Vets And Kids Team To Heat Up Bengals Defense As Playoff Flame Still Burns

Safety Vonn Bell showed you the scrape.

A small, bright pink blotch winking on his right hand that gave the Bengals a puncher's chance to make the playoffs heading into the final two games.

"Kind of loose," said Bell of the way Browns running D'Onta Foreman carried the ball on that fateful first down from the Bengals half-yard line not even three minutes into Sunday's game.

It was not lost on Jordan Battle, the man who took Bell's job in midseason, that the defenders at the heart of the Bengals' 24-6 dismissal of the Browns were the two veterans who convene the players-only secondary meetings on those off-days.

Bell turned the game on one of the seven snaps he played from scrimmage when he punched out the ball and then cradled it. Slot cornerback Mike Hilton, who no longer plays every third down but has been playing first and second down like a man possessed, continued to set the tone when he blew up early drives with tackles for loss that gave him five TFLs in the last two games.

The two playoff heroes may find themselves with lower profiles on a defense in transition, but don't look now. They led them into the playoff time slot of Saturday (4:30 p.m.-Cincinnati's FOX 19 and NFL Network) for another elimination game against the Broncos at Paycor.

"Huge, very huge. That created the energy we needed for this game," said Battle, who kept it going early in the fourth quarter with his first interception of the season broke Cleveland's back in the end zone. "The huge level of happiness on his face. It was crazy to see him coming to the sidelines. 'Oh, OK.'"

It began another feel-good day for defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo’s once-beleaguered group.

Battle's play was one of three turnovers, giving them 11 in the last three games after managing 12 in the first 12 games. In that same stretch, they're allowing 17.7 points per game as opposed to 28.3 in the first dozen games. The six points are the fewest they've allowed under Anarumo, matching a win over the Jets five years ago.

"The energy level has been up in practices from when we started," Battle said. "It's not like the energy was never up. It's been more like a breakout of COVID. Of the positive energy spreading throughout the building. You can see guys are hungry to finish the season."

Hilton believes the revival is a combination of a simplified scheme and the emergence of young players getting their feet underneath them. Of the 13 defenders who played a third of Sunday's snaps, five were taken in the last two drafts.

"A little of both," said Hilton, whose six tackles were only behind Battle's seven on the Bengals stat sheet. "Some of the younger guys are getting a lot more experience, so they're learning, and Coach Lou is simplifying to let us play fast and make plays."

Hilton, in his ninth NFL season, won't mind telling you he's the NFL's best blitzer. He believes Anarumo has called his number a little bit more in the last month. His work in the slot seems to have personified a new-found aggressiveness across the unit.

"Guys are just simplifying things. Coaches are simplifying things. When guys have the opportunity to make a play, we're making the plays to change the game. We're doing that well," Hilton said.

Sunday's plan sure looked simple enough against Browns quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson in his first start of the season and fourth of his career: Be aggressive on first and second down to get him in third-and-long with Exhibit A Hilton's savvy blitzes. Anarumo was rewarded with holding the Browns to three-of-12 on third down that included two interceptions. They also sacked DTR five times and hit him five others.

The secondary Bell and Hilton oversee came up with two more interceptions, and the speedy Marco Wilson, a vet cornerback picked up on waivers last month, spearheaded the effort to douse the red-hot Jerry Jeudy with two catches for 20 yards.

Throw in safety Geno Stone’s third interception in three games off a deflected pass from cornerback DJ Ivey, the 2023 seventh-round pick turning into the tight end specialist, and it was another big day for the secondary. It was coming off four interceptions last Sunday in Tennessee despite not having their two best cornerbacks from early in the season, the injured Dax Hill and DJ Turner.

It was Stone who blitzed with linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither through the A gap and forced Battle's end-zone interception, a pivotal play on third-and-eight with most of the fourth quarter left in a 17-6 game.

"The (offensive line) slid (to the blitz)," Davis-Gaither said, "but they didn't pick up Geno."

Like his defense, Stone, a free-agent pickup, has settled in after a rough start.

"He's been playing some of his best ball and when he's in the post, he's a guy that can really take the ball away," Hilton said.

The 6-1, 192-pound Ivey, who was draped on the monstrously effective David Njoku, got four plays Sunday in his niche role that has taken some snaps from Hilton. And maybe the fact you didn't hear about cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt in his 65 snaps tells you how well he's put it together since getting benched briefly back on Nov. 17.

(You probably forgot he saved the day as the crowd settled into its seats when he dragged down Browns running back Jerome Ford at the end of his 66-yard run on the first snap of the game.)

"It feels a lot closer," Taylor-Britt said of the defense. "Going through adversity together. The lowest of lows of the season. Hearing a lot of talk. We've stuck together and hung in.

"We're just tired of losing. That's the one way to put it," Taylor-Britt said. "We lost a lot of these games (late). Now we're trying to finish teams early. Throw a lot at them."

Taylor-Britt, who had been on a Pro Bowl track when he hit some midseason struggles, thinks it began to turn for him after the Nov. 24 bye. Maybe against Pittsburgh. Maybe the next week in Dallas. It will be recalled he took the third post-bye snap for a pick-six against the Steelers.

"I found my confidence again," Taylor-Britt said. "Whether I do good or bad, I have to stay the same. Just hold on to myself and play my game."

Hilton saw two other rookies beginning to play their games. He caught glimpses of second-rounder Kris Jenkins Jr. and third-rounder McKinnley Jackson at defensive tackle making plays again. Jackson celebrated his first NFL sack a week after causing a fumble. Jenkins racked up a two-sack game, something his All-Pro tackle dad did three times in 108 NFL games.

"Young boys making big plays. That's what we got them here for," Hilton said. "They stepped up to the challenge. They're powerful, quick and they can get to the quarterback. We're counting on those guys for the last couple of games."

Jenkins and Jackson were also part of the wall that stoned the Browns on that turning point of a first series. Hilton could smell what it meant. Sunday was his 43^rd AFC North game and 25^th win, tops among the Bengals.

"Vonn's forced fumble set the tone for the game. Guys made big plays after that," Hilton said. "We bowed up on the one-yard line. These division games, you never know how they're going to go. So every turnover, every third-down conversion, anything that can separate you, that's how you win these types of games."

That means playoff games and Bell and Hilton have been here before and have made the biggest plays for the Bengals. Different roles. Same goal.

"I'm where I'm supposed to be," Bell said. "God doesn't make mistakes."

Hilton knows to make that 44^th AFC North game mean something in the season finale in Pittsburgh two weeks from now, Saturday is all that matters. A short week. Monday is the off day, but the DBs probably won't be.

"We're giving ourselves a chance," Hilton said.