AFC Notes: Bengals, Browns, Ravens, Greg Roman

Bengals

The Bengals were on the ropes Sunday when the Buccaneers took a 17-0 lead. But they fought back to turn it into a 34-23 win and firmly establish what they believe should be a rock-solid case as one of the best teams in football. 

“Everyone was talking about how hard our second-half schedule was,” Bengals OC Brian Callahan said via Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “Like, ‘Oh, they gotta play all these teams. And this is gonna be really difficult.’ Everybody hears that stuff. And we know it’s gonna be difficult. But I think Zac made the point in one of our team meetings that we’re pretty damn good, too, and they all got to look at their schedule, and we’re on their schedule. And I think that’s the mentality of our team, that they’re just as worried about us as anybody else will be about us playing people.”

The comeback was of course triggered by QB Joe Burrow, battling Bucs QB Tom Brady for the first time, and his talented cast of skill position players. Burrow tossed touchdowns to all three receivers: Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd, and Cincinnati’s defense forced four turnovers. 

“We’re really tough to cover,” Callahan said. “They tried to double Ja’Marr and Tee down there, and TB got the one-on-one and he scored. And then we got one-on-one again with Tee, and he scores. And those are just those big moments. For TB to step up after being in surgery a week ago, and catch a touchdown, a contested touchdown pass? Pretty remarkable effort by him to play in this game.”

• The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. reports the Bengals are optimistic about DE Trey Hendrickson (wrist) returning Saturday against the Patriots.

Ravens

Ravens HC John Harbaugh refused to acknowledge whether or not the team was planning on making any changes to their coaching staff.

“We’re not getting into all that,” Harbaugh said, via ESPN. “I mean, you guys can talk about all that and I respect that. I love the fans talking about everything they can talk about. We’re together man. We’re a team. We’re spending all of our time getting ready for the Atlanta Falcons with every ounce of energy and fiber we got with a bunch of very, very good people at what they do, who understand everything about our team better than anybody else possibly could. You know the end of the bar talk conversation is for the people sitting at the end of the bar.”

Harbaugh said he spoke with Ravens OLB Tyus Bowser after he posted a picture on Instagram of pieces of a fan-made flyer that read “Fire Greg Roman.”

“When stuff like that happens, you communicate with one another, and you find out there’s really not much there, in terms of what people are thinking and all that,” Harbaugh said. “I could go on a social media rant, but I don’t know why anybody lives there.”

Harbaugh said the team needs to simply regroup and get ready for the next game in front of them.

“There are going to be times, and you’re going to go out there and you’re going to have a bad day,” Harbaugh said. “We don’t want them…Nobody’s more ticked off about it or can’t sleep about it more than the coaches and the players, but the thing is you have to pull yourself off the mat and go win the next game.”

Harbaugh also didn’t specify whether QB Lamar Jackson would return against Atlanta.

“I think I’m going to climb behind the barricade of it’s probably not the time to put a lot of information out there on our injuries, just for competitive purposes,” Harbaugh said.