Oren Burks, the Bengals' senior linebacker drafted in the same 2018 third round the Ravens took Orlando Brown Jr., the Steelers took Mason Rudolph and the Bengals took Sam Hubbard, came into the league halfway between the rookies he finds himself mentoring.
Demetrius Knight Jr., has been starting since they took him in the second round. Barrett Carter came out of the fourth round to grab the green dot from Logan Wilson, now in Dallas. The 30-year-old Burks, who last year went from the practice squad to the big parade in Philadelphia, is a resource of resilience as the first backer off the bench.
"He's been an ideal veteran and even more. Gives you anything you need. He'll give you the shirt off his own back," Knight says. "There are so many golden nuggets he gives us. Not just me, but Barrett and all the guys. When we have questions, even when we don't have questions, he beats us to the punch."
It's been bloody. Knight and Carter are learning on the job in a maze of points and yards, and Burks, the thoughtful, bespectacled former president of the Vanderbilt student-athlete advisory committee, is there with eight seen-it-all NFL seasons.
"I've gotten better during my career. That's what I keep encouraging these guys. They're light years ahead of me where I was my rookie year," Burks says. "For them to be thrown into the fire, it's a hard position to be in, but that's what is called to be a pro. Just keep growing. Just keep getting better because they definitely have the traits. I see a lot of my younger self in them.
"The athleticism. Their knowledge of the game is definitely up there. It's just allowing the game to slow down for them and play fast. In terms of football I.Q., I think they're definitely ahead of where I was as a rookie."
That's because Burks played safety and hybrid outside backer before he settled on inside backer his last year at Vandy. Then he had to come to terms with being used primarily as a special teamer in the league, but he's always been there when needed most from scrimmage.
By sticking to the grind and the basics, Burks has played all but nine snaps in the last two Super Bowls. He worked 71 of the 79 plays next to All-Pro Fred Warner in the 49ers' overtime loss to the Chiefs. Last year, he played all but one snap next to Eagles Pro Bowler Zack Baun in Philly's win to end a season that is a lesson in perseverance.
He began '24 getting released at the final cutdown after a knee injury in training camp. Then, after he was promoted from the practice squad, he didn't take a snap from scrimmage until the sixth game and didn't start until the 16th game before starting for the injured Nakobe Dean in the last three postseason games.
"I've seen all sides of it and I've got a ring," Burks says. "I play my best ball when I get away from the noise. The building knows the work I've put in, the process internally when I look in the mirror. Am I doing everything I can to be prepared when the time comes? That's what it comes down to."
Vincent Rey, the former Bengals linebacker who was a version of Burks in the previous decade and is now their chaplain, says Burks "is a standard-setter," who is also quietly one of their best special-teamers.
Burks was there again Sunday when he played a season-high 37 scrimmage snaps in the biggest game of the year for his club, splitting the 74 with Knight. Defensive coordinator Al Golden indicated it was a product of the game plan for the Steelers in an effort to lessen Knight's responsibilities and take advantage of Burks' ability to play both backer spots in a package with edges Joseph Ossai and Cedric Johnson.
"It was more a function of getting Joe and Ced in the game and then not overloading Demetrius to learn that spot and the other spot if we did go to another package during the game, which we did," Golden said. "We were in and out of packages there."
Burks came through with eight tackles, the second most of his career, exactly what Golden expected from the room's mentor.
"I thought he played well … and he brings experience and poise to the position. I think a lot of the guys feed off of that," Golden says. "He's a tremendous human being overall, and I think that resonates in that room. He is somebody that's embraced the mentor role in there with the young guys, so I think he's been a valuable asset for us."
Ted Karras, the senior offensive player, says he learned his big NFL lesson in his rookie year: "Know who you are." Burks knows exactly who he is and doesn't mind letting the rookies know there are good times on the way.
"I feel like I'm a leader. Not the rah-rah guy. I try to lead through my process," Burks says. "The way I handle myself through the good times and bad. Voice of reason sometimes. Wisdom. Be steady."
Running Progress
The Steelers tried to pound the Bengals Sunday and didn't, running 28 times and getting just four yards a crack. Take away running back Jaylen Warren's 35-yard run in the first drive (Golden pointed to the two rookie backers on that one), and the Bengals held them to 2.8 yards per, representing improvement for Carter, Knight and the rest of the defense.
"There was a lot of individual improvement. Structurally, I thought we improved versus the run game," Golden said Monday. "A lot of that is a tribute the individual improvement, right? Barrett had really good command of the line of scrimmage. Got us in the right fronts and checks and slid the front when he needed to. I thought everybody saw the run game really well."
Edge Myles Murphy had a career-high seven tackles, just behind the team-leading eight of Burks and safety Geno Stone.
"Myles Murphy set really good edges for us and had positive footwork all day," Golden said. "I thought we played with energy. The guys were confident in what we were doing. Our mental errors were way down. The complexity of what they do in the run game creates a lot of those. We played fast. We fit really well.
"That didn't steal their confidence on the 35-yarder. Other than that, you're talking 27 carries for the remaining 70 yards. The guys fought hard. They did play with energy … For me, (Jordan) Battle represents that, (DJ) Turner represents that, Knight represents that. Barrett represents that. (Kris) Jenkins. Ossai. A bunch of guys play with energy."
Turnover Tale
The lack of generating turnovers in the last three games has gone a long way in deciding them. That would have made a huge difference in the one-point loss to the Jets, five-point loss to the Bears, and a four-point deficit to the Steelers with 16 minutes left.
The Bengals generated four turnovers in the first two games and five in the last eight.
"The one thing that would help is get a turnover, interception, or sack-fumble. Those plays breed energy. We've been devoid of that recently," Golden said. "We just need to make one or two, create two turnovers. We've got to get back to work on that."
It's like head coach Zac Taylor said Monday about his offense's two turnovers that turned into Pittsburgh touchdowns:
"Realistically, that game, if we possess the ball and don't have any turnovers, and the turnover battle is 0-0, it's probably very similar to the Week 18 game last year we won up there, (19-17) with the team with the ball with a chance to win at the end."
Slants and Screens
Taylor didn't sound optimistic about cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt avoiding surgery after suffering a Lisfranc injury in his foot, and it's too bad because he had been playing well after a tough start that included a benching.
"After going through a lot of adversity, I thought his response was the right one," Taylor said. "He went out there and competed and played physical and did everything we asked, and had a great attitude and brought energy to the group.
"Cam's a likable guy. He's energetic. You want to pull for him. So I was happy to see him rebound off some adversity and struggles that he had early in the year. To come back and play the way that we expected him to play. That was good to see, and it's unfortunate where it stands now. " …
The Bengals had 116 missed tackles last season, according to Pro Football Reference. After having 16 in Pittsburgh, they're now at 126 this season.
The biggest ones Sunday seemed to come on the Steelers' shortest throws and when the Bengals had them behind the sticks. According to Pro Football Focus, the Steelers had 224 yards after the catch.
"You can't run from that. And the hard part was, there were some situations we were great on first and second down," Taylor said. "We got them into the situations we wanted. Second-and-long, third-and-long, and then you've just got to get a guy down in space. And we didn't do a good enough job of that.
"We've talked about it. We talked about it initially. We work on it. We do every technique we can possibly do in the game. We just got to let it happen. And it hasn't happened on a consistent basis."
Taylor-Britt, along with Battle at safety and nickel cornerback Dax Hill, were singled out by Taylor for hits they made on the perimeter …
