AFC Notes: Andrew Whitworth, Bengals, Browns, Steelers

Bengals

While making an appearance on The Season with Peter Schrager podcast, former Rams and Bengals OT Andrew Whitworth said that he’s not opposed to potentially playing again. 

“I’ve said this since the day I retired, I’ll never say never,” Whitworth, via NFL.com. “There’s always a chance.”

Whitworth mentioned that he’s still technically under contract with the Rams, which expires in 2023, and would have to consult his family before returning. 

“I love adventures,” Whitworth. “I love taking on chances. So, to me there’s always one. Obviously, there’s a lot of things that would go into it. I mean, I’m technically under contract still with the Rams, and I’d have to, I’d have to kick off the old, uh, dust a little bit and see if I could see if these tires could still move a little bit. But you know what, I’d, I’d never say no to the option, but, you know, I don’t know. It’d have to be a sit-down convo with, with [my wife] Melissa and the kids and say, ‘Hey, can we do this again or not?'”

As for the possibility of filling in for Bengals RT La’el Collins after he suffered a season-ending injury, Whitworth said that it isn’t simple to change sides after lining up at left tackle throughout his career. 

“I’ve played with Jalen Ramsey, Richard Sherman, different guys,” Whitworth said. “We talk all the time. I think sometimes people don’t understand when you flip sides, what a challenge that is when you’ve only done it one way. And I’ve only played left tackle my entire career. So, when you flip your feet and play the other way, it’s very challenging. It’s almost like you’ve never done it before in some senses. There’s only a few guys that are good at it. So, for me, it really wouldn’t be about tarnishing the legacy. It’d be about I don’t wanna let those guys down. Yeah, I want, Joe Burrow and those guys that have all the success possible and it’d be more about not knowing really how well you’d be playing.”

Browns

• Browns RB Nick Chubb (foot) said that he felt “fine” in Week 16 and will play the final two games of the regular season despite being out of playoff contention. (Scott Petrak)

Steelers

The Steelers conceded 215 rushing yards to the Ravens in its Week 14 loss. HC Mike Tomlin feels the game was a “fork in the road” for its run defense. 

“I don’t know that was a fork in the road, if you will, for our run defense,” Tomlin said, via NFL.com. “More than anything, I thought we had a bad day. I think our run defense has been really solid over the second half of the year. It wasn’t reflected in our play that day. There’s nothing we can do about that. That tape’s in the can.”

Tomlin is confident that the Steelers will be able to thwart Baltimore’s rushing attack in their upcoming Week 17 game. 

“I’ve been in this league long enough to know that you can roll two teams out in back-to-back days and the game can unfold differently,” Tomlin said. “Although we did play them a couple of weeks ago and there are some things to be gleaned from that, I don’t think either party is hanging their hat on how that transpired or that component of it.”