AFC Notes: Derrick Henry, Cameron Heyward, Bengals, Ravens, Steelers

Bengals

Sitting at 4-7, Bengals HC Zac Taylor isn’t looking to make any staff changes over their bye week despite another defensive letdown. 

“We all watch the game. We can see it just coming down to one play in every single game,” Taylor said, via SI.com’s Jay Morrison. “So why would you make a big wholesale change?”

“That to me is just panic. That’s not what we’re about. We believe in what we’re doing. We’re not gonna be those people that just panic because the record is 4-7.”

Ravens

Baltimore fell to the Steelers in Week 11 despite not allowing a touchdown. Ravens CB Marlon Humphrey knows they don’t perform against Pittsburgh and feels the Steelers have their number.

“It’s clear that we really struggle against them,” Humphrey said, via Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic. “They’ve had our number.”

The Ravens committed three turnovers, 12 penalties and missed two field goals in the 18-16 loss. Baltimore RB Derrick Henry and QB Lamar Jackson expressed their frustration regarding the unforced errors.

“They’re a top-10 defense, but I think a lot of it was on us — self-inflicted wounds,” Henry said. “My fumble was unacceptable. It cannot happen. And it’s just us with penalties, we’re putting ourselves in backed-up situations. A lot of self-inflicted wounds that we need to clean up as a whole.”

“It’s been that way ever since last year, I believe, going back to the AFC Championship Game, we killed ourselves,” Jackson added. “The Chiefs game in the opener, we killed ourselves. Raiders (loss), we killed ourselves, and today, it’s the same thing. We can’t be beating ourselves in these types of games. We have to find a way to fix that. It’s annoying.”

Steelers

Pittsburgh improved to 8-2 and first place in the AFC North after a big win over the Ravens in Week 11. Steelers DL Cameron Heyward explained how they persevere through tough games and why their style is conducive to winning going forward.

“We were just calm throughout, with the rollercoaster,” Heyward said, via SI.com’s Albert Breer. “You just learn to stay even keel. No matter if it was good or bad, you got to weather the storm, rally around each other—and understand we can still make a play. Going into that drive, we knew they were going to have to go for a two-point conversion. They scored a little quicker than we would have liked. But we felt confident in our group getting it done.”

“We’re very experienced. We’ve seen the highs. We’ve seen the lows. Everybody is better because of those. When we get into those tight situations, using Mike T’s words, we don’t blink. One thing that’s been working in our advantage, we have an offense that can sustain drives. I know they didn’t get touchdowns, but they moved the ball with success. Having a good defense that gets off the field, offense that stays on the field, when we create that, it allows us to stay fresh. It allows us to perform in the fourth.”

• Steelers OC Arthur Smith on QB Justin Fields: “I don’t view Justin as a gadget guy. We have two starting quarterbacks.” (Mark Kaboly)