AFC Notes: Joe Burrow, C.J. Uzomah, Bengals, Ravens

Joe Burrow

Bengals HC Zac Taylor reiterated once again that they never, ever considered trading down from the No. 1 overall pick with the Dolphins, even though they tried to make an offer to come up for QB Joe Burrow. 

“That was never discussed,” Taylor said via Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “Maybe it’s that phone call that never got passed along to everybody else, just because we knew exactly what we were doing. Weren’t even entertaining it. You could’ve given us 100 first-round picks and it wasn’t happening. There was never really any conversation about that.”

Bengals

Bengals HC Zac Taylor said that the team stressed the importance of creating turnovers, and that was the difference in the win against the Chiefs. 

“It’s something we have stressed for so long now (takeaways), and you never know when it’s going to start paying off and they’ve come in bunches for us,” Taylor said, via Dayton Daily News. “When you are playing great teams like we are at this stretch, you’ve got to have more possession than they do…and I don’t think that was any secret today.”

Taylor said DT B.J. Hill was a key part of the team’s defense this year and his third-quarter interception just highlighted that.

“We always say, ‘Tips and overthrows, got to get to them,’” Taylor said. “Huge play by B.J. He’s really stepped in and been a huge part of what we’ve done.”

Bengals DE Sam Hubbard said the team stuck to the script and kept doing what they could to put pressure on Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes.

“We were getting there the first half, he’s just got the best pocket presence of anybody in the league and we kept telling ourselves to keep chopping wood, keep rushing, keep rushing, and we kept being disciplined in our rush lanes and finally towards the end it paid off,” Hubbard said. “It takes four, we were rushing three at times, and to sack him, it’s a collective effort of everybody just relentlessly pursuing him, and that’s all we did. We just kept grinding the whole way and it finally paid off in the end.”

Per Ben Baby, Taylor confirmed Bengals TE C.J. Uzomah has a sprained MCL. Uzomah, however, said he hopes he will play in the Super Bowl.

“Hopefully I’ll be back in two weeks. I know the training staff. I’ve been here – after the (torn) Achilles (injury last season), I know what they’re capable of – and crazier things have happened. So I’m looking forward to trying to get after it and help my team to the Super Bowl,” Uzomah said, via Dave Clark. “That’s the worst feeling (to watch from the sideline). I did it all of last year – with the exception of two games – and it was a feeling that I didn’t want to have to deal with again. … It was ridiculously tough. It’s the AFC Championship. You don’t want to be on the sideline, but it was fun to see the boys – with the resolve they had – come back and get this win.”

• Bengals K Evan McPherson said the team has moved past the underdog narrative to a degree: “I think we’ve kind of pushed that underdog narrative to the side and showed everybody the Bengals are here to stay and we mean business.” (Paul Dehner Jr.)
• Hubbard said the team had full confidence in McPherson and QB Joe Burrow: “I had all the confidence in the world that after got that turnover, we were going to march down. We had the most reliable kicker in the NFL ice it off. I knew we were in Joe’s hands, and we were good.” (Charlie Goldsmith)
• Hubbard is still in disbelief that his team was able to overcome major odds to make it to the Super Bowl: “We’re going to the Super Bowl and it sounds crazy to say that. When you say that, it’s just hard to believe. I love this team. I love this city. We got one more to get it all.” (Dehner)
• Bengals DB Vonn Bell said the team felt the momentum going into halftime: “We have leaders all across the board on our defensive side. When we stopped them before halftime we knew we had built the momentum.” (Dehner)
• Bell said he knew that it was going to come down to defense, and the secondary in particular, in order to win the game: “We just knew it was going to be on us. The situational pass game, two minute, red zone, third down. We knew it was going to come down to us, especially the back end.” (Dehner)

Ravens

• Ravens HC John Harbaugh thinks the first order of business in the secondary is getting CBs Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Peters healthy: “That’s a good place to start.” (Jeff Zrebiec)
• Harbaugh confirms QB Lamar Jackson had a bone bruise in his ankle which proved too difficult to heal from before the end of the season: “Lamar thought he was going to be back. … It just didn’t really heal and it was painful.” (Zrebiec)
• Harbaugh said he still believes former DC Don Martindale is a good coach: “Don is a great coach. He’s a proven coach, a great coach. Sometimes it is just time. I feel like we both felt that way.” (Zrebiec)
• Harbaugh added OC Greg Roman will return in 2022: “I’m excited about that…I think we have a really good vision of what we want to build offensively.” (Jamison Hensley)
• Harbaugh believes the team needs to fix the run game: “Our called run game just wasn’t as good. We didn’t have any explosive plays.” (Zrebiec)
• Harbaugh confirmed OLB Tyus Bowser‘s injury was a torn Achilles but was optimistic about his rehab: “I think Tyus will be back for the start of the season.” (Zrebiec)
• He also expects RBs Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins, TE Nick Boyle and LT Ronnie Stanley to all be healthy for the start of next season. 
• On Lamar Jackson, Harbaugh said he is determined to be better: “Lamar is really, really determined. I can’t even emphasize enough how determined he is to improve and get our offense to where it needs to be. As a coaching staff and personnel staff, we want to do our part.” (Zrebiec)
• Harbaugh said they know they can’t sign all 20 free agents: “At this point in time, guys go to the market. That’s what happens.” (Zrebiec)
• Harbaugh mentioned strength and conditioning coach Steve Saunders will return. (Zrebiec)