Bengals

Bengals C Ted Karras admitted that the team needs to do a much better job of running the football, as they rank dead last in yards per carry this season.

“We all got to take that on the chin and be a lot better,” Karras said, via NY Times. “I got to be a lot better. I think a lot of guys feel that way.”

Bengals OC Dan Pitcher didn’t have answers to the team’s running game problem, which alludes to the team simply not having the personnel, especially on the offensive line, to create running lanes.

“Obviously, it’s heavy on our minds,” Pitcher said. “There’s no easy answers. There’s no, ‘Hey, we just get to flip this switch and it’s fixed.’ That ain’t the case. So we go to work, that’s the only way I know how, and we just try like hell to make it better.”

Bengals HC Zac Taylor refused to place the blame on a single player and said that the team needed to do better within the scheme to perform.

“We have to do a great job identifying the scheme that we’ve got a lot of confidence in to be able to give the running backs opportunity, and our guys need to step up and do a great job with that scheme,” Taylor said. “And so I think it’s unfair to put it on a player. It’s on all of us offensively, collectively, to find a better answer.”

The Bengals did a poor job of creating running lanes and lacked aggressiveness during the team’s blowout loss to Minneosta.

“Yeah, it’s hard to explain,” Taylor said. “You don’t want to have to explain that, but that’s the truth. We got to get moving off the ball, increase some displacement, so that there’s some space for these backs to make some hay.”

Pitcher said the line is thinking too much, which may look why they don’t appear aggressive on film.

“That’s a lot of moving pieces, and sometimes the result of that is guys playing with hesitation and that looks on tape like a lack of physicality,” Pitcher said. “And it is. It’s called what it is, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s because guys don’t want to go play with physicality. That’s where we have to figure out: how do we get our guys to do that? How do we operate in a world where they can feel like they can go play with physicality?”

Browns

When appearing on the New Heights podcast, Colorado HC Deion Sanders predicted that his son, Browns fifth-round QB Shedeur Sanders, would eventually get a chance to play this year. 

“Be patient and be ready,” Sanders said, via Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN. “You got to be ready when it’s time. But when it’s time, you’re going to know. And it’s coming up. I got a prediction. I ain’t telling nobody. I got a feeling when it’s going to go down. But it’s going to go down this year. … He’s going to get a shot.”

ESPN’s Adam Schefter previously reported that the Ravens were planning on taking Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round, but the quarterback told Baltimore he didn’t want to sit behind Lamar Jackson. Deion Sanders explained his son’s decision. 

“I played for Baltimore, so me and [former Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome] are cool,” Sanders said. “We understood that whole conversation, and he wanted to talk to Shedeur as well as he wanted to talk to me. And I put Shedeur on the phone, and I don’t want to say how it went, but how in the world can somebody fault him for saying or thinking, ‘Why in the world would I go back up Lamar [Jackson] for 10 more years?’ I’ve never sat on the bench and said, ‘Well, I learned a lot today.’”

Steelers

• Steelers HC Mike Tomlin ruled out OLB Alex Highsmith for Week 4 with an ankle injury, while S DeShon Elliott and CB Joey Porter Jr. “certainly have a chance.” (Brooke Pryor)
• Tomlin talked about LB Cole Holcomb‘s recovery and return from his knee injury: “You can’t say enough about his mental toughs. … there’s a loneliness that comes with rehabilitation.” (Pryor)
• Ahead of their meeting against the Vikings, Tomlin talked about his belief that Minnesota DC Brian Flores‘ approach to learning will get him another HC job: “I thought he did a successful job of it the first time around, to be quite honest with you… His openness to differing thoughts and view points is a weapon for him as a coach.” (Pryor)

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