AFC Notes: Bengals, Browns, Ravens, Lamar Jackson

Bengals

Bengals HC Zac Taylor is hopeful his team will bounce back after they suffered another loss to the Steelers.

“You can look back to how this room was, how the locker room the day after we lost to Pittsburgh the first time, and, there could have easily been a narrative that that this team’s gonna hang it up, and that’s not what happened,” Taylor said, via BengalsWire.com. “Instead, three games in a row we played really inspired football and found three wins and we got ourselves back in the hunt. So, we’re no different in the situation right now where we need to be at our best this week against Kansas City, and I’m excited to see these guys respond.”

Browns

Browns WR Amari Cooper said it felt like a “weight was lifted off of our shoulders” when Joe Flacco was named their starting quarterback.

“When Joe came in, it was like a weight was lifted off of our shoulders,” Cooper said, via Jake Trotter of ESPN. “This is a guy we trust in.”

Flacco said he was “beginning to lose faith” that a team would come calling him as a free agent. 

“As I sat at home for most of this year, I was probably beginning to lose a little bit of faith,” Flacco said.

Ravens

Ravens QB Lamar Jackson said they must keep a “level head” following their one-sided win over the 49ers on Christmas.

“Keeping a level head is the most important thing for us right now, because now the narrative is changing,” Jackson said, via ProFootballTalk. “It was just, ‘This team is . . . The Ravens; we don’t know about the Ravens.’ Now it’s, ‘Oh, they’re the No. 1 team.’ So, we’re not paying [any] mind to that. I feel like that’s bait — that’s clickbait. And like I said, we’re trying to make it to February, so we’re going to take it a game at a time.”