Youth Serving: Bengals Counting On Young Leaders To Pave Way To Playoffs

CINCINNATI – The dog days of the NFL schedule have passed and now teams that have put themselves in a position for a playoff run look to push to the finish.

How much finishing kick do these Bengals have?

They’re 7-5 and certainly in reasonable position with four wins in their final five games to think they’ll be in the postseason. If they can finish 11-6, there’s even reasonable hope to think they’ll win the division and have a home game at Paul Brown Stadium if one of those wins is against Baltimore the day after Christmas.

The biggest question at this point is how much do they have left in the tank? They’re a relatively young team, especially on offense, so they should be able to find that extra gear. At 25.45 years, the Bengals have the third-youngest roster in the NFL, with just seven players 30 years of age or older.

Roster age is very relative and somewhat arbitrary. You can find examples of good and bad teams both young and old. But what’s truly important are the messages coming from the leaders of the team. The Bengals’ captains all season have made a point of stressing unity and accountability.

“It’s hard to even call them older guys because I think since the last CBA in (2011), the rosters seem to have gotten younger,” head coach Zac Taylor told me Friday. “Those guys, they’re not selfish. They want to help every young guy that’s on this team. I haven’t seen any selfishness from any older guy (saying) ‘I want my spot and I don’t want these younger guys (here).’”

Out of 53 players, only three are 30 or older, long snapper Clark Harris, 37, and punter Kevin Huber, 36. Starting right tackle Riley Reiff just turned 33 and Ricardo Allen will turn 30 on Dec. 18. Between the 53-man and practice squads, the Bengals have eight rookies, four first-year players and 14 second-year players. The roster, to Taylor’s point, is clearly skewed lower.

“We need all hands-on deck and they’ve done a really good job of handling that. Also think there’s been a pretty good level of maturity from our younger guys coming in and what the approach needs to be. There’s not a lot of those issues you need to deal with where there’s a lack of maturity and (coaches saying) ‘Here’s how it’s done, you’re a professional, now.’ Haven’t had to have a lot of those conversations. It’s not perfect ever but haven’t had to have as much as maybe some teams have to deal with.”

Rookie second-pick Jackson Carman is someone who might have been thrown into the fire too early and could be someone Taylor is referencing. Sometimes, the thought is that older players in a particular group can help bring along a player like Carman. Certainly, Reiff and Quinton Spain have tried but Carman clearly needs more exposure to the NFL culture if he’s going to be a productive offensive lineman.

There was a lot expected of him, perhaps too soon. And perhaps the Bengals reached on him at second-round value. But injuries to Xavier Su’a-Filo and D’Ante Smith forced the Bengals hand early. Last week, Carman was tested as a third tackle with mixed results.

On defense, there’s more overall veteran leadership, with players who have been in the playoff hunt with other teams. There’s Chidobe Awuzie, Larry Ogunjobi, Trey Hendrickson, Mike Hilton, Vonn Bell and of course, D.J. Reader. If there’s a message to come from the locker room about what it’s going to take down the stretch, it’s likely to come from the defensive side of the ball.

And yes, they came into this week preparing for San Francisco with eight players missing practice on Wednesday. But at this stage of the season, it’s more about staying fresh, physically and mentally, heading into games.

“I think it’s very critical, especially when it starts getting cold and temperatures dropping, guys may start thinking other things, may not stay locked in,” Tyler Boyd told me. “I think I do a great job and other vets do a great job of just continuing to bring the camaraderie, continue to motivate guys, continue to make guys want to be here and want to perform and just give them a reason why we’re doing this, for their families, for the name on your back, for whatever it is.”

Boyd is really in the sweet spot of roster age for the Bengals. He just turned 27 in November and has six years of experience. He was drafted in the second round in 2016, three months after Cincinnati’s last playoff game. He hasn’t tasted the playoffs yet, or really even a race for them, but this season is different – much different.

“Usually at this time, we’re not really competing for a slot in the playoffs but now that we are, everything is different. We want all 50, 60 guys participating in everything we do, going from the starters to the practice squad players. We need everybody showing good looks and making plays so we can get to where we set ourselves to.”

Boyd’s biggest play so far in his career was his fourth-down touchdown catch against Baltimore in the season finale to propel a grateful Buffalo Bills organization and fan base to the playoffs in 2017.

When Tee Higgins mentioned after Sunday’s loss to the Chargers that the energy wasn’t there to start the game, eyebrows were raised. How could that be with so much on the line? Well, taken in the proper context, it’s not surprising to see players not always start on a high note.

“I was surprised by the fact that we didn’t execute as early as we should have,” Boyd said. “There were a lot of plays where we had the forced fumble and the pick. Those plays could’ve easily been avoided if we had done one thing better out of each position.

“But I wasn’t too worried because it was still early, first quarter and knowing how dynamic and explosive our offense is, and I know how much our defense are going to produce stops throughout the game, which they always do. I really wasn’t too worried at that time. I knew we couldn’t continue to turn the ball over, continue to mess up on offense and do things like that. Once we started to get things rolling, I knew we were going to (get back) in the game.”

Injured or not, tired or not, the Bengals need to find their mojo from the get-go this Sunday. And one would expect with the opportunity right in front of them, they will.

“First and foremost, we’re doing a good job of keeping guys healthy,” Boyd added. “Just keeping all of our main core guys as tight and as healthy as possible, so we can go out there and have our best possible chance of executing the plays to our best abilities and just rallying off each other, having that same correlation as the defense, offense and the special teams. If we’re all carrying each other and performing at a high level on each area on the field then I believe we’ll be able to reach the playoffs.”