AFC Notes: Jake Browning, Diontae Johnson, Mitchell Trubisky, Bengals, Steelers

Bengals

Bengals QB Jake Browning has shown he is more than capable of being the starter in Cincinnati, with both WR Ja’Marr Chase and HC Zac Taylor praising his poise and performance against the Jaguars on Monday night. 

“QB1 material,” Chase said, via Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic. “He showed a lot of poise today,”

“He lit the world on fire,” Taylor added. “Once the game gets going and he’s completing balls like he is, it gives you the confidence, let’s just keep dialing this thing up. We can see the intangible stuff and the preparation he puts in. But when he goes out there and he leads the team like he did, I certainly think it raises the entire confidence level of the team.”

Browning himself gave an evaluation of his performance against Jacksonville and how he has felt with his season so far.

“I think partially because it came down to the wire and I feel like I play my best football when I’m just calm and not really thinking about anything outside of what is in my control,” Browning said. “I know where my issues are. I feel like I played with better eyes because of that. I think that was my main takeaway from the Pittsburgh game, is I’m peeking over here to make sure I’m not hot and then I am trying to go through a read and deliver it on time, and my eyes were all over the place. So, that was kind of a big thing coming into this week, it was just eye discipline.”

“You know, I haven’t played a lot of (NFL) football but it’s not like I’m not used to winning,” Browning continued. “I’ve won a lot of games in my career. None of them have been in the NFL until today, which is obviously noteworthy, but I’m used to winning. I’ve won a lot of football games in my life. On Wednesday — or whatever day I do my press conference now — I said that it’s never as good as you thought and never as bad as you thought. So, I’m sure there’s going to be something where I’m watching it — and usually it has to do with how the game went. When you win, you think you’re the greatest player, but then you watch the tape and you’re like, ‘Ahh.’ There will be something, nobody plays a perfect game.”

Steelers

Steelers WR Diontae Johnson believes that the team didn’t take the Cardinals seriously enough going into the game, which resulted in a big loss. 

“I don’t know, I felt like that the whole week — once we got out there, I just felt like something was different,” Johnson said, via 93.7 The Fan. “We [weren’t] at our best and what not. But I feel like we just took them [more] lightly than we should have. “We can’t come in this Thursday with the same mindset. We’re going to be fine. We’ve moved past it.”

Steelers

Steelers QB Mitchell Trubisky is likely set to start Week 14 against the Patriots with Kenny Pickett (ankle) out. Trubisky points out New England is well-coached and does well disguising their defense. 

“They’re always very sound,” Trubisky said, via Dale Lolley of the team’s site. “I think they’re guys up front don’t get a lot of credit, but they’re very good players. They’re very stout against the run. They keep it in front. Always well coached. They do a good job of mixing it up trying to confuse the quarterback with different looks. So, it’s a really good defense. They’re not giving up a ton of points. So we got a lot of respect for them. It’s gonna be a good challenge for us on Thursday.”

Trubisky said he’s going to be “aggressive” against the Patriots but will also take care of the football. 

“We’re trying to score points,” Trubisky said. “I’m going to be aggressive. I’m going to take care of the football, and we’ve got to play better as an offense. We’re going against a good defense this week that is well-coached. So, we’ve got to do our job and execute. We want to be an aggressive offense. So whatever that means, taking care of football, we got to find ways to score points. That’s the bottom line.”

Trubisky added there is a “fine line” they need to toe offensively given they want to limit turnovers but also can’t be too conservative with their approach. 

“It’s always a fine line,” said Trubisky. “I think you can ask any quarterback that you want to be aggressive, but if you’re too safe with the football, you’re not going to move it. So, you’ve got to know what you can do. And you always have got to take care of football. But sometimes you’ve just got to believe in yourself that you can make the throws to move the ball down the field and score points.”

• Per Brooke Pryor, Steelers LB Elandon Roberts and G Isaac Seumalo are questionable against the Patriots for Week 14.