Bengals bring in kicker just booted by Browns
Taylor says Bullock still his kicker and Seibert an insurance move.
Are the Bengalsplayingsome kindofmind gamebypicking upplacekickerAustinSeibert, waivedMondayby theBrowns?
Cleveland Browns CINCINNATI— coachKevinStefanskisaidhewasn’t worriedaboutthesecretstheteam’s former kicker might bring to the Cincinnati Bengals ahead of their Battle of Ohiomatchup.
The Bengals just might be playing some mind games by signing kicker Austin Seibert offff waivers Tuesday, a day after the Browns waived him in favor of practice squad kicker Cody Parkey.
It’spossible Seibert couldbe lining up to kick against his old team Thursday when the Bengals play
at Cleveland, but Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor said Randy Bullock is still his kicker and Seibertwasmore of aninsurance move. Regardless if he plays or not, there could be some benefits to adding a player with insideknowledge of the opponent on a short week.
“Idon’thaveanyconcerns,” Stefanski said in a conference callwithlocalmediaTuesday. “… I would say that would be weird (to see him on the other sideline so soon). But it also was reallyweird walking in the stadium with cardboardcutouts the other day.”
According to Taylor, Bullockwas stillworking through somesorenessMonday, after his calves cramped up Sundaywhen he planted to kick a 31-yard field goal thatwent wide right to seal a 16-13 win for the L.A. Chargers.
“We expect Randy to kick this Thursday, but as he kind of worked through his tightnessyesterday, wejustwanted to make sure,” Taylor said Tuesday. “But he’s gonna be in goodshape after cramping up. It’snot a bigdeal. Randy’s our kicker.”
Taylor was not scheduled tospeakTuesdaybutjumped onto a brief Zoomnews conference ahead of Joe Burrow sohecouldaddressthekicker topic “before it becamea bigger story than it needs tobe.”
Outside of speculation the Bengalsmightwanttousethe Browns’formerkickeragainst them, the main buzz around the Battle of Ohio has been the quarterback matchup between rookie Joe Burrow and the Browns’ BakerMayfield, whowas theNo. 1 overall draft pick in 2018.
Bengals free safety Jessie Bates said they are both similar players in the level of confidencetheybringtothefield, although Mayfield is known to draw more attention to himself than Burrow, whose “swagger” shows upmore in his actions than words.
“It’ssomethingthatItalked about with you guyswith Joe Burrow — Baker is kind of a similar type of guy,” Bates said. “He’s a very swaggyand confidenttypeofguy.Youhate tobeplaying againsthim, you lovehimif he’sonyour team. I feel like there’s always that chippy type of game when we’re playing against Baker and those guys because they have a lot of confidence in themselves, which isfine. I’m surethey’regoingtohavealot toproveaftergettingwhooped the other night as well.”
Burrowcalled Mayfield “a greatplayer” andsaidhelooks forwardtocompeting against him. Both quarterbacks will havesomethingtoproveafter losses Sunday.
Mayfield especially struggled toget aconnection going withOdellBeckham,whowas targeted 10 times but caught just three passes for 22 yards, in a 38-6 loss to the Ravens. Burrowthrewabadinterceptionandwent0for 5ondeep shots in his team’s 16-13 loss to L.A., but he gave theBengals a chance to rally on the final driveonlytoseehisgame-winning touchdown negated by apenalty and thegame-tying field goal to go wide.
“I’m fired up about it,” Burrow said of the chance to redeem himself. “I said after Sunday I’m glad we’re playing in four days so we can get this taste out of our mouth and move on to the nextweek. I’mexcitedtoplay. Iknowourguys areexcitedto get out there and compete.”
Burrow said he hasn’t thoughtabout trying tobreak Mayfield’s rookie touchdown pass record, whichMayfield set at 27 touchdown passes over 13 games in 2018. He’s more concerned about winning games, he said, and the more touchdownshe throws the more games the team can win.
Taylor wants to see those wins coming, too. Getting on Thursday intheBengals’ first AFC North gamewould be a good time to start.
“(It’s) important— wewant to win,” Taylor said when askedhowimportantwinsare when developing a first-year quarterback. “You need that winning feeling, just the difference you feel in the locker roomandgoing throughyour week of preparation. That’s all itcomesdownto, that’s all thatmatters to us. Certainly, wewanttoimprovefromweek toweek, butwe’ve got tofind ways to win football games.”