AFC Notes: Bengals, Browns, Ravens, Steelers

Bengals

The Bengals just finished a five-game stretch against a row of the top teams in the AFC, winning just one game against the Steelers, Ravens, Browns, Titans and Colts. However, a 3-2 record was within reach for Cincinnati, as they had leads against both the Browns and Colts before those teams came back. It continues a trend for Bengals HC Zac Taylor, whose coaching staff can point to improvement from players like first-round QB Joe Burrow but not a lot of wins, especially in close games. Changing that this week against Washington would go a long way toward securing Taylor’s job. 

“It’s important,” Taylor said via the Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. “We need to win football games. I don’t worry too much about what’s going on after Washington. I’ve seen the schedule, I saw it at the beginning of the season, but our focus is 100 percent on Washington, winning a road game. We’ll focus on the other stuff, but this week we have to focus on beating Washington.”

• Bengals RB Joe Mixon (foot) will be day-to-day this week. (Ben Baby)

Browns

• Per Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot, Browns DE Myles Garrett stayed home from practice with an illness. Garrett has tested negative for COVID-19 but HC Kevin Stefanski said the team has to be cautious. 
• Browns placed K Cody Parkey, OT Jack Conklin, and LS Charley Hughlett on the COVID-19 list. (NFLTR)

Ravens

• Per the Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec, Ravens HC John Harbaugh says the team will evaluate new TE Luke Willson in practice this week to see if they’ll need to call up others from the practice squad. 
• The Ravens are bringing in TE Eric Tomlinson for a workout this week. (Aaron Wilson)
• Ravens claimed CB Davontae Harris off of waivers from the Broncos. (NFLTR)

Steelers

Despite the fact that the Steelers are 9-0 for the first time in franchise history, QB Ben Roethlisberger is still taking notice of the fact that his team has struggled mightily to run the ball this season.

“We didn’t run the ball well today, but we did other things well,” Roethlisberger said, via Mark Kaboly of The Athletic. “We put points on the board and we scored when we needed to score. We converted when we had to do that. We shouldn’t get so caught up in yards per carry or total yards rushing or things like that because it comes down to winning the football game first, which we did and everything else kinds of falls in place from there. I think you have to do it when you need to do it.”