AFC Notes: Ja’Marr Chase, Bengals, Ravens, Steelers

Bengals

• Bengals HC Zac Taylor said that they expect WR Ja’Marr Chase (hip) to miss “some time” and they are determining whether to place him on injured reserve: “Ja’Marr is going to miss some time. He will make a full recovery. We have a couple more days this week to make decisions on IR, things like that.” (Paul Dehner Jr.)
• According to Jordan Schultz, the Bengals are opting against placing Chase on the injured reserve and that he’s dealing with a hairline hip fracture and a torn labrum.
• Schultz writes that Chase originally suffered the injury in Week 6 against the Saints and aggravated the issue in last week’s game against the Falcons. 

Ravens

Ravens HC John Harbaugh praised the progress of rookie OLB David Ojabo and said he’s getting better everyday.

“I’ve seen him; he’s getting better every day,” Harbaugh said, via Ravens Wire. “I think they said he ran something crazy; I don’t know if it’s true or not, but they said he ran something crazy. He’s looking good, he’s looking explosive, and obviously, he knows everything as far as the defense, so [I] can’t wait until he gets back out there.”

Steelers

Steelers OC Matt Canada is confident that they will create a “tremendous offense” despite their struggles this season but must improve in several areas. 

“I’ll continue to say it and tell it: This gonna be a tremendous offense,” Canada said, Brooke Pryor of ESPN. “We got great talent. We gotta get balls down the field to ‘em. We gotta block a little better. We gotta get our run game. Our run game efficiency is coming, but it’s not enough, right? … We gotta get a few more of those bigger plays. Last week we had a couple, so we’re gonna keep working at it. We haven’t found it yet. We haven’t found the execution.”

Steelers RB Najee Harris believes their offense is “really close” to turning things around. 

“We’re close,” Harris said. “We’re really close. We’re extremely close. We have all the talent; we just need to fix some sh–.”

Steelers WR Chase Claypool mentioned that they need to create “more splash” plays downfield given long drives can be difficult to sustain. 

“We need more splash,” Claypool said. “We need bigger plays. We need to go down the field a little bit. Sometimes, the defense prevents that, but [we] just gotta go down the field. It’s a little harder to score when it’s like a 10-to-15 play drive because everything has to go right. If you’re nickel-and-diming, you get five yards a play, which is fine for time of possession, but like, sometimes we just want to go score now.”