With three wide receivers and running back Zack Moss (neck) on the inactive list, the Bengals dipped into their depth chart Sunday to play the Raiders at Paycor Stadium.
Plus, left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. (knee) is inactive for the first time in his career as the Bengals duel Raiders Pro Bowl edge rusher Maxx Crosby with left tackle Cody Ford.
Wide receivers Tee Higgins (quad), Charlie Jones (groin) and Jermaine Burton (Coach's Decision) were put on the list. Burton had been expected to play more than his career-high 25 snaps of last week. Instead, practice squadder Kendric Pryor has been promoted for his NFL debut.
So has Kendall Milton, the rookie running back from Georgia elevated on Saturday. Moss practiced Wednesday and Thursday but surfaced Friday with a neck injury. He and Chase Brown have split the carries.
Now Trayveon Williams, the six-year backup with 62 career carries, could get his first one of the season.
With Higgins and Burton out, the Bengals are going to need heavy lifting from No. 3 receiver Andrei Iosivas and tight end Mike Gesicki. In two of the three games Higgins has missed, Gesicki has come up with seven catches. Iosivas has two touchdowns with Higgins out of the lineup, and caught his other one of the season came in Higgins' first game of the year on Sept. 23.
Gesicki and Iosivas figure to move in and out of the slot opposite three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase.
Moss has drawn high marks for his blocking, which puts Williams' experience on display. Crosby needs 1.5 sacks and five tackles to become one of five NFL players to have 60 sacks and 350 tackles in their first 91 games.
Look for wide receiver Trenton Irwin to replace Charlies Jones on punt and kick return.
Also inactive were defensive tackle Jay Tufele and tight end Tanner McLachlan.
Along with depth, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor expected his defense to step up. He announced the defensive starters anbd appointed linebackers Germaine Pratt and Akeem Davis-Gaither as game captains, as well as safety Vonn Bell and left end Sam Hubbard.
MARVIN GARDENS
A svelte Marvin Lewis, the winningest head coach in Bengals history, joked on his return Sunday morning as the Raiders assistant head coach that he showed up as the 2003 version.
"Two new hips. Two new knees," Lewis said. "Feels great."
That was Lewis' first of 16 seasons here. A rookie from his last season, 2018, Sam Hubbard, came over to shake greet his old head coach as Lewis called him "The Lone Soldier," the last player from the Marvinium Era on the Bengals roster.
Lewis looked like he was on the ballot Tuesday as he and son Marcus, a Raiders defensive assistant, greeted well-wishers. They huddled with the two coaches left over from Marvin's staff, special teams coordinator and assistant head coach Darrin Simmons, and defensive quality control coach Louie Cioffi.
Bengals quarterbacks coach Brad Kragthorpe, whose grandfather coached Marvin Lewis at Idaho State, came over to chat, and Bengals wide receivers coach Troy Walters, on the staff when Marcus Lewis played at Indiana State, said hello.
Plus, there were the various photos snapped with some Bengals cheerleaders and stadium staff.
EIFERT RULES
Tyler Eifert, the Bengals Pro Bowl tight end from the 2015 AFC North champs, served as Ruler of the Jungle Sunday on a day Bengals tight end Mike Gesicki is expected to play a major role and Raiders rookie Brock Bowers leads all tight ends with 52 catches.
And it's hard not to think of 2015 with Eifert in the building along with his head coach that season.
"I love Marv. We had a great coaching staff here with Jon Hayes,' says Eifert of his tight ends coach for six of his seven seasons in Cincinnati. "That was a great year until it wasn't."
With Eifert grabbing 13 touchdown passes, the most by a Bengals tight end, they became the first AFC North team to start 8-0 and were bidding for the AFC's top seed when quarterback Andy Dalton broke his thumb late in the season.
"I follow them," says Eifert, 34, living in Palm Beach, Fla., and overseeing real estate ventures.
Eifert never got a shot to play with Burrow, signing with Jacksonville the year they drafted him. It turned out that 2020 season was Eifert's last in an injury-plagued career.
"Joe came in the year I left and in Jacksonville the year after I was there they drafted Trevor Lawrence," Eifert says. "It would have been nice.
"It looks like Joe is having his best statistical year yet."
Anyone who knows Eifert isn't surprised to see that he harbors no bitterness about his terrible luck. He shattered his forearm on the first series of the 2014 season and after ripping up his ankle in the 2015 Pro Bowl he played 14 games over the next three seasons.
"Dislocated elbow, dislocated ankle. It always seemed to be something major. It was never missing four weeks with a hamstring," Eifert said. "You think about it sometimes. If you were healthy. I feel like if I were healthy, I'd still be the Bengals tight end. I love Cincinnati.
"But what good would it do?" Eifert asks. "I look at how lucky I was to play in the NFL and do what I was able to do."
On Sunday he's keeping an eye on Gesicki, arguably the Bengals' best receiving tight end since Eifert.
"Let's win one at home," Eifert says, "and get on a roll."
