AFC Notes: Joe Burrow, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Bengals, Browns, Steelers

Bengals

The Bengals brought in S Geno Stone to solidify the back end of their defense in free agency, but he has struggled in his first year with the team. Stone isn’t going to press to make plays that aren’t there and will remain focused on doing his job even if it means taking criticism from the public.

“One thing I’m not gonna do is go out there and chase plays,” Stone said, via SI.com’s Russ Heltman. “When I go out there and chase plays, it looks bad on me. Something goes wrong. It looks bad on me, the last guy in the back of the end zones. So whatever it may be, I’ll take the criticism. I get paid the big bucks and take the criticism. And one thing about me, I told the guys halfway through the year, I said, ‘At the end of the day, I’m here for them.’ I’ll never point fingers. That’s never what I do. So I’ll take the heat for everything. I’m the last guy on defense all the time. So someone wants to blame someone, you blame me.”

Browns

• ESPN’s Dan Graziano says not to be surprised if Browns QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson gets a start or two down the stretch, as Cleveland wants to assess all of its options at quarterback heading into 2025. 

Steelers

The Steelers are set to square off against the Bengals in Week 13. Mike Tomlin praised QB Joe Burrow going into Sunday’s game, saying the quarterback is having an “MVP caliber” season.  

“Obviously, you can’t talk about these guys without talking Joe Burrow,” Tomlin said, via ProFootballTalk. “If you look at the tape, man, he’s MVP caliber in terms of what he’s doing for them. I started first with the two Baltimore games because of the intimacy of divisional play. Man, I don’t know how many touchdowns he threw in those two football games. I know [Ja’Marr] Chase himself had five. It’s just kind of reflective of what he and they are capable of. We’ve got to do a really good job. We’ve got to carry enough defense schematically, but within that, we’d better perform at a high enough level because it’s not just schematics that beats them.”

Tomlin continued to stress the importance of focusing on their defensive scheme given quarterbacks like Burrow are “anticipatory” and have a complete understanding of where their receivers are at all times. 

“I think that is reflective of a quarterback in his position,” Tomlin said. “I say the same thing when we play guys like Matt Stafford and so forth. Guys that are anticipatory passers, guys that are in complete command of their system of offense, guys that know where all the eligibles are. Oftentimes, that’s illustrated by his ability to throw no-look check-downs and things of that nature. He just knows where all his people are. When you’re playing quarterbacks like that, man, you’d better carry enough defense. You might be able to trick them or stay ahead of them for 20 or 30 minutes, but you’d better have enough defense. It’s a 60-minute game. I think that’s reflected in watching them.”