AFC Notes: Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Bengals, Browns, Ravens

When asked if the Bengals can regain their usual strong form in the second half of the season, QB Joe Burrow said they’ve historically been a good team following their mid-season bye. 

“I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?” Burrow said, via Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic. “We historically have been really good after the bye, I just think when our backs are against the wall and we come out fighting, we are at our best. We’ll find out if we are the same team this year.”

As for DE Trey Hendrickson already having seven sacks after finishing last year with eight, HC Zac Taylor said Hendrickson has always been a highly productive edge rusher for them despite not hitting double-digits in 2022. 

“I thought he played really well last year,” Taylor said. “Maybe he didn’t have an extremely high number of sacks, but he impacted the quarterback a lot. Some years, I think, you’re going to have that sack production and some years you won’t.”

Regarding their Week 8 game against the 49ers, Taylor thinks San Francisco has made a template on how to rebuild teams after reaching the Super Bowl in 2020 only to miss the following postseason. 

“I’ve always looked at San Francisco as a good template of how you can build and continue to evolve and get to where you want to be and then maintain that level of consistency,” Taylor said. “They’ve really been the standard in that. They have maintained that level of consistency from 2019 all the way through.”

Browns

• According to Adam Schefter, people within the Browns’ organization were “surprised” by how well RB Jerome Ford ran in Week 7 despite suffering a sprained ankle.

Ravens

Ravens HC John Harbaugh admits not all the successful plays by QB Lamar Jackson are in the game plan and some are just improvised.

“I’m like, ‘I can’t believe he got flushed out of the pocket. Why wasn’t the first route open? Or maybe the route wasn’t run the right way somewhere,’ and I’m mad,” Harbaugh said, via Jamison Hensley of ESPN. “And then I’m thinking, ‘Well, Lamar is getting away. Find somebody. Somebody get open.’ And then the ball goes up, it’s a touchdown. I scream for joy — inside. It’s part of the planned-unplanned offense. So, it’s planned to be unplanned sometimes, and then you hope your guys can make the most of it.”

“I’ve been working real hard with him on that, myself, personally, with his running and then throwing late and seeing guys,” Harbaugh added. “That’s just Lamar. That’s Lamar being Lamar. It’s just some of his innate talents. How he sees the game is pretty special.”

• Harbaugh doesn’t expect OLB Odafe Oweh (ankle) to miss any time despite not participating in Friday’s practice: “He’s not going to be out for any period of time. We’ll see if he plays on Sunday,” via Jamison Hensley. 

• Ravens LB Roquan Smith (shoulder) plans on playing in Week 8: “I told the guys: ‘As long as the sun rises on Sunday and the NFL don’t cancel any games, you’ll see me out there,” via Jamison Hensley.