AFC Notes: Bengals, Ravens, Steelers

Bengals

• Bengals WR Tee Higgins (ankle) is expected to be limited through their practice sessions early on this week. (Kelsey Conway)
• Bengals OT Jonah Williams said he dislocated his kneecap in Week 5 and was able to pop it back into place. However, he’s been battling swelling this week and is hopeful to be available: “That’s what I’m working for. I dislocated my kneecap, so it’s a matter of trying to take it day by day. I’m just in treatment all the time just trying to get it feeling good so I can play on Sunday.” (Mike Petraglia)

Ravens

Ravens WR Devin Duvernay continues to be an underrated contributor for the team, but with No. 1 WR Rashod Bateman out in Sunday night’s game against the Bengals, it was Duvernay who stepped up under the lights. He had a career-high five receptions for 54 yards and chipped in three rushing attempts for 24 yards, showing off the type of versatility the Ravens coveted when they drafted him but haven’t always been able to unlock. 

“He’s just kind of taking steps every week, it almost seems like still, in terms of impacting games,” Ravens HC John Harbaugh said via SI.com’s Todd Karpovich. “That’s probably the difference; he’s really impacting games now in a big way, with the return game and the pass, but now he’s still doing the return game, but in the passing game, he’s coming up with plays and running the ball. Some of our read option stuff, he’s a guy who’s part of the read, and sometimes he gets it and sometimes he doesn’t. Then, he’s in the passing game, he’s moving around, motioning, just doing a lot of great stuff for us.”

• The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec expects the Ravens to inquire with WR Odell Beckham Jr. when he’s ready to go in mid-November, but he anticipates Beckham being reluctant to sign with Baltimore given it’s not a receiver-friendly scheme. 
• Regarding the Ravens parting ways with DC Don Martindale, who is now with the Ravens’ Week 6 opponents the Giants, Harbaugh said they came to the decision together and are still good friends. (Zrebiec)

Steelers

The Steelers are a team clearly in rebuild mode, with DL Cameron Heyward, CB Cameron Sutton and HC Mike Tomlin all commenting on the state of the team and the media scrutiny after their 1-4 start.

“You can’t kick your own ass,” Heyward said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN. “And that’s what we’re doing right now.”

“It’s not about what we say,” Sutton said. “I know it’s not about me. You guys are asking me a lot of questions, and what I think we should do. It’s about us playing f—ing football. Excuse my language. But that’s just what it comes down to.”

“It’s obviously adversity,” Sutton added. “Just a situation that we have control of having a better outcome out of it. It’s not a scenario that we [saw] ourselves being in or want to be in. But we’re not just gonna sit here and dwell in it, either. Just one week at a time. Plenty of ball left ahead of us, but we’ve just gotta buckle down and get things done.”

Tomlin has never finished with a losing record in his entire head coaching career, a streak that is in jeopardy without a lot of work in the next few months. 

“We’ve got to know that there’s going to be better days, not to provide or to seek comfort, but knowing that there are better days is going to be borne out of our commitment to making sure that there are better days,” Tomlin said Sunday. “That’s what I talked to the team about. But where we are today, is not good. We understand it as professionals. We own it. It is what it is, man.”

“You play like we played today, you’ve got to be open to doing whatever is required to change the outcome of these games,” Tomlin added. “That’s a given. I don’t think anybody is going to be surprised by our willingness to turn over whatever stone to change the outcomes of games like what transpired today. That’s just appropriate.”

• Tomlin on the state of the team: “We didn’t dig ourselves into this circumstance in one day, we’re not going to dig ourselves out in one day.” (Pryor)
• Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth, CB Levi Wallace, and S Terrell Edmunds all remain in the concussion protocol. (Ray Fittipaldo)
• The Steelers are working out former Pittsburgh WR Taysir Mack. (Aaron Wilson)