The AFC’s latest week delivered a little bit of everything: a Bengals defense getting real production from its young pass rushers, a Browns coach preaching patience with Mason Graham, and a Ravens rookie kicker stamping his name on a huge moment in Brazil.
In Cincinnati, Zac Taylor is seeing one of the biggest perks of having depth on defense: he can keep the rush coming without running his players into the ground. That, Taylor said, has helped push the Bengals into one of the league’s top pass-rushing groups so far this season.
“You’re able to put fresh guys in the game at that moment,” Taylor said, via The Athletic. “That’s just so critical to be able to have that depth, keep those guys fresh over the course of the game and not put too many snaps on them.
And you’re not taking them out because you feel like they need a breather, but you’re worried about who’s going in. We don’t really have that concern now.
Everybody’s playing at a high level.”
Taylor singled out Cashius Howell and Shemar Stewart as part of that surge. He praised Howell as a steady presence and pointed to his work against Tampa, then noted how Howell and Cashius helped finish the job on the last play.
“He’s a really dependable player for us and somebody we can count on,” Taylor mentioned of Howell. “I thought he did a really good job in the run game last week against Tampa.
This week he got to pay off in the pass game as well. For him and Cashius to both close out that game for us on the last play was really neat.
But Ced’s an easy guy to pull for because he just kind of goes about his business and is dependable, and you’ve got to have those types of guys on your 53.”
Taylor also pointed to the way Stewart’s sack came together, with fresh legs making the difference.
“Just look at Shemar’s sack,” Taylor added on Stewart. “Shemar’s fresh in the game, chipping the back, and sees a gap and is able to explode through there because he’s fresh.”
In Cleveland, Todd Monken is taking the long view with Mason Graham. The Browns coach acknowledged that the rookie year may not have matched outside expectations, but he made it clear he believes the growth is coming.
“ We are in the business of wanting success so early, ” Monken explained, via Browns Wire. “ So, when you have a young player like Mason (Graham), and he comes in a year ago, and we want it now, we want everything now.
We want our players to be great. From the moment they get here, we want to be great on every offense, defense, and special teams from the moment you get here.
And we’re always under construction…I see with a lot of our players, that they are gonna continue to grow. He is one of those.
And we’re gonna be less flashy and more consistent. ”
Then there was Baltimore, where Tyler Loop had the kind of moment kickers dream about. The Ravens rookie drilled a 56-yard field goal at the end to beat the Cowboys in Brazil, and his teammates rushed the field in celebration, Lamar Jackson among them. Jackson told Loop that his legacy is beginning now in Brazil, and that kick should go a long way with Baltimore fans.
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Jacksonville and Miami bring their own challenges, while Baltimore always raises the stakes for Cincinnati in a division race that leaves little margin for error. Tennessee can be a different kind of test, but the bigger question is whether the Bengals can use this stretch to reset their footing before the spotlight shifts overseas, or whether the issues that surfaced against Pittsburgh keep following them into October. [Read more 🡒]