Slants and Screens
The Bengals again didn’t have the services of rookie wide receiver Colbie Young after a week Taylor had been impressed by his progress of his knee injured on the first snap of his first NFL start against the Steelers. He was inactive for the second straight game …
Three other rookies were also down: center Connor Lew, tight end Jack Endries and defensive tackle Landon Robinson …
Backup vet tackle Myles Hinton also went inactive …
The Bengals’ sixth inactive, backup safety Kyle Dugger (quad), was ruled out Friday …
With Hill back and edge Shemar Stewart active, the Bengals have 10 defensive linemen up, and that could be a very real thing with a kickoff at 90 degrees, making it the hottest game ever in October at Hard Rock Stadium…
That breaks the Bengals’ road record of 89 degrees in Green Bay on Sept. 17, 2017 and Sept. 15, 2024 in Kansas City …
It also ties the Bengals’ all-time record of 90 set at Paycor Stadium in the 2002 opener on Sept. 8 …
That game in Green Bay is also the Packers’ hottest home game ever …
The Bengals appear to have two big points of emphasis in this one: Getting the running game back on track on offense after rushing for a Taylor-low 23 yards last week and gang tackling after safety Jordan Battle missed a solo on third-and-18.
The Vikings didn’t score a touchdown against the Dolphins last week, but did rush for 123 yards with Aaron Jones going for 94 yards on 20 carries,.
As for tackling,, “(Battle) needs friends on that one. We’ve got to gang-tackle that,” said defensive coordinator Al Golden this week. “We have to have our cleats in the ground, vision, we’ve got to know the down and distance, we’ve got to know the sticks.
“There should be guys breaking on either side of Jordan.” …
The Bengals’ game captains were center Ted Karras and kicker Evan McPherson …