After watching Chase Brown rush for his first career 100-yard game Sunday against the Raiders with a back-to-basics approach, Bengals running backs coach Justin Hill knows they'll face a different set of circumstances Thursday night (8:15-Amazon Prime) in Baltimore.
But after three weeks of struggling in the ground game, Hill says Brown and his blockers can get a confidence boost with the Bengals' most prolific individual run game in two years on Brown's 27 carries for 120 yards for a meaty 4.4 yards per carry.
"Each defense is different and this one coming up is going to be different than the one we just saw," Hill said Monday. "This was a good week (against the Raiders) to get downhill with our guards and center for double teams and get to the second level and let Chase be himself."
That means allowing the 5-9, 205-pound burner to see a crease, pick it, hit it going full speed, and match his blockers going downhill.
"Just sticking to our bread-and-butter and the plays our guys are really good at with time on task," Hill said. "Chase has got the acceleration and power to take advantage of those creases."
Before the game, center Ted Karras talked about getting the run game back on track in simple terms: Realizing one missed block can blow up a play. After the game, he said that's all it was.
"There was a more condensed list of runs," Karras said. "But it came down to overall execution. Hat on a hat, executing, and Chase running really hard. He deserved the game ball. They had a lot of zany looks, but there was good communication."
Brown says he fed off his blockers.
"We were efficient. That had been the point of emphasis," Brown said. "We got after it downhill. The guys up front were moving people."
The run game may look different Thursday, but they'll stick with Chase for what promises to be a hard day's night again probably without regular rotational running back Zack Moss (neck). Moss is still listed as did not practice on Monday's estimated injury report after not playing Sunday and head coach Zac Taylor says they're waiting on more information this week.
Backup Trayveon Williams didn't get a carry Sunday on seven snaps and rookie Kendall Milton didn't either on his first five NFL snaps and it's hard to see them making any changes on third down against a Ravens defense with the fourth-most sacks in the league.
But while they're not looking to pound Brown 27 times again, they believe he's got a durable track record. He ran the ball more than 27 times in eight games while he was at Illinois and had a total of 14 games with at least 20 carries while building a career yards per carry of better than five.
Plus, he took a big shot last Sunday and scrambled to his feet to finish.
"He really took a bruise. A rib shot that ended up being a bad bruise," Taylor said Monday. "He played through it. He did a great job coming out of it. I'm sure there's soreness there today. With all the carries and the plays that he got, that was it.
"It's important you can have a guy that can take some of the workload off of him, whether that's a couple carries or that's some other snaps in other areas. He has proven he's a durable guy who can do a lot of stuff for us … We'll always make the best decisions in how we can help him and help the offense and what fits in what situations for us."
Taylor indicated he's OK with Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin and his scouts finding a healthy veteran back.
"We've got to be open to everything. That's what Duke and his staff do an excellent job of," Taylor said. "Always making sure that we're equipped with everything we need. Going through that process of seeing what's available and where we can help ourselves in all areas. We'll go from there."
TOUGH NEWS
The run game is definitely going to look different because rookie tight end Erick All Jr., is lost for the year, tearing the same ACL that he tore last October at Iowa. All's ferocious blocking is a big reason the Bengals have doubled their use of double tight ends.
In All they lose a willing, explosive run blocker who proved to be a terror going in motion and who is also a productive receiver after the catch.
It leaves them with four other tight ends on the roster: Blocking specialist Drew Sample and pass receiving-types Mike Gesicki and Tanner Hudson. Sixth-rounder Tanner McLachlan has yet to play and Cam Grandy, a rookie undrafted free agent who was with them in training camp, is on the practice squad.
"I love (All)," said offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher. "He has, in a very short time, shown us what kind of difference he can make to our offense.
"I'm very optimistic about his future. It won't be as simple as just plug somebody in to replace him. It'll be about looking at the guys we have, all of whom we have confidence in, and then figuring out how to mix and match and put those guys in position to have success. Mike will be a part of that. Tanner will be a part of that. The other two rookies have a chance to be a part of that as well. We'll just approach that on a week-to-week basis and figure out how to make it go."
Although they struggled running the ball for a couple of weeks before Sunday, their yards per attempt of 4.1 is their best after nine games in Taylor's six seasons and their expanded use of the "12," formation of one running back and two tight ends seems to have been a boost.
On Monday, offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said "12,' isn't going away, but he's not sure how All's loss impacts its use.
"We'll have to see. I think some of that will be opponent specific, how they approach 12 personnel," Pitcher said. "How is that going to match with the skill sets of our tight ends now? Maybe in some weeks you'll see less of it. In some weeks, you'll see the same, and I certainly don't plan on throwing it away. We've just got to figure out how it fits moving forward."
SLANTS AND SCREENS:
After benching rookie wide receiver Jermaine Burton for Sunday's game, Taylor said the push is for Burton to practice Tuesday and Wednesday and play Thursday. Reports said Burton missed Saturday's walkthrough despite being heavily involved in Sunday's game plan.
Taylor continued to back him Monday, as did Pitcher.
"It's just going to be an ongoing process with Jermaine," Picher said. "We believe there is a world where Jermaine Burton is an excellent pro and an excellent Bengal. We are going to continue our part to put him in position to grow into that and then Jermaine has to do the growing. We'll keep moving forward. We know what he can offer us. I know he wants that. We'll take it week by week." …
Given it's a short week, Taylor couldn't say much about injuries, but the good news is that left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. (knee/leg) and wide receiver Tee Higgins (hamstring) weren't ruled out right away after missing Sunday.
"Step one is they both want to do it, and now just physically we'll put them through everything we can over the next couple of days to see if they can help us," Taylor said …
Defensive tackle B.J. Hill (rib) left the game and it's not clear if he'll be ready Thursday.
"Better than expected. We'll let time pass on that one, but I'd say better than I would have thought coming out of yesterday," Taylor said …
Taylor says they won't rush punt/kick returner Charlie Jones (groin) after he missed Sunday, and that Burton could be an option on kickoffs …
