The Bengals made a pair of practice squad elevations on Saturday before heading to Houston, bringing up quarterback Josh Johnson and linebacker Joe Giles-Harris for Sunday’s AFC matchup with the Texans.
Johnson’s promotion looks like a clear insurance move behind Joe Burrow, who is dealing with back tightness and is listed as questionable. If Burrow has any setback before kickoff, Cincinnati has a veteran quarterback ready to be available.
“The Bengals today elevated LB Joe Giles-Harris and QB Josh Johnson from the practice squad to the active roster for tomorrow's game at Houston. Giles-Harris and Johnson are both classified as standard elevations. As practice squad players being elevated to the active roster for the game, they automatically will revert to the practice squad on Monday,” the team site said.
Zac Taylor said Friday that Burrow should be fine for the game, though the Bengals are not trying to strip the edge from their quarterback. Taylor said he has been in direct contact with Burrow about how he’s feeling and trusts the conversations they’ve had.
“There’s honest communication with Joe and how he feels,” Taylor said to the media after practice. “Face-to-face conversation.
I feel good about what he says. He has got to play football.
This is the NFL. Of course, we want him to be safe and healthy.
I’m not comfortable saying don’t get the third down on third and 8. That’s why he’s here.
He’s a competitor. Taking the stinger out of him, I’m not about that.”
Taylor also praised the protection Burrow got earlier this week, saying the offensive line handled the Texans’ pressure looks well and gave the quarterback time to work.
“They were good. They kept him clean," Taylor said about the protection earlier this week.
"It was a lot of pressure looks that we had to go over to get ready for the game. They got a great front.
And so I was really impressed with the job that they did, number one, in protection, keeping Joe clean, giving him a lot of time to either extend the pocket and make some plays or just stand back and wait for someone to get open. The run game, there are some really big holes there for Chase.
"Some grinding runs there at the end of the game that were good. And then there's some opportunities I think just all across the board with everybody involved in the blocking to get some bigger plays that we may be missing.”
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