Joe Burrow says the Bengals need to go 7-2 the rest of the way to make the playoffs, and the calendar says they have just the right quarterback for such a run.
Burrow is heading into his sweet season with Sunday's qame against the Raiders (1 p.m.-Cincinnati's Fox 19) at Paycor Stadium appearing on the calendar as the first game in November. The colder it gets, Joey Cool becomes Joe B-r-r-r with a 20-8 record from November to January and a passer rating of 99.66 that rounds off to 100 in games that include the playoffs.
The bulk of those games came in the 2021 and 2022 playoff runs, but it will be recalled that he racked up a 105.5 rating on his two biggest passing days of the year — 348 yards against the Bills on 70% passing and 347 against the Texans on 67.5% — during the 10 quarters he played in November before getting hurt last season.
His best month is in December with a 6-2 record and a 108.3 rating.
"I grow and learn from every rep that I get. Whether it's a game or practice, whether it's an individual drill or it's team or seven-on-seven," Burrow told Bengals.com back in September. "And the more reps that I get, the better I'm going to be. And that's why I always feel like I'm at my best at the end of the year."
He also said he wanted to move up his timeline to play better earlier in the season and he did, raising his overall September rating to 92.8 and getting into triple digits for October, now at 103.7.
As he sat down with the local media Monday, the last question for Bengals assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons concerned the state of the team.
"The one thing I do know is we have one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. That's always a great place to start," Simmons said. "When you have a quarterback like we have and some teams do not, it always gives you hope."
BURTON BOLTS
Simmons also said Burrow can't do it alone. So cue third-round pick Jermaine Burton after his busiest game as a pro and wide receiver Tee Higgins’ status for the Raiders unknown with a quad issue.
Burton came into last Sunday's game against the Eagles with a total of 25 snaps and played 24 against Philly while snagging the second catch of his career, a 41-yard go route to go with the 47-yarder in Kansas City six weeks ago.
It would appear Burrow and head coach Zac Taylor are gaining more and more trust with Burton. Burrow gave him a career-high three targets, including a third-down pass in the red zone that was nearly a nine-yard touchdown but was knocked out of Burton's hands at the last instant by veteran safety Darius Slay.
"It was nice to see Jermaine make a play," Burrow said after the game. "I think Jermaine is going to be a good player. He continues to get open, and we're going to continue that dialogue that quarterbacks and receivers have to have."
On Monday, Taylor said Burton is going to keep getting snaps.
"Continue to find roles for him," Taylor said. "I thought he did a nice job on some things where he got the ball directed towards him, and some that didn't even that were completions elsewhere. And so, continue to find ways to progress him along."
REHKOW ANOINTED
Simmons can't remember the last time the Bengals had two games in the same season they didn't punt. That's because in his 22 seasons with the Bengals, it never happened until Sunday against the Eagles, a month after they didn't take one against the Commanders.
It's only the fifth time it has happened in Simmons' tenure. After it happened the first time in 2006, it didn't happen for another 14 years. But even though rookie Ryan Rehkow didn't take the field, Simmons says he's the punter of the future.
"I think the job of any coach is to make a player better than what they think they can be. That's a task I feel like I have to do with him is make him consistent," Simmons said. "We've all seen the upside kicks, the positive kicks, and those are kicks I've never seen. So it's my job to get him to do that every time.
"I do think that high level of ability is there and it's outstanding."
At 44.9 net yards per punt, Rehkow is third in the league. He's also third with an inside-the-20 percentage of 53.6%.
MORE FEET
"Very high. There's no need for it to be low."
So says radar kicker Evan McPherson of his confidence after uncharacteristically missing his third straight field goal from beyond 50 yards. On the 53-yarder to win it in the Oct. 6 overtime against the Ravens, Rehkow dropped a slightly wayward snap. After hooking a 54-yarder against the Eagles, McPherson said on Monday to blame only him and not his holder Rehkow or snapper Cal Adomitis.
"The operation is perfect. I don't think anybody should be talking about that. Everything should be pinned on me, all the misses and whatnot. The operation is about as good as it has been," McPherson said. "I feel like I'm hitting the ball about as good as I ever have. If you watch me pregame or at practice, you'd say I'd probably be having a Pro Bowl year. But it's just not translating into the game, which is pretty frustrating. I'll figure that out and we'll get it straightened up."
McPherson says he hasn't missed during pregame in a couple of weeks and that includes Sunday's 60-yarder. So he says there's nothing mechanical.
Simmons, on the other hand, thinks it has something to do with the operation. Rehkow is McPherson's fourth holder in his four seasons.
"I think that's contributed to some of it. There's no question that the one in the Baltimore game was not a very good snap, and it wasn't a good hold. I think that was pretty obvious to everybody," Simmons said. "I think the operation wasn't perfect in the Cleveland game, frankly. I still expect Evan to make that kick, although it makes it more difficult when the snap's not exactly right and the hold's not exactly right.
"When you're kicking from 50 yards out, any deviation is going to affect it. That was not the case (Sunday). The snap was perfect. The hold was perfect. He just missed a kick. But I think sometimes that can have an effect over time if it's not exactly perfect … I feel good about all three of those guys. We just need time on task."
SLANTS AND SCREENS
Zac Taylor says he'll wait to announce the status of Higgins and left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. for this Sunday's game. Brown re-aggravated the knee he injured the week before in Cleveland and left after 29 plays.
"It's going to be similar as it was last week for Orlando, to see where the week takes us," Taylor said. "No worse off than it was going in. Just as the game went, he kind of got hit on it and felt some discomfort to where it was not in his best interest to keep playing. So we'll see where that goes during the week. Same with Tee." …
Early in the game, Burrow thought he caught the Eagles with 12 men on the field and was furious the refs didn't let him snap the ball and allowed the Eagles to sub. But Taylor said the refs had it right. Burrow was unaware Taylor was also subbing as Burton ran on to the field.
"I can see his frustration because he couldn't see Jermaine coming out there," Taylor said. "It wasn't Jermaine's fault. It was really nobody's fault. It was just unfortunate that it caught that way." …
After a day of simmering on the failed fourth-and-one screen pass to wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase that gave the Eagles the ball inside the Bengals 40 in the last minute of the third quarter with Philly leading, 24-17, Taylor stood his ground.
Right call to go for it. Wrong call to do it with a screen.
"I think on fourth-and-1 for the primary read to be drawn behind the line of scrimmage, that's where the ball should have gone with the play call but that's not the best answer we can give our guys," Taylor said. "And so that's 100 percent on me. I have to give us a better answer. I like the decision to go for it. I think in that point in the game, we needed to go for it and be aggressive in the moment. There's got to be a better call there that I can get us to. So, yeah, 100 percent on me." …
Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo was also asked about a couple of plays that went awry on Sunday: The third-and-16 conversion on the Eagles' tying touchdown drive at the end of the first half and quarterback Jalen Hurts' go-ahead-for-good 45-yard touchdown bomb to wide receiver DeVonta Smith, out battling safety Jordan Battle in the end zone.
On the first one, wide receiver A.J. Brown had time to sit down in a zone behind cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt with Hurts unencumbered in the pocket.
"Part of our thing was not being too loose in some of the calls this week because if they got it to a manageable fourth and 1 or 2, you know what they're going to do," Anarumo said of the Eagles' Brotherly Shove. "We need to sink a little bit deeper but having to do it all over, hindsight being 20-20, I'd probably change that one."
On the bomb, Battle had good coverage but didn't get his head turned around, Anarumo said. The Bengals had seemed to solve their big-play problems from a year ago. It was just the third plus-40 ball they've allowed this season and the first one by a wide receiver since Washington's Terry McLaurin caught a 55-yarder Sept. 23.
"We were in a call where we were focused on a two-high safety look. Jordan was in a deep half part of the coverage there, so we got a little bit of a misread there from a run-pass standpoint," Anarumo said. "If you see it, he'll step up a little bit.
"The two previous plays before, he played it perfectly. So it's just a matter of eyes, and he can clean that up." …
