Four hours after arriving at Paycor Stadium Tuesday, running back Khalil Herbert was getting coached up alternately by running backs coach Justin Hill and special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons as he stretched for his first Bengals practice under the lights.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said he could play Thursday (8:15 p.m.-Cincinnati's Channel 9, Prime Video) in a short-week game in Baltimore.
"We'll have to see how it goes," Taylor said. "Good production. He's an able and willing protector … Smart guy. Great reports on him. People say a lot of positive things about him."
The Bengals gave the Bears a seventh-round pick for Herbert on a trade deadline day they put running back Zack Moss on injured reserve with a neck injury, who Taylor said is likely out for the year. He said he didn't think it was career-threatening, but they're still gathering information.
After carrying the ball 364 times during his first three seasons in Chicago, the 5-9, 212-pound Herbert has carried it just eight times this season in a running backs room under new management. He inherits Moss' role in a committee approach chaired by Chase Brown. Moss had taken 74 carries and 23 catches before the injury.
Moss had been a solid check-down weapon for quarterback Joe Burrow, and the Bengals like Herbert's ability to catch the ball. He's grabbed 45 catches during his career, and he complements it with a 4.8 yards per carry average.
An accomplished zone runner, Herbert led the NFL with 5.7 yards per on 129 carries in 2022, when NFL Next Gen Stats put him in the top five for the league's most efficient running backs. He led the Bears in rushing last year on career-highs with 611 yards on 132 carries despite losing five games to an ankle injury.
"I think he'll help us in a lot of different ways," Taylor said. "He played a lot of football in his time in Chicago. We had good reports on him coming out of college. We evaluated his play over the last couple of days and decided to add him to the mix."
Burrow is all in on Herbert playing on such short notice if he can and figures he can give him a boost.
"Football is football for the most part. A couple new languages, but he is right there next to me so I can tell him what to do when he is out there," Burrow said before Tuesday's practice. "We'll see how much he ends up playing, but I am confident we can get him right.
"It might happen on gameday, too, where he is standing right next to me and doesn't know what to do and I lean over and tell him. He's right next to me. That's an easy thing for me to do."
Taylor is no stranger to such sudden arrivals. He saw it happen in 2013 when he was with Miami. The Dolphins plucked a young safety off the 49ers practice squad who had yet to play in an NFL game. Michael Thomas, who years later became the Bengals special teams captain, got there late in the week and was supposed to play only special teams. But …
"Picked off Tom Brady to help us win the game three days later," Taylor said.
TEE BALL
Wide receiver Tee Higgins (quad) is on the verge of missing his third straight game when he didn't practice Tuesday. But Taylor indicated their franchise free agent was never close to getting traded.
"I think those are conversations you all had," Taylor told the media. "Not us. Tee's a huge part of what we do here. Every time he's on the field he helps us win. We like him in the locker room. We enjoy having Tee around and we want to keep it that way."
Left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., inactive for the first time in his career last Sunday with a knee/leg issue, was listed as limited and appeared on the field Tuesday with a sleeve on his leg.
Defensive tackle B.J. Hill (rib) and returner Charlie Jones (groin) didn't practice.
BURROW IN HURRY-UP
Burrow, who was clearly displeased after Sunday's win over the Raiders got a little bit too sloppy at the end for his liking, was in a hurry-up mode with the quick turnaround in preparation for the Ravens.
He was a bit reflective, though, about his leadership role.
"Maybe my demeanor could be a little better sometimes," Burrow said. "I could have not let my emotions show quite as much, but it's also something that I've tried to do more, and I know people in the locker room have wanted me to do a little more, whether good or bad, but you can't. I don't think, at least, I can't show my emotion positively, and then when things don't go well, not let that be known as well. I could have handled it a little differently, but that's how I feel."
Burrow says this is the best his right wrist has felt since he injured it a year ago. In fact, he injured it this week in Baltimore in a Thursday nigher and he doesn't think it's exactly a quirk of the schedule.
"If a star player gets hurt in a prime-time game, they like to schedule the same exact game on the same exact week at the same time a year later," Burrow said. "I think that happened to Aaron Rodgers this year. It happened to me this year. I think that's something they like to do."
SWEET LOU
Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, die-hard Yankees fans, bit his tongue last week and took one for the club. Last Thursday, the day after his beloved Bombers kicked away Game Five and the World Series in one nightmarish inning, Anarumo showed tape of the Fateful Fifth to his unit to underscore the precious little things.
Anarumo reminded them what they worked on their first day of spring workouts.
"I said, 'Hey, pitchers and catchers report first in spring training, and the first thing they do when the ball is hit to the (right) side of the infield, they cover first base," Anarumo said. "We arrive at OTAs and the first thing we do is teach communication, tackling, and things like that.
"How many pop flies do you think Aaron Judge has caught in his career, and he took his eye off one for one second? If you've got keys and reading something and you look elsewhere, you're going to drop the ball figuratively and literally.' The third one I said was, 'How many times do you think Anthony Volpe picked up a ball shortstop, a groundball, and threw it to third base and got the guy out? Probably two million times in his life.' Fundamentals at any level of any sport is the ultimate thing that can sway you from winning and losing. I just wanted to say, 'Hey, here's another sport, here's the World Series, and these guys lost it because of fundamentals.'"
Anarumo had to laugh. Yes, he needed that.
"That was therapy for me," Anarumo said.
Then the night before the game, he showed a clip from the Netflix series, "Free Solo."
"(It's) about a guy who climbs the walls with no ropes," Anarumo said. "Thirty people a year die from that type of thing … Climbing that mountain as fast he did, and the physical strain on your body as a human, to be able to do that and then the mental focus to every step, every finger grab, if you don't do it, you're going to die. Our focus is on a football game. If that guy can do that, how can we not focus, how can we get tired? That was the message."
Anarumo is 2-0 in games after watching "Free Solo." The first airing came the night before they won in Pittsburgh in 2021.
