The Raiders team that comes in here to Paycor Stadium for Sunday's game (1 p.m.-Cincinnati's Fox 19) has played a significant role in the brief but bountiful history of the Joe Burrow Bengals, and his team seeks the same vibe this weekend.
It will be recalled the Super Bowl season of 2021 ignited in Las Vegas on Nov. 21 when the Bengals broke out of their bye with a 32-13 victory that lifted them out of a 5-4 AFC logjam that included the Raiders.
Two months later, the Raiders came to Cincinnati for an AFC Wild Card Game and in front of an emotional 66,227, linebacker Germaine Pratt delivered the Burrow Bengals their first playoff victory at the Bengals 2 with a fourth-down interception on what amounted to the game's last play.
These Raiders don't have the same quarterback or coach and now have long-time Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis as the assistant to head man Antonio Pierce. But the Bengals still smell the history and are looking to use it Sunday.
"A fun game. We played well. Came out on top. The fans were great that day," Burrow recalled of his first postseason start after Wednesday's practice. "It was an exciting atmosphere. Fun to be a part of that excitement and energy. I just feel like I want to get back to that moment. Get back to our fans believing in that moment and put ourselves in that position."
The 3-5 Bengals are looking for their first win at Paycor this season, but more importantly, a win anywhere. Their leaders are calling Sunday's game "a must."
"You go to 3-6, then you've got to basically win out to get in. So the urgency is very high every week from here on out," Burrow said. "The crowd's been loud in the right spots. It's a smart crowd. They know when to be quiet, when to get loud. Obviously, we'd like to get a win in front of them.
"We always appreciate their support. They always show out in the big games and come out and support us every single week. So we've got to go out and put on a show, do what we need to do to get a win at home."
It was pretty much a "must win," in '21 coming out of the bye because there were so many teams locked up at 5-4. The AFC remains as jammed now with the Chiefs the league's lone 7-0 club and five other teams with five or six wins.
"Then everybody else is in the three- or four-wins range," said slot cornerback Mike Hilton. "I look at the records in the AFC and we're not out of it. We still have a fighting chance. It's all in front of us. It starts Sunday."
Hilton remembers that November Sunday against the Raiders well. His defense stoned Vegas on six of seven third downs while the Bengals kept the ball 37 minutes as they won five of their first seven out of the bye.
"We went out there and beat them and went on a run," Hilton said. "The guys haven't lost confidence, but they know we're pretty much on our last breath and we have to find a way to stay afloat."
Burrow says the key is to work the plan and plan their work and not veer away from their agenda.
"I think momentum is a real thing. If you consistently don't do things that make you consistent and allow you to be in position to play well on Sundays, then you're going to continue to do that," Burrow said. "If you build a process and build a routine and do that routine week in and week out whether you win, lose, draw, play good, play bad then you're going to build a reputation for being consistently great."
JA'MARR-BOWERS
Here's a game that pits the NFL's receiving yardage leader in Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase (674) and the league's leading receptions leader in Raiders rookie tight end Brock Bowers (52).
Chase is also second in the league in yards after catch (300 according to Pro Football Focus), hence the call to get him the ball on the fourth-and-one screen last Sunday against the Eagles. Right guy, said offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher Wednesday, but not the right execution.
"It's a concept where you're expecting man coverage. You're trying to create leverage to get our best player the football," Pitcher said before practice. "And a player who has made a living out of — I mean, he's made a living out of doing a lot of stuff well — but running through tackles and finishing physically and being able to churn out extra.
"I could pull 15 clips for you guys of Ja'Marr Chase moving the sticks on plays where you wouldn't think he'd be able to … We didn't execute it well enough. The man defender ended up in a place with leverage that we didn't want him to have, and as a result, when Ja'Marr caught the ball, there was not enough distance between he and the defender. The defender closed it too fast."
The Bengals took a good long look at Bowers in the first round at No. 18. But they never let their focus wander from Bowers' Georgia teammate, right tackle Amarius Mims. It was moot anyway when the Raiders plucked Bowers at No. 14.
"Really tough. Turns into a running back when he's got the ball in his hands. Not only does he have tremendous quickness and an ability to separate, but once he secures the ball, he's really difficult to bring down. He's similar to Ja'Marr in that sense," said Bengals head coach Zac Taylor. "I think he's really progressed in the run game as well. He's physical, he's willing. So it's not shocking to see the production that he's having right now."
SLANTS AND SCREENS
Taylor said the Bengals' short week is a factor as they mull the status of left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. (knee/fibula) and wide receiver Tee Higgins for the Raiders. Both didn’t practice Wednesday. After Sunday's game, the Bengals have one of those all-the-chips-on-the-table division games in Baltimore Thursday night.
"We always factor it in," Taylor said. "I think we'll just know more here in these next couple of days of what the overall picture is for this week and beyond. It's too early for me to really make a decision on where that's going to head." …
Pitcher had a great take on Burrow's third-and-22 conversion last Sunday off a hellacious scramble and then throw to tight end Mike Gesicki. If high school coaches were wincing when Burrow threw back to the middle of the field as he was rolling out, the Bengals coaches in the press box were not.
"They always tell a quarterback, if you're escaping the pocket rolling towards the sidelines, not to throw the ball back inside. As a young kid, it kind of gets beaten into you," Pitcher said. "Then what you realize with most cardinal rules, there are plenty of exceptions to the cardinal rules. You just have to go out intelligently and make the right kind of throw at the right moment. That was one of those." ….
Marvin Lewis comes to town with the mantra he made famous in Cincinnati: Do your job. On Wednesday, when Burrow was asked about potential deals at the trading deadline, he said it another way: Not my job …
