Bengals cornerback DJ Turner II, ever the perfectionist, would like to have some plays back from Sunday's game in Buffalo, but he still played well enough that defensive coordinator Al Golden on Monday said his consistency has put him in the Pro Bowl conversation.

He was flagged for a pass interference on second-and-18, and he was in on Gabe Davis' 17-yard catch that converted a Buffalo fourth down in their first touchdown drive.

But Turner kept grinding and excelling. He had the first forced fumble of his career at the most opportune moment, a huge play on Bills running back James Cook at the Bengals 2 that resulted in a touchback. He also had his NFL-leading 17^th pass defensed on a ball Turner felt he had good enough coverage that he should have caught it working against wide receiver Keon Coleman in the series after the Bengals went up 14-3.

"He's doing all the little things," Golden said. "He won at the top of the route of what we call a dagger. Just a deep in, and he had an opportunity for an interception. In December, those are the plays that we have to make.

"That's kind of a microcosm of what DJ has set out to do this year, and that is to become certainly better, if not elite, at the top of the route. And he did that there and gave himself an opportunity to have that interception, and he'll convert on it this week."

According to Pro Football Focus, Turner is rated seventh in the league in coverage (18^th overall) while taking the team's best receiver. PFF had him giving up four balls on five targets Sunday for 34 yards, half coming on the one play.

"I do," said Golden, when asked if Turner should be in the Pro Bowl conversation. "We've asked him to do a really hard job each week. Take on the go-to guy, and he's done it and performed at a really, really high level. I think he'll be the first to say he doesn't really want to talk about any of that, just wants to put his head down and go to work.

"But, certainly, he should be in the conversation based on his performance, his approach, and consistency. Everybody forgets that part of it. Just the consistent part of it that separates you when you get to that level."

Higgins In Concussion Protocol

It's unclear if the Bengals have wide receiver Tee Higgins for Sunday's game (1 p.m.-Cincinnati's Local 12) against the Ravens at Paycor Stadium. Head coach Zac Taylor said he was put into concussion protocol when he reported he didn't feel well Monday morning.

After missing the Nov. 27 win over the Ravens with a concussion suffered Nov. 23 against the Patriots, Higgins returned Sunday in Buffalo and had two acrobatic touchdown catches to go with 92 yards on six catches.

Higgins said after the game he had no problems returning to the game after he left two different times.

"The way he talks to me about it was, 'I got hit, and so I'm shaken up on the play just from a football hit. And by the time the docs got out there, I felt fine. I got up and it was good, cleared everything,'" Taylor said.

"And then post-game, you get on the plane and come in this morning, and he's doing the right thing and saying, 'Okay, now I don't feel great.' And so we'll put him back in the protocol."

Edge Joseph Ossai could be limited early in the week after he played Sunday with a cut on his shin that required stitches. First-round pick Shemar Stewart (ankle), on injured reserve for four games, is eligible to come off this week and has yet to return to practice.

"We'll get to Wednesday and then sort through how we want to approach it this week," Taylor said.

Special-teamer PJ Jules (ankle) is day-to-day.

Raft of Roster Moves On Way

Published reports have NFL sack champion and NFL Defensive Player of the Year runner-up Trey Hendrickson undergoing season-ending surgery on a core issue that has limited him to four sacks in seven games. He was injured in Green Bay during the sixth game, a week after he had two sacks against Detroit.

He missed the Thursday night win over Pittsburgh, but then later admitted he came back too soon, played just 23 snaps against the Jets on Oct. 26 and hasn't played since with what has been listed as a hip/pelvis injury.

It ends a wild ride of a year for Hendrickson, who turned 31 on Friday. It began with him holding a practice-field press conference during the spring voluntaries to explain his absence as he bid to extend the final year of his contract. When the Bengals gave him a $12 million raise, he ended his training camp hold-in (he attended meetings and was on the sidelines during practices), in time to practice six times and start the opener.

He ends this deal as the Bengals' best free agent in history. Since signing him before the 2021 season, Hendrickson has racked up 61 sacks in 72 games, half-a-sack out of fifth place on the Bengals all-time list behind Ross Browner. Despite the injury, he has the third-most sacks in the decade with 74.5 behind Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt.

Taylor announced Monday the club waived wide receiver Jermaine Burton after they suspended him before the weekend trip to Buffalo.

Burton, a 2024 third-round pick out of Alabama, was never active for a game this season after a rookie year he had four catches in 131 snaps during 14 games and was reportedly benched for a game when he missed practice.

Taylor wouldn't go into details.

"I think everybody worked really hard at it and (wishes) him the best," Taylor said. "Hopefully, he gets to a change of scenery that can do good things for him."

He said they'll wait to see if they add a receiver to the active roster.

Slants and Screens

Speaking of the Ravens, when Golden met the media Monday, he was asked about the two game-changing runs on Sunday by Bills quarterback Josh Allen.

On what amounted to the last play, the third-and-15 conversion run for 17 yards that killed the clock and denied Joe Burrow another shot, Golden said he dialed up the same defensive line stunt that forced Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson to fumble inside the Baltimore 5 for the first of the Ravens' five turnovers on Thanksgiving Night.

It came after Golden called two all-out zero blitzes, the second one sacking Allen and causing him to nearly fumble.

"It ended up playing like a draw, so we wanted to distort that," Golden said. "That was my feeling going into the down that it was going to be a screen, a draw, something to that effect. A little bit more conservative than what they did on second down, which obviously we almost got the ball out.

"Certainly hindsight you could call something else, but I believe in the front and I was hoping for the same result we got last week against Lamar in a very similar situation. Third and longer. They didn't block our D-End (Ossai). (Allen) pulled the ball down and took off so they didn't even block it correctly or anything. So it was unfortunate we didn't even make him stay in the pocket. They slid the protection, didn't block the end and got out real quick, which was unfortunate for us."

On Allen's 40- yard scramble touchdown on second-and-10 that cut the lead to 28-25 with six minutes left, Golden lit up the Bills with a blitz and Allen ran through it as the perimeter opened.

"We … really felt like it was a good call. We were gapped out, and we just got a little high on the edge and created a crease, which was unfortunate," Golden said. "I thought we were going to get them in a third and really long there, which would've been critical at that point in the game … when you do that, you can't miss, we can't miss our opportunities. We've got to close there." …

Naturally, Golden isn't happy with the results. But he thinks his unit has improved when it comes to reading and reacting.

"Right now, we're playing fast. There's not a lot of confusion with our guys and obviously the offense challenges that, that's what they're designed to do," Golden said. "We said everything we needed to say pre-snap. Our communication was great." …

He turned to Allen's unworldly 11-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-three, where defensive tackle B.J. Hill had him going to his right headed toward the sideline, and wide receiver Khalil Shakir was blanketed by rookie linebackers Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr. and safety Geno Stone.

Golden wouldn't change the call or how he taught it. Maybe if someone had put a hand in the air. But, still, everyone was where they should have been and in coverage.

"I see a lot of that. I see a lot of that on film yesterday," Golden said. "We just have to eliminate the five plays of 20 yards or more. One was a 40-yard scramble when we're gapped out. So that can't happen. We've got to make that stop. But I don't want the 32 plays of four yards or less to be erased." …