AFC Notes: Mark Andrews, Zach Ertz, Joe Flacco, Bengals, Browns, Ravens

Bengals

Bengals DC Lou Anarumo said they’re focused on improving their run defense, which has been a real area of weakness for Cincinnati this season.

“We continue to practice the issues that keep popping up. We’re doing more run fits than we’ve ever done,” Anarumo said, via Bengals.com. “We just did 20. We’ll do 30 a day. That’s outside of practice and my walkthrough and then within another practice period. And then in practice, we’ll do another set of it.”

Browns

Browns QB Joe Flacco gave the team hope in his first start against the Rams on Sunday. The offense was finally moving, yet Flacco wound up throwing an interception and Cleveland wasn’t able to get the victory. It appears likely that the 38-year-old veteran will start again in Week 14.

“Yeah, I’m just upset at myself,” Flacco told Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “Listen, I know I can play. I think every time you go take the field, you’re obviously proving to yourself and proving to other people that you can play the game but deep down I know I can play the game so that’s not my thought process at this point. My thought process is just disappointed in myself and these are the games that I honestly love to be in. They come down to the fourth quarter and they’re not pretty and they’re going to be tight. I think I excel in the games that are played tight and need to have good decisions be made. So to not come through in that kind of situation, it definitely stings a little bit.”

“I think you guys have watched these guys all year. They’re a resilient group and they’ve got a lot of talent,” Flacco continued. “It’s one of the more talented teams I’ve been on in a while and you can tell that right away. So it’s not easy when you take these long road trips and you come up empty-handed and right now we’re not going to be able to reflect too much, but hopefully, when we get back in there during the week we can go out and have more good practices and eventually put this thing behind us.”

• Browns QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson remains in concussion protocol, according to HC Kevin Stefanski. (Chris Easterling)

Ravens

Ravens QB Lamar Jackson spoke about some similarities and differences between TEs Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely.

“[Isaiah Likely] is a little bit different than Mark [Andrews]. He probably has a little more twitch,” said Jackson, via RavensWire. “He probably has a little bit, as he develops as a player, to break tackles. He can get to an edge a little bit more than Mark. Mark’s more of a powerful [player]. Get the ball in his hands like a bull, run over people and out muscle you. Where ‘Zay’ [Isaiah Likely] is a little bit more elusive. As he keeps developing his craft and his depths [on his routes] and setting up defenders, he’s going to be hard to handle. It’s just a matter of time. It’s not a matter of if, it’s just a matter of when, when we keep working through that and developing that.”

• Ravens HC John Harbaugh doesn’t expect the team to add TE Zach Ertz: “Any time a great player is out there, you look at it. But I would say this: we like our TEs. We really like our guys. I’m not ruling out Mark Andrews for down the road…I think right now, we’ll just roll with those guys.” (Jeff Zrebiec)