Bengals

Bengals QB Joe Burrow explained why he was able to recover from his ankle injury more quickly than expected, which was due to his research into the prognosis.

“Once I actually started to learn about the injury and research it and figure out what I really had to avoid, I started to think critically about it,” Burrow said, via Albert Breer. “That was after about two weeks. Doctors, they’re going to give everybody the general timeline, so the doctor gives you the general timeline, and then the whole key is just keeping all your muscles strong around the injury. So as it heals, you can start to push it more and more.”

Burrow added that he was out of the walking boot “quickly, maybe before I was supposed to.”

“I’ve certainly been through enough of these where I can think critically and have the right conversations with the right people to push these things a little harder,” he said. “And I know things I need to do outside the training room to recover as quickly as possible. And I do the right stuff nutritionally and recovery-wise. And then you just take it with how it feels. All you can do is push it and come back and see the next day, How does it respond?

“And if it responds well, you keep pushing it.”

Bengals WR Tee Higgins is still in concussion protocol, HC Zac Taylor said. DE Trey Hendrickson remains doubtful for Sunday’s game against the Bills. Remains week-to-week. (Ben Baby)

Browns

Browns rookie QB Shedeur Sanders said that it will take time for him and WR Jerry Jeudy to get on the same page after the two were seen having a heated sideline exchange.

“When we got in certain passing situations and field position, everything like that, it wasn’t the best,” Sanders said, via Cleveland.com. “It wasn’t the best. It was a comfort level. I think as players and as teammates, we have to be able to gel with each other and be comfortable with each other in every situation. That takes time. It takes a lot of things. So this team is not going to be a microwave thing. We’re going to have sparks. We’re going to have here and there, but it’s going to take time to be able to develop that chemistry with everybody, to be on the same page with Jerry.”

Sanders took the blame for overthrowing Jeudy and reiterated that the two needed to continue to spend time and reps together.

“I would say overall it’s about spending time,” Sanders added. “It’s about spending time in those situations, and being able to gauge. So all quarterbacks know you’ve got to cut through the wind whenever you throw. At the same time, you’re gauging the speed and time and distance and travel and everything. I was just calculated off. That’s all it was. It was just a missed shot. So then when I missed that shot, I’ve got to stay on myself to keep shooting.”

Steelers

Steelers DL Cameron Heyward was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after a Bills touchdown and revealed that, after one of several verbal exchanges he engaged in with Bills QB Josh Allen, Heyward said he kneed him in the stomach intentionally after Heyward tackled him earlier in the game.

“Ticked off the entire game because, as a quarterback, they’re protected, but I’m not,” Heyward said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com. “It just pisses me off…He even said after, ‘I had to do something to get you off me,’”

“We love the competitiveness out of this game,” Allen said of the incident. “He’s such a great player. Sometimes, you need fire like that to get you going.”

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