AFC Notes: Bengals, Browns, Steelers

Bengals

When asked about Bengals first-round WR Ja’Marr Chase‘s lack of production over the last three weeks, Steelers HC Mike Tomlin responded that teams are game-planning for Chase. 

“You get plays on tape, people recognize your talents,” Tomlin said, via SteelersDepot.com. “They make necessary adjustments and efforts to minimize your talents. Everyone’s professional. It’s a component of the game.”

Tomlin compared Chase to Steelers WR Chase Claypool‘s rookie season in 2020. 

“You remember a year ago, for example, Chase Claypool in the first five or six weeks was just ringing up big play after big play,” said Tomlin. 

Browns

Browns’ QB Baker Mayfield is excited to have RB Kareem Hunt and RT Jack Conklin back for their Sunday night AFC North battle against the Ravens.

“Getting the boys back together, so we’re obviously looking forward to it,” Mayfield said, via Scott Petrak of BrownsZone.com. “We’ll see how Kareem does this week and it will be great, those are two extremely key pieces in our offense and obviously Kareem is a great playmaker, and Jack, his play speaks for itself. Kareem just energy-wise, it’s that spark he comes in and plays with. That’s an extremely vital part for us and when it comes to the explosive portion of our offense, we’ve been missing that with him. He’s a key part of our offense.”

Steelers

Steelers’ QB Ben Roethlisberger believes that his team has a lot to learn after their loss to the Chargers on Monday night.

“We finally were able to put some points on the board,” Roethlisberger said, via Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “There are some encouraging things to be found from that game. Unfortunately, you don’t win. I think we would take the win and a crappy offense over a great offense and not win. But there are some things we can grow on.”