Oakland, where he lost a fumble, threw a pick on the final drive and probably should have had another interception go back for a touchdown. He completed just 13 of 31 attempts.

But it’s fair to say he’s facing the same hurdles Dalton did in terms of his supporting surroundings, not to mention he’s a rookie just now getting first-team reps.

Only a handful of games remain, so perhaps the biggest mystery now is whether Taylor changes his tune if the team keeps inching closer to 0-16.

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Bengals single out WR blocking as issue in the running game

Bengals coaches have singled out a problem area.

Quietly, the Cincinnati Bengals have started to turn around the running game based on Joe Mixon.

At one point, Mixon was leading the NFL in number of rushes without a score and his averages were tame. Over the course of two games after the bye, though, Mixon has rushed for 200 yards and a score over 45 attempts.

Part of the turnaround is on the coaching staff, as Zac Taylor and Co. have finally stopped stubbornly sticking with mostly 11 personnel.

Yet, Taylor wants to see more and in an interview with Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com, he noted wideouts need to do a better job of throwing blocks:

“I’ve been emphasizing that for a while now, Taylor said. “We challenged those guys on their effort down the field. We thought we were going to get some big plays in the run game that we wanted to have touchdowns on. Not 20-yard runs. So we really challenged those guys to have great effort down the field. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. But we’re going to keep being hard on those guys in demanding – especially early in the game – when you should have a lot of energy you should be blocking your tail off down the field to pop some big runs.”

It’s interesting to hear Taylor has gone back to the film and found at least one play where a big gain probably could have been even bigger if the wideouts were having better blocking performances.

This falls in line with Taylor’s season-long comments about the team showing flashes but not performing as a cohesive whole 100 percent of the time. A little more in the way of specifics here dials in on something to watch as the Bengals take on the Steelers this weekend while seeking out their first win.

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Injury report: TE Delanie Walker listed as limited participant in Wednesday practice

Here’s a look at the complete injury report for the Titans and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Tennessee Titans got back to the practice field on Wednesday after the bye week, much healthier overall as a team than they were after their 35-32 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Titans were without just one player in cornerback Chris Milton (ankle), while tight end Delanie Walker (ankle) was a limited participant.

Linebacker Jayon Brown (groin), defensive tackle Jurrell Casey (shoulder) and wide receiver Corey Davis (hip) were all listed as limited participants.

Here’s a look at the complete injury report for the Titans and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

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

Bengals are big underdogs at home vs. injured Steelers

The Week 12 lines have been set for Steelers vs. Bengals.

A home game against a battered and bruised Pittsburgh Steelers team doesn’t help the Cincinnati Bengals much in the minds of oddsmakers.

According to BetMGM, the Bengals are still 6.5-point underdogs with the Steelers in town for a Week 12, AFC North clash.

It’s a little more surprising than usual because the Steelers just managed to cough up a loss to the Cleveland Browns, not to mention the big fight with Myles Garrett.

And the Steelers are also ravaged with injuries, with both JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner potentially set to miss the game.

It sets up nicely for a potential Bengals upset a week removed from the defense showing signs of life while holding Oakland to 17 points in a loss. But the counter is another miserable showing from Zac Taylor’s offense led by Ryan Finley.

Still, given the Steelers are hurt and reeling from the fallout of the debacle against the Browns, this feels like a better time than usual to buy into the Bengals as an underdog team.

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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Zac Taylor provides surprising update on Cordy Glenn, A.J. Green

The Bengals coach offered injury updates on Cordy Glenn, A.J. Green.

After all of the drama, it sure sounds like the Cincinnati Bengals could have left tackle Cordy Glenn back on the field.

Glenn, suspended and reportedly fined this year for an argument with the coaching staff, worked with the first team Wednesday as the Bengals prepped for their game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Zac Taylor spoke on the topic, as summed up by Marisa Contipelli of the team’s official site: “Zac Taylor update on Cordy Glenn – said he will start getting work at left tackle today at practice. There’s a chance he could go this weekend.”

That’s a stunner considering it felt like Glenn wasn’t long for the roster at all after the spat about his concussion suffered during the preseason. His sticking on the roster felt like a potential way to avoid a grievance, but it didn’t seem like he’d get back on the field at all. But if things are patched over, this is presumably right around the time he’d be back in football shape after months away.

Taylor also noted the following about A.J. Green:

This one is also interesting. It sounded like Green had fewer problems with swelling last week and he got some work in before the loss to Oakland. Hinting at already ruling him out this early in the week probably isn’t a good sign, though.

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Bears add former Titans RB Jeremy McNichols to practice squad

Former Tennessee Titans running back Jeremy McNichols has found a new NFL home.

Former Tennessee Titans running back Jeremy McNichols has found a new NFL home.

The rusher was signed by the Chicago Bears on Tuesday, and will be a part of team’s practice squad.

McNichols was originally drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at No. 162 overall in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft. His latest stop in was with the Titans in Nashville, Tennessee.

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McNichols was an intriguing player who many fans hoped the Titans would hold onto, despite already having names like Derrick Henry, Dion Lewis and David Fluellen on the roster.

The 5-foot-9, 205-pounder had a successful college career at Boise State, where he recorded over 2,100 yards from scrimmage in 2016.

Before the Titans, McNichols also saw time with the San Francisco 49ers, Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos.

He’s played in three regular season games, with two rushing attempts for four yards.

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The Bears also waived linebacker James Vaughters and signed outside linebacker Dewayne Hendrix to the team’s practice squad on Tuesday.

Titans have found success in the red zone in 2019

The team has been highly efficient in the red zone lately, ending 10 consecutive trips with a touchdown.

The Tennessee Titans (5-5) have had plenty of offensive struggles in 2019, especially at the beginning of the season.

But the team has been highly efficient in the red zone lately, ending 10 consecutive trips with a touchdown.

This number serves as the league’s longest active streak, and leads the NFL with a red zone touchdown percentage of 72%.

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The Titans haven’t been quite so impressive in other areas on offense, averaging 20.3 points (22nd), 319.4 yards (26th), 206.2 passing yards (26th) and 113.2 rushing yards (15th) this year.

Since Ryan Tannehill took the reins from Marcus Mariota in the middle of Week 6’s loss to the Denver Broncos, he’s posted a 3-1 record as a starter and brought new life to a practically stagnant offense.

This season, Tannehill is 97-of-136 passing for 1,161 yards with eight touchdowns and four interceptions.

The 31-year-old also has made some plays on the ground when he needs to, totaling 19 rushing attempts for 83 yards and one score.

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Tannehill and the Titans come off a bye week and a 35-32 win over the Kansas City Chiefs as the team is now back to .500 ahead of the weekend.

The Titans have a combined 105 total points in their past four games, with the latest home victory being their highest-scoring game of the season since Week 1’s 43-13 win over the Browns.

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

A.J. Green isn’t worried about your fantasy football team

The Bengals wide receiver isn’t worried about fantasy football.

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green doesn’t want to hear about fantasy teams.

Over on Instagram, a user commented on a picture posted to Green’s account jawing about fantasy football. Green, as seen above in the tweet from B/R Gridiron, wasn’t having it. The full post is indeed live on Green’s page.

Jokes about fantasy football aside, Green got in some pregame work before his Bengals lost to the Oakland Raiders last weekend. But before that, the team wouldn’t call him anything other than day-to-day. That’s probably not going to change until Green practices in full.

On the fantasy football front — for whatever it’s worth — Green isn’t much of a play once he finally gets back on the field. This will be the first time in a long time he won’t be catching passes from Andy Dalton, and rookie Ryan Finley has struggled mightily since taking over the job.

And it should go without saying, but don’t be the person that pesters players over fantasy football teams.

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Bengals could miss JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Conner when Steelers come to town

The Bengals could luck out against the Steelers.

The Pittsburgh Steelers might not be at their best when the Cincinnati Bengals welcome them to Paul Brown Stadium over the weekend.

While the fight with Myles Garrett got most of the attention, the Steelers suffered a bevy of losses in the process of the overall loss.

Among those injured were wideouts JuJu Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson. Both of the team’s leading receivers are officially in concussion protocol according to Mike Tomlin, per Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

From the sounds of recent updates, running back James Conner could also miss the game.

In other words, Conner (390 yards, four touchdowns) Smith-Schuster (524 yards, three touchdowns) and Johnson (380 yards, three touchdowns) could all miss the game, leaving backup quarterback Mason Rudolph with limited options.

This at a time the Bengals defense experienced a revival of sorts during the 17-10 loss to Oakland last weekend.

While the Bengals aren’t overly healthy either, they’ll surely take anything they can get as they hope to avoid cementing the worst start in franchise history with an 0-11 record.

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