AFC Notes: Mike Tomlin, Jake Browning, Bengals, Browns, Steelers

Bengals

If the season started today, the Bengals would be in the playoffs, and that’s a testament to how HC Zac Taylor has adapted after losing starting QB Joe Burrow to put backup QB Jake Browning in the best possible situation for success. Though Taylor downplayed the idea that the offense has made some kind of dramatic shift, the Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. points out the team is using shotgun less and under center play action more with Browning than with Burrow. They also are throwing more screens and have removed empty formations — a Burrow staple — from the call sheet completely in the past two games. 

“I feel very comfortable with how everything is going, Zac calling the game, feeling like we’re staying a step ahead as far as run-pass, having everything kind of look the same, mixing in some screens,” Browning said. “It makes my job easy.”

Browns

• Browns HC Kevin Stefanski revealed that S Grant Delpit underwent groin surgery and could return in time for the playoffs. (Scott Petrak)

Steelers

When you lose back-to-back games against two-win teams, not even Steelers HC Mike Tomlin is immune from criticism. Former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger said Pittsburgh lost against the Patriots due to “bad coaching.”

“At the end of that game, if we had one more timeout, we have another chance,” Roethlisberger said, via PFT. “When you lose timeouts because of silly penalties — too many men on the field, not enough men on the field — you can’t afford in the second half of games, to burn silly timeouts and not have them late in the game. To me, that is…that’s bad. It’s bad coaching. This isn’t what has been handed down from those teams of the ‘70s. The Steel Curtain, the four Super Bowls, the Nolls, the Bradshaws, the Blounts. All those people, it’s unbelievable.”