Bengals backup tackle Devin Cochran didn't need a game ball after he made his first NFL start Sunday and took all 69 snaps of the 37-27 victory over the Titans in Tennessee.
The return text from teammate Trey Hendrickson went a long way. That was after he sent a post-game text to the NFL sack leader, a guy he has gone against so often in practice since he arrived as a college free agent in 2022.
"All right now, man. Do I have enough respect from you now to follow me back? I know this is lame,"' recalled Cochran Monday with a smile. "Sometimes I'll put stories on Instagram of my workouts, and I've seen him watching it. 'C'mon, man. I follow you.' He gave me a handshake emoji and a follow. That was a highlight."
Another highlight was quarterback Joe Burrow's six-yard scrambling touchdown pass to running back Chase Brown on a play that lasted longer than Cochran's NFL experience from scrimmage before Sunday.
That had been one play last month in the win over the Raiders, and that didn't last the nine seconds the Fox broadcast said it took Burrow to find Brown.
Burrow made two defenders miss, but he didn't have to make Titans edger Jaylen Harrell whiff. That's because Cochran was virtually prostrate on him for about half the play. Cochran batted Harrell to the ground on their initial encounter and then knocked him back down when Harrell tried to get back up.
As Harrell kept trying to scramble to his feet, Cochran did the smart thing. As expected from the son of a college professor and a guy who already had a bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt and was earning a master's at Georgia Tech the last time he played this many snaps in 2021 for the Ramblin' Wreck.
The 6-7, 310-pound Cochran stretched out on the 6-4, 247-pound Harrell and got up just in time to see the catch.
"I had a good inside punch. Then I kind of felt his weight coming toward me and I kind of tracked him down," Cochran said. "From then on, it was you can't get up and re-trace (steps). I have to keep you down. After he gets buried, I can't let him pursue. I have to slow down the pursuit. It was better (laying on him).
"I was fully focused on how I could immobilize him. I didn't see (the scramble). I was in a state of violence. It was great. You never really expect for it to go perfectly like that."
It's that kind of competitiveness that offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher has seen in Cochran and made him feel pretty good about going in with his third left tackle of the season.
"We see how he practices. That's what gave you the most peace of mind," Pitcher said Monday. "We know how competitive he is. He goes up against Trey and Trey practices hard. Trey's not one to take it easy in practice. Devin tries to match that intensity. He practices the right way. I know how fiery and competitive he is and that's always going to give a guy a chance. He did a good job. There are always going to be moments. Any guy has them in his first NFL start, but I was proud of what he did out there."
Pro Football Focus had Cochran for two pressures and two hits of Burrow, but it was a solid effort against the NFL's second-ranked defense. The offensive line didn't let Tennessee's estimable front control the line of scrimmage while allowing one sack and coming six yards from a 100-yard rusher and 100-yard receiver. On top of playing all the snaps Sunday, Cochran played all the scout team reps last week and got a lot of work against Joseph Ossai during a week Hendrickson only practiced in the short Friday workout.
"For the last couple of years, it wasn't what it is now," said Cochran of his relationship with Hendrickson. "It was competition. He's made a lot of good points about what it's like to play. After the game, I'm thinking about how my body feels, and Trey and I go full speed. It's practice. We work hard. That's tough. Tough. Going against Trey all year on the third-down series prepared me really well. But last week it was mostly me and Joe (Ossai) and Joe really got into it. That helps me get my mindset right."
It turns out this Sunday could be even greater than last Sunday. Wife Tyra, expecting their first child, is to be induced Sunday. The day the Bengals host the Browns.
"It should take 24-48 hours," Cochran says of what he hopes is just as perfect timing as Burrow's scrambling touchdown.
SAM SONG
As expected, reports have Bengals defensive captain Sam Hubbard tearing his PCL on his two-yard touchdown catch Sunday. But head coach Zac Taylor wouldn't say Monday he's out for the year, only for this Sunday's game.
Wearing a brace over his pants, Hubbard politely declined comment Monday, but indicated he won't need surgery. He left the locker room carrying a bag of two footballs. One was the ball Burrow tracked down in the end zone for him after Hubbard spiked it, and the other the game ball Taylor flipped him in the locker room.
It was left to Taylor to reflect on what Hubbard, the homegrown seven-year vet, has meant to his room.
"Critical. A guy I've leaned on every second I've been here," Taylor said. "Always practices the right way, works the right way, leads the right way. Sets the tone for the whole team. We got the news on the sidelines and his gut instinct was, 'I don't care, I'm playing.'
"By the time I walked away to go back to the offense obviously they got to him and said, 'No, you're not playing.' That was just his reaction. 'Screw it, I'm playing.' Certainly means a lot to this team."
Taylor also said right guard Alex Cappa is in concussion protocol. Andrew Steuber played the final four snaps Sunday, but Taylor also said Trey Hill is an option on the practice squad if Cappa can't go.
PITCHER'S PITCH
Everybody, it seems, wanted to get Hubbard that offensive touchdown after more than 5,000 career snaps, 18 of them on offense.
"We would never run a play that we didn't think was going to work. Just for the sake of nostalgia or helping somebody out," Pitcher said. "We run plays to win football games, but we felt like it was going to work, and we trusted Sam to make the catch. We were hoping that it wasn't going to be quite as contested, and the defender actually made a pretty good play to get back into phase, but hell of a catch by Sam. We wanted to get Sam one (touchdown), but we also felt like it was a worthy play to run regardless."
NOT MUM ON MIMS
After Pitcher mused that first-round pick Amarius Mims probably still has played more college snaps than NFL snaps despite making 10 starts as a rookie, enterprising sports anchor Charlie Clifford of Cincinnati's Channel 5 informed him the count is 803 at Georgia and 802 here.
The point is, they love what the guy has done so far off not only a limited college career but virtually no training camp because of a pectoral injury. On Monday, Taylor saluted the personnel department for getting on the table to take him at No. 18.
"And we get to reap the benefits of that," Taylor said. "You don't notice him during games. You don't notice it. You can feel that during the game. I told him to come off the field against Dallas and he doesn't understand the wave of rushers he's had to face this year. It's tops in the league in terms of who he's had to go against and he's done a great job.
"It doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement over his time. He's just a rookie. He got no training camp. He's been really consistent and there's a lot to like there and it hasn't been too big for him that's for sure."
It gets huge again Sunday against the Browns' Myles Garrett, reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Garrett usually lines up over left tackle, but he took a few runs at Mims back in October when the Bengals snapped his seven-game sack streak against them.
"He's gotten more comfortable. He is really showing how effective he can be in protection," Pitcher said. "And then things like more than just the one-on-one protection matchups, it's OK, how am I playing in tandem with my guard. How are we passing off twists?
"All the different pressure front structures we see on third down and what are the different rules I have to be ready for every week. Stuff that is more than pass set, block the guy across from me. I think we are almost all the way through his first NFL season and he has really adapted well to all that stuff. "
SLANTS AND SCREENS
A hallmark of Zac Taylor's six seasons in Cincinnati having one of the league's more disciplined teams when it comes to penalties. But in the last three games, they've committed their most: ten against Dallas, 11 against Pittsburgh, and 14 Sunday in Tennessee.
"Each one in this last game was different. I liked the way our DBs competed and so they had some called that were called a little bit both ways. I was happy to see those guys compete and sometimes you're going to be right there and they're going to call it on you," Taylor said. "I like to see our guys going down that way as opposed to giving up access and giving up completions, so I was happy with that. Two of them were on the tackles getting out a tick early. I know they got them on one, too, on offense.
"Really the ones where we had three false starts, that were just false starts, four false starts. Aside from the tackles getting out early, those are the ones you can't have. Those are the ones are not acceptable. It's guys we count on and are about the right stuff and I know we'll be better on that going forward." …
Although Burrow showed his frustration on that last drive, the coaches loved that 14-play march that consumed nearly six minutes and saw running back Chase Brown gouge out 39 of his 97 yards and ten of his 25 carries.
"It's four-minute offense, so they're going to have an extra hat because that's what the situation dictates," Pitcher said. "And still I think we rattled off a gain of 11 and two eight-yard runs in that stretch. And a handful of four- and five-yard runs … It's really an attitude finish when you get put in that situation. Because schematically you're kind of going to be up against it, based on what they're going to present to you." …
Suddenly, Brown is poised to become the second 1,000-yard rusher of the Burrow era. He needs 168 yards in the last three games, or a 56-yard average. He comes in with 59.
He's on pace to have 231 carries at 4.4 yards per, the fewest in a 1,000-yard season in ten years, when Jeremy Hill had 5.1 yards per 222 carries …
