AFC Notes: Deshaun Watson, George Pickens, Bengals, Browns, Steelers

Bengals

• Bengals WR Tee Higgins said his practice workload has changed after he injured his quad earlier this season in practice: “All my injuries (have) been coming in practice and be some simple s***.” (Kelsey Conway)

Browns

• Mark Maske of the Washington Post reports the NFL made multiple attempts to speak with QB Deshaun Watson‘s latest accuser but she was never made available. 
• Attorney Tony Buzbee, who represented the accuser, said the following: “We don’t meet with the NFL. We settled the case. We have nothing else to say about it.” (Maske)
• Browns HC Kevin Stefanski said that CB Greg Newsome is dealing with a hamstring injury that will be evaluated on Monday. (Scott Petrak)
• Stefanski declined to commit to QB Jameis Winston as the team’s starter for their upcoming game against the Chiefs. (Mary Kay Cabot)
• Stefanski on the two missed field goals by K Dustin Hopkins: “He’s our kicker. We expect him to make those.” (Zac Jackson)
• Hopkins: “It’s like golf. Sometimes the game is easy and sometimes it’s not.” (Tony Grossi)
• The Browns were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Sunday after losing to the Steelers.

Steelers

• Steelers HC Mike Tomlin on WR George Pickens being inactive for the win over the Browns: “GP was listed as questionable. We didn’t feel like he was going to be able to play the type of number of snaps that we thought would be worth putting him in a uniform.” (Brooke Pryor)
• Tomlin continued on Pickens: “To be quite honest with you, we didn’t want a small problem to become a big problem and so we put a helmet on Scotty Miller and as you can see, most of the time when you put the helmets on the healthy guys, man, they take care of the rest.” (Pryor)