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–Cincinnati’s defense absorbed another blow when defensive end Carl Lawson was placed on injured reserve with a torn ACL in his right knee.
It is the second time Lawson tore an ACL as he also did it in 2014 at Auburn. He estimated it took eight months to fully recover and vowed to return by Week 1 of next season.
“At least now I get to work on, not only my knee but any deficiencies that I had with my body. I’m just going to come back stronger. The only thing that sucks is that I can’t be out there with my teammates,” Lawson said. “That’s the biggest thing. I’m not really worried about the recovery process. I know how I am. I’ll be back. 100 percent. I actually might even be better. But I’m thankful for the experience I had this year and I’ll take that into next year.”
Lawson was injured on the first snap he appeared in Week 8 against Tampa Bay. It was on a fourth-and-4 on the sixth snap of the game but the play was blown dead since Tampa Bay was granted a timeout.
“I got caught in between,” Lawson said of his aborted rush. “I was just trying to stop because I heard the whistle. It was a freak play. There was a little contact … It’s one of those things.”
–While the defense is taking the heat and getting maligned for some of the dubious numbers, rookie defensive end Sam Hubbard and rookie safety Jessie Bates are positives for the Bengals.
Both players have defensive touchdowns through the first eight games and it is only the third time in team history more than one rookie scored a defensive TD.
Bates was Cincinnati’s second-round pick and had a 21-yard interception return for a score against Tampa Bay’s Jameis Winston in Week 8. It was the first interception return for a touchdown by a Cincinnati rookie since Ethan Kilmer had a 52-yard interception return for a score on Nov. 19, 2006.
Hubbard was the Bengals’ third-round pick and his defensive touchdown was a recovered fumble by Miami’s Ryan Tannehill in Week 5 to seal a comeback win with about 2 1/2 minutes left.
As the Bengals enter Week 10, Bates leads the Bengals with 60 tackles and his three interceptions are tied with safety Shawn Williams for the most on the team.
Hubbard has 19 tackles and two sacks so far.
–In between head coaching jobs with Oakland and Cleveland, Hue Jackson was an assistant for Marvin Lewis. He was a secondary assistant and special teams coach in 2012, running backs coach in 2013 and offensive coordinator in 2014 and 2015.
Two weeks after getting fired by Cleveland, Jackson hinted he would go back to working with someone he is familiar with such as Lewis while appearing on Adam Schefter’s podcast.
“Oh, absolutely,” he said. “If there’s somebody who I know and trust and respect, felt like they needed me to help or to do something for them along the lines of assisting in any way that I can to help them be as good as they can be on game day, I would do that in a heartbeat.”
Asked on Wednesday about a possible reunion with Jackson, Dalton said: “Right now, we’re focused on this year, this season and what we’re doing. That’s all I can say. Obviously, I loved my time with Hue. I thought Hue was a great coach. He helped me a lot. But right now, we’re focused on this year.”
BY THE NUMBERS: 1,127 — This figure represents the number of yards allowed in the last two games against Kansas City and Tampa Bay heading into the bye week. The 576 allowed to Tampa Bay in a 37-34 win was the second-most in the Marvin Lewis era. Since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger only the 1,201 yards allowed by the Buffalo Bills in 2012 are more in consecutive games. Going back further, the Bengals allowed 481 yards to Pittsburgh in Week 6 and through the first eight games, they allowed 3,582 yards. It means they are on pace to allow 7,164 yards which would break the NFL record of 7,042 set by the 2012 New Orleans Saints.
