Bengals Beat: Coping With The Loss Of DJ Reader, DJ Ivey, Keeping Fingers Crossed on Ja’Marr Chase

CINCINNATI — Zac Taylor and the Bengals have been down this injury road too often in the last two seasons.

While every team goes through its fair share of losses over the course of any season, the Bengals have lost two of their captains, including one on offense and one on defense.

The Bengals have gotten over the shock of losing Joe Burrow and backup Jake Browning has won three straight games after losing his first NFL start.

The Bengals have managed without Tee Higgins for four games this season, going 1-3 in his absence. The Bengals have lost Cam Taylor-Britt, their top corner, to a quad and ankle injury. He could be coming back in a couple of weeks.

Last year, they lost La’el Collins to a torn ACL. Alex Cappa went down with a severe high ankle sprain. Jonah Williams was playing through two dislocated kneecaps.

On Saturday, the lost DJ Reader (quad tendon) and DJ Ivey (left ACL tear) for the season. Ja’Marr Chase may have escaped serious injury when he exited the game against Minnesota with an AC joint sprain in his right shoulder. He is considered day-to-day.

“He’s just such a leader, such a consistent force on the defensive line,” Zac Taylor said of the loss of Reader. “I think he’s playing outstanding, just so consistent every single day. Someone that coaches could count on, some of the other players could count on, always has the right mindset day to day, even has the right mindset. Seeing him come off the field, seeing him in the training room last night and so I know that he’ll respond the right way and it’s unfortunate for DJs, unfortunate for all of us because he’s such a big part of all of us and so it’s a killer to see something like that to happen to him.

“And same with DJ Ivey. DJ Ivey has really worked hard to put himself in a position to help us and so again, both those guys be pulling for them in their recoveries.”

Josh Tupou played well in Reader’s absence and Joseph Ossai spent more snaps on the field, playing some inside along Trey Hendrickson to help fill the void. Jay Tufele will be elevated from the practice squad to chip in over the final three games as well. As for DJ Ivey, the rookie out of Miami (Fla.) has made a significant impact in both the secondary and on special teams. This means that Jalen Davis could see significantly more playing time while Sidney Jones IV and Allan George could be elevated off the practice

The Bengals have what they have. Last year, Joe Burrow and his make-shift offensive line came within a personal foul and some questionable officiating in the AFC championship game of advancing to their second straight Super Bowl. Now, with Jake Browning calling the shots, the task is the same.

“You just move forward. We can’t sit here and dwell on the guys that aren’t with us,” Taylor said. “Obviously there’s a respect we have for those guys. Those guys are a huge part of why we are here today. But at the same point you have to just pick up and move on to the next game and we’ll utilize those guys certainly.”

Burrow on the phone:

Joe Burrow is trying to do anything he can to stay involved as an offensive captain and helping the cause. On Saturday, that meant getting on the headset listening to the play calls and offering his input when he felt empowered to do so.

“Burrow was on the headset talking, I was texting with him (Saturday) night and he said, ‘I just never know how much to say,’ and I said, ‘I’ll tell you when to shut up, trust me.’ So I am not scared to tell people to shut up on the headset, but again, just guys like that that are invaluable to be on the sidelines. They see it from a different lens than we do. So his perspective’s invaluable. DJ Reader probably won’t be able to, if I had to guess probably won’t be on the sideline. But you still want a guy like that around and just the insight that he has for his teammates. So again, those guys still provide great value to us given the leadership roles that they’re in and what they can do for us moving forward.”

Loud and clear:

It as no accident that Zac Taylor delivered a strong message to the fan base last Tuesday, asking everyone in stripes to be loud and have an extra drink outside before coming in so they could be well lubricated to be loud. Saturday, they delivered in full throat when the Bengals needed it most – the fourth quarter.

“Yeah, you felt it. I mean you really did just because it took everybody, I mean we needed every play from every guy that made one and so you are a little bit emotional just thinking about everybody you relied on there in that fourth quarter, in overtime to step up and they did and we called on the crowd to come up big force and you’ve really felt that in the fourth quarter (and) in overtime,” a still exhausted Taylor said Sunday. “It was loud early in the game, but it was certainly as loudest in the fourth quarter in overtime. You’re down 14 points and I don’t think anybody left. It looked like it was still jam packed in there and the people believed that we were going to be able to come back and do that and kept supporting us through the bitter end.

“And so again, that matters to us. We felt that energy, that crowd noise does affect them when they’re in the huddle, particularly at the end of the fourth quarter. They had a chance there if they could have gotten drive kicked a field goal, they potentially win the game and they couldn’t. They took a false start and they just couldn’t really get it in order because the crowd noise was just so good. So that was a big time organizational win there.”

And about that specific request of the fans and lubrication for their throats?

“They were loud, so again, I don’t have cameras outside or anything like that, but they were loud and so they must’ve done their job in pregame and showed up ready to support us.”

Revenge time:

Jake Browning acknowledged Saturday after the game that he had it in for the team that cut him unceremoniously in 2021, just before the Bengals signed him to their practice squad behind Joe Burrow and Brandon Allen. He was upset at the way that was handled and let everyone know after the game. Was Zac Taylor aware of the backstory and the motivation at play?

“I’m not stupid,” Taylor said. “I’m not stupid, yeah.”

Grinding away:

The Bengals finished a three-game stretch in 12 days with a perfect 3-0 record that has put them right back in the AFC playoff picture. The Bengals are currently in the second wild card spot, seeded sixth in the conference. But still it’s been a grind for a team that will be playing another Saturday game this week on the road at Pittsburgh.

“Really good,” Taylor said when asked about his team’s spirit. “I’m always trying to keep an eye on the energy of the team because you feel it. I mean it is three games, 12 days. You do feel that and so especially kicking off with a late Monday night arrival Monday night, you feel that on a Friday you feel that a couple days later and I thought our guys, our Thursday and Friday practices were tremendous.

“The energy’s great and so then that makes me feel a lot better about guys handling those weeks. And you mentioned kind going three and oh over that 12 day stretch and we didn’t talk a lot about that as a team. I didn’t really want to bring it to their attention how short the windows were for the games. I think that’s one of the things that’s just better left unsaid sometimes and our guys were able to persevere through it and play pretty good football.”