Rampaging rookie edge Cashius Howell underwent wrist surgery Sunday night after he took 27 snaps in the 43-36 overtime win over the Titans.
Howell, the second-rounder who became their top draft pick when the Bengals shipped their first-rounder to the Giants for Dexter Lawrence, has been as advertised.
He had another quarterback hit and another tackle for loss against the Titans and has an impressive Pro Football Reference line suspended after seven games with five quarterback hits, a sack, no missed tackles while making six, and his nine pressures are fourth-best on the team.
Head coach Zac Taylor didn't offer a timeline, but they didn't put Howell on injured reserve, either. Certainly the Bengals are going to need last year's first-round edge Shemar Stewart to play more than the six snaps he played last Sunday because rotational edge Cedric Johnson (ankle) is also day-to-day.
Stewart has played 23 snaps in four games, and he's looking to show why the coaches have faith in him. He had three rushes and a pressure against the Titans.
"We're well built in that room. It'll provide more opportunities for guys like Shemar," Taylor said. "We knew a day like this would come. It's always unfortunate when a guy gets hurt. That's why you have the depth. Shemar has been doing everything he can to control his spot. We trust him to go in there and make some plays for us."
Howell, Johnson, and Pro Bowl cornerback candidate DJ Turner II (heel) exited in the fourth quarter of the marathon, and Taylor also called Turner day-to-day after another suffocating day on the corner. According to PFF, the year-long trend continued with Turner getting targeted only three times and giving up three yards on two receptions.
Madrid Mania
Turner and Johnson are going to make the trip to Madrid with a chance to play in venerable Santiago Bernabéu Stadium against the Falcons Sunday (9:30 a.m-Cincinnati's Channel 5, NFL Network) on a journey that begins Tuesday night after a walkthrough at Paycor Stadium.
Following an eight-hour flight, the Bengals arrive around 10 a.m. Wednesday, when they have the day to themselves before starting work Thursday.
Which is just fine with center and captain Ted Karras, who says he's never experienced jet lag flying to Europe and sees no hiccups with Madrid six hours ahead of Cincinnati.
"If you send us overseas, at least have a little sangria," Karras said Monday. "I would have been horrified if I had to go to Australia for 12 hours to get my ass beat. My family's going out, too. I'm excited for it. We'll be walking around. They know we're coming."
That's a not so veiled shot at how the Rams handled their Opening Day road loss to the 49ers, but Karras has embraced Zac Taylor's plan. Two things can be true at once. Enjoy the culture and win the game.
During his book-shopping before the preseason game in Philadelphia, Karras picked up a tome on Madrid. Bernabéu Stadium was built in 1947 and is a soccer version of Fenway Park as hallowed ground for the worldwide popular Real Madrid soccer team. It has a retractable roof that Karras hears is to be closed.
"I think the main theme of the book is how Madrid is considered one of the least pivotal European capitals, but there is so much rich history there," Karras said. "Unique local culture. Very excited to visit. I'm excited to see the stadium. I think the roof is going to be closed. Just going to enjoy our time with our teammates and hopefully become 6-2."
Zac Manifest
Taylor doubts he'll sample any of the local flavor. Unless, he says, he bumps into a restaurant. He's trying to steer them to 6-2 with the first-place Steelers looming at Paycor a week from Sunday night. Thursday through Sunday are on the same kind of sked he's had for the seven 1 p.m. games that have started the season.
"We'll be practicing as normal, follow the Thursday/Friday routine. Bus travel to the practice field changes a bit of our timeline. That's no big deal," Taylor said. "Saturday we do a walkthrough at the stadium. At international stadiums, you're usually not allowed in the end zones or on the logos. It's a bit of a half-speed walkthrough. Atlanta is the home team, so they'll get to go first. We go after that."
Taylor realizes he's got a team that is popular in the old country. Quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are among the most recognizable players in the world, and Taylor has an eye at picking up more fans.
"You get an opportunity to showcase the Bengals brand, which I think is important and awesome. We have a lot of players who can help push that forward," Taylor said. "Absolutely I think as many fans as we can gather as we play abroad is a really good thing.
"We know we have a very strong Bengals fan base over in Europe. They've come over here. We've met them. They've got their podcasts. They support. It's awesome to have fans like that. I'm certain we have a lot in Spain that will come watch us play. I'm certain that we'll recruit new fans as we're over there, and they get a chance to learn some of our players and get to buy some of our gear and get to be life-long fans after a trip like this. That part is not lost on me and that part I think that we should all embrace."
Tight ends salute Trumpy
Of course on the day pioneering tight end Boby Trumpy was inducted into the Bengals Ring of Honor, the man wearing his No. 84, rookie tight end Jack Endries, scored his first touchdown on his first NFL catch in an economical day for the Berkley economics major.
"I read about that. I knew he was A tight end and I thought about that afterward," Endries said.
Tight end Mike Gesicki haS also been reading about the late Trumpy and thought it was a good day to extend his Bengals record for tight ends by catching a touchdown in his fifth straight game.
"I know he caught the first touchdown in Bengals history and had a heck of a career here," Gesicki said. "How about it? Three weeks in a row two tight ends have scored."
Endries consulted with Sample before catching the one-yard pass from Burrow as he flared to the flat after going in motion from right to left
It was pretty much the same play when running back Samaje Perine ran in for a touchdown up the middle in Baltimore last week, and Endries had the momentum to take out the defensive end. This time, Endries asked Sample if he should fake a block before he went into the flat.
"He was in on the play with me, and I tried to use my eyes on the guy at the end of the line," Endries said. "We ran it in practice, and it looked good. I was really working on my burst to get out and separate."
Endries appreciated Burrow finding the ball and giving it to him. But he won't have it long. He'll give it to his parents, in town for the game and headed to Madrid.
"It means more to them than it does me," Endries said.
Gesicki was also all over Endries when he scored. That's probably because he didn't score until his 27th NFL game in his second season, when old friend Ryan Fitzpatrick hit him from 11 yards out in another game in Ohio, a Dolphins' loss to the Browns.
But now Gesicki is scoring at will. His latest was a 25-yard touchdown pass down the seam with 7:13 left to give them a 29-28 lead as the defense shifted to Chase and Higgins to prevent profuse bleeding.
Burrow had just stood in the pocket on third-and-10 as he took a hellacious hit before converting on a pearl to Chase running across the field to the right sideline. On the next snap, Chase went in motion out of the backfield to the left behind Gesicki in the slot, and with the DBs coming down for Chase, Gesicki glided into the seam sight unseen.
"It was similarish to the one I scored vs. (the Raiders) two years ago. Pump it to Ja'Marr, make them step up a little bit, and then sneak up the seam," Gesicki said. "This was more of a condensed version of that and different coverage. Similar idea.
"Listen, you've got the best receiver in the world, use him as a decoy, especially when he already has 11catches for 150 yards, and a touchdown. Maybe they want to guard him right now. And then forget about the tall lanky tight end down the seam."
But don't kid yourself. It's a talent, and offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher knows how rare it is.
"He's got tremendous spatial awareness when it comes to that area of the field in particular," Pitcher said Monday. "On the one yesterday, that's a very different seam throw than when you just call four verticals or when you call some other form of a seam around the drop-back game, but requires feel nonetheless.
"I would just credit Mike for his experience and ability to just sense the space in those spots, and then his catch radius is a big deal too, because when you're making that throw over that part of the field, having somebody that can reach and catch and adjust is a big deal."
Slants and Screens
Here's something else Pitcher knows. The Bengals' bread-and-butter. That would be Burrow, Chase, and Higgins.
His response to the pundits claiming that it's too risky and not sustainable to have Burrow drop back 50 times a game is that there's also a risk at missing opportunities.
After all, Burrow leads the league in touchdown passes with a 73% completion percentage, which would be the third-highest of all-time in a season. He's also on pace for 49 touchdown passes, which would give him 206 in his career and break the Bengals' all-time mark held by Andy Dalton with 204. Remember how he said this spring that was doable?
And then there is Higgins, second in the league with yards (726) while Chase and a host of others are second in touchdowns with six. Gesicki? He leads all tight ends with six touchdowns.
"No matter what you decide to do, there's risk. There's opportunity cost and risk for us to not do that," Pitcher said. "That's how we have to constantly live, and we have to balance those things because there's two sides to the ledger, no matter what the decision is that you're making, and when we have the players that we have, that's our job: is to balance those risks and weigh them against the benefits, and then to do that within every game setting and every unique opponent." …
Gesicki didn't use to be superstitious, but here he is. On Sunday, he wore black cleats for the first time since his first Bengals game in the 2024 opener because the white cleats he usually wears got ripped up in Baltimore. Since Nike doesn't make the style of shoes and gloves he likes, he buys his own.
"I was honestly worried about it in pregame," Gesicki said. "But now, maybe it's me and not the cleats." ….
Safety Jessie Bates III has still played 20 more games for the Bengals than the Falcons, but the last time was in 2022.
Still, he's highly-regarded around here for his five seasons in Cincinnati that included a Super Bowl and two AFC title games. Not to mention one of the most iconic plays in Bengals history when his tipped Patrick Mahomes pass turned into a Vonn Bell interception in overtime to set up the win and a trip to Super Bowl LVI.
"I don't usually spend this much time praising the other team, but Jessie's one that I've always really liked," Taylor said. "He was really playing at an unbelievable level, and he and Vonn in tandem were a really good tandem together. And then you could just see his confidence increase every single year where his playmaking abilities really took over.
"Plays on the ball, interceptions, his tackling got better and better every single year. He was really just a perfect example of a guy that just shows growth from every year, from years one through five, and proud of the way you attacked it. Professional mindset. Great guy in the community. Great guy in the locker room. Easy to coach because he likes being coached and liked ball." …
