Bengals’ defense wants to outdo the Broncos’ No. 1 unit

“We thought it was a no. Just didn’t feel good about it-thought he would go backwards, would not be available these next two weeks”.

Brock Osweiler has had more time to adjust to his role of filling in for Peyton Manning over the last five games, but he likely won’t consider himself any further along than AJ McCarron, who makes his second career start Monday night in Denver.

“Pittsburgh is in the back of our minds”, Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib said. “This whole week. People were wondering why we weren’t smiling last week after we beat San Francisco”.

“We have to prepare to grind”. He’s got a bruised non-throwing shoulder to go with a swollen eye that’s infected. But there were some explanations for the defense’s worst outing of what has otherwise been a historic season. Osweiler started out strong against the Steelers with three touchdown passes and one rushing touchdown in the first half. And other than Russell Wilson or Cam Newton, Roethlisberger might be the hottest quarterback in the league.

Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak welcomes that extra time to recover. “We look at it like the offense did enough [against the Steelers], and our job is to hold the lead. We’re going to stay focused on the positive and move forward”. Lewis-Harris has played in five games this season.

Kroft is the tight end who will be taking Eifert’s spot.

“It’s easy, you stick to what you do”, Harris said.

As for my prediction, if Dalton were playing, I would pick the Bengals. He doesn’t get the national attention like JJ Watt – or even Aaron Donald in St. Louis – but Atkins’ tape glows with jaw-dropping plays that cause tons of problems right smack in the middle of the action. If you get beat, you just have to believe in your technique, continue to stick to what you’re doing. While the verdict is still out on McCarron as well, I think this is closer to a toss up game with two backups going at it. “It just happens. Sometimes you’ll be out of whack and you have to bounce back”. He took four sacks last week and three in relief of Dalton against the Steelers, some of those coming on plays where he should’ve thrown the ball away.

“But now he’s got to take that next step because we don’t want the sacks either”, offensive coordinator Hue Jackson said on Monday.

Cincinnati Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert was selected to his first Pro Bowl on Tuesday but was, supposedly, ruled out for the Bengals’ upcoming Monday night clash with the Denver Broncos the very next day. He retired in 2013 after 11 seasons in the league and 71 games with the Bengals.