Tatum has scored over 10,000 points throughout his NBA career. The 25-year-old star became the youngest player in franchise history to hit the 10,000-point milestone. Then, he netted 18 of his game-high 32 points in the second half, including nine in the final frame.

Jayson scored on back-to-back possessions down the stretch, helping the Celtics rebuild their double-digit lead en route to a 124-114 victory that extended their record to 5-0.

“It’s kind of hard to process in the moment,” Tatum said after Saturday’s win, reflecting on his 10,000-point milestone. “Huge accomplishment. Extremely blessed to be a part of such a great franchise, and I’ve been fortunate to be on some really good teams. I have some really, really good coaches. Obviously, I have some great teammates that have helped contribute to 10,000 points along the way.”

It’s been six years since the Celtics drafted Tatum. The seventh-year forward fittingly reached his milestone at the Barclays Center — the building where his NBA journey began.

“It definitely has gone by fast. I remember getting drafted in this building in 2017. So, time has gone by fast. Just trying to stay present. Stay in the moment, enjoy it,” Tatum said. “10,000 points sounds crazy to just think about. I always think about when I was a kid, growing up with my mom, and saying I wanted to be in the NBA. While I may have thought I would be one of the best players, and to actually do it is a surreal feeling. So, just kind of living out my dream.”

Less than two weeks into the regular season, Tatum’s been on a tear from the jump. Scoring 30+ points in four of the Celtics’ first five games, he’s averaging 30.2 points, shooting at a 55.0% clip from the floor, including 45.2% from behind the 3-point arc.

But the thought of playing for the Celtics wasn’t always ideal, Tatum revealed after Saturday’s win. As the league’s top 19-year-old prospect, he wasn’t sure Boston was the best destination to begin his NBA career.

“Man, I was ignorant when I got drafted,” Tatum said, reflecting on draft night 2017. “I didn’t even want to come because I didn’t think I was going to play. They had Gordon (Hayward), JB (Jaylen Brown), IT (Isaiah Thomas), and (Marcus) Smart, and I didn’t think I was good enough to be on that team. It didn’t even cross my mind how to close a game or how to finish. I was just more concerned about getting in the game and starting. But things happen for a reason, and I got my opportunity.”

Jayson has come a long way from that teenager who was drafted in Brooklyn.

“It’s been a long process,” Tatum added. “I’ve had to learn through the ups and downs. Through my mistakes. Late-game decisions, or whatever it may be, just growing pains. (You) Play in enough games to play in enough playoff series. You learn those things.”

Tatum’s game has evolved in one form or another year after year from a statistical standpoint. And, as a leader who constantly holds himself and others accountable, he’s taken his game to new heights of late — which hasn’t gone unnoticed by Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla.

“He shows up to work every single day. He puts the work in. He dedicates his life to it,” Mazzulla said after the win. “He doesn’t miss days, he doesn’t miss practices, games. And just his open-mindedness in wanting to be coached, wanting to be held to a high standard. When you have guys like that that you can coach, you see what you get out of him, and it also allows you to bring the best out of everybody. He’s one of the guys that sets the tone… I’m really proud of him, and I know he’s not going to stop.”

The Celtics (5-0) have the best record of the young NBA season. They’re the only undefeated left in the association after the Denver Nuggets gave up their undefeated status in last Wednesday’s 110-89 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who the Celtics face on Monday at Minnesota.

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Each had their reasons following Sunday’s 17-13 win over the Seahawks that drew the Bengals to 3-3 on the season.

Anarumo, the Bengals defensive coordinator, was expressing his gratitude for a group of linemen that have come to define his defense.

Just moments after Sam Hubbard sacked Geno Smith on fourth down to give the Bengals the ball with just over two minutes left, it appeared the Bengals defense could finally exhale.

Then the offense generates a whopping four yards in three plays and has to punt again with 1:39 left, putting the exhausted group of Hubbard, Trey Hendrickson, DJ Reader and BJ Hill back on the field.

“And I just walked over to ’em. I said, I’m not putting anybody else out there but you four and I want you for to go win the game for us,” Anarumo said. “And, you know, they just put their helmets on and said, ‘Let’s go.’ And that’s what they did. They wrecked the game at the end of the game for us. And it was great coverage and rush working together really. (Smith) really didn’t have anywhere to go with the ball. So, that was key. But, we had our best guys out there and that was great to see.”

The Bengals showed attitude on defense Sunday, the kind of attitude they showed late in the 2021 season when they took the best shot of Patrick Mahomes twice and advanced to the Super Bowl. That year, the Bengals proved their mettle in key situations. They came up big late against Denver on the road and Las Vegas in the playoffs. They came within a highly questionable call against Logan Wilson from doing it again in the Super Bowl.

Sunday, that attitude came to the surface when they needed it most. That attitude could be seen in the play of the “Core 4” linemen and it could be seen in the person of Cam Taylor-Britt, who took on DK Metcalf and rose to the occasion, taking literally his best shot and getting off the turf to hold the Seattle receiver to four catches on 10 targets for 69 yards.

If the Bengals take on the personality of their defense, they look like the Super Bowl contenders they thought they were.

Hubbard and BJ Hill met at Geno Smith on the final Seattle snap of the day to seal the win that got the Bengals back to .500.

"That's who we are as a defense. Put us in a tough situation we're gonna come out victorious and that's what we did." – BJ Hill

Radio Call of The Game | #GuinnessUS pic.twitter.com/j6y6rygoI9

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) October 17, 2023

The offense? Let’s just say they have quite the mountain to climb.

The run game couldn’t generate a yard on third-and-1 to start the fourth quarter. Joe Burrow played exceptionally well on the first two drives, resulting in touchdowns. Then his play and the play of the entire offense took a nosedive.

Callahan was definitely happy the team won the game. But he knows full well things have to change on the other side of the bye if the Bengals are to become anything close to the juggernaut they were supposed to be coming into this “Super Bowl or bust” season.

“Yeah, I’m pretty salty,” Callahan said. “I don’t know if you picked up on that, but it’s disappointing that we haven’t played to what our standard is. I have full belief that, that we will, and that we’re capable of playing to that. But sometimes you gotta tell the truth. And the truth is, we’re 3-3, and offensively we’ve not played to where we are capable of playing.”

“I just think that there needs to be more production, and offense in general, for everybody not named Ja’Marr Chase.”

Callahan had to take home highlights of a second half that saw Joe Burrow complete 6-of-13 passes for 42 yards. The Bengals achieved four first downs in the final two quarters and a grand total of 53 yards in six possessions. The Bengals scored three points because Cam Taylor-Britt returned a fourth-quarter interception to the Seattle 34. From there, the Bengals moved the ball zero yards

“I was on my couch (Sunday) night, watching it on my iPad, just fuming. We have too many good coaches, too many good players to not play to our standard that we have set for ourselves. And I think that was addressed. Everybody had a had their moment in the barrel (Monday in meetings). I think we’re all aware of what we’ve done thus far and what needs to get corrected moving forward.

“So, it’s nice to have a win. It’s nice getting to make corrections when you win, but we didn’t offensively play well enough to deserve to win that game, players know it, we know it. Our defense played a hellacious game and came up huge in big spots and we did them no favors. And, I think we’re all on the same page there.”

Zac Taylor happy he can make adjustments during bye week to improve offense pic.twitter.com/tv0rHAywJw

— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) October 16, 2023

Here are a few areas that need to change out of the bye week:

• Running back production:

The Bengals must find a way to get a yard (or two) when they need it late in games or in the second half. This is something that has haunted them going back to Super Bowl LVI. The Bengals couldn’t pick up a yard against Tennessee in the first half and the offense collapsed. They couldn’t pick up a yard against Arizona twice at the Cardinals 1 and were bailed out by a Cam Taylor-Britt pick-6. They couldn’t gain a yard against Seattle Sunday to open the fourth quarter.

• Tight end production:

The tight end position has never been one that has stuck out in this Joe Burrow offense. But it makes you wonder why we haven’t seen more downfield opportunities like we saw when Tanner Hudson ran a perfect seam route against the Rams in the Monday night win. Burrow clearly doesn’t feel comfortable looking to the tight end, whether a first option or a fourth. The tight end should be a release valve and it’s stuck. The quartet of Irv Smith Jr. (6), Tanner Hudson (4), Mitchell Wilcox (3) and Drew Sample (3) have 16 receptions. Hayden Hurst has 14 for Carolina. This would not be an issue if Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd were putting up big numbers and the Bengals had a ground attack.

• Scheme:

Callahan hinted at it Monday. The Bengals may have Burrow go up under center to see if they can kick-start their run game, which is averaging just 3.46 yards per carry. This will also provide play-action opportunities, offering Burrow the chance to do something he specializes in, deceiving the defense. What the RPO is to shotgun, the traditional under-center formation can be to play-action. The Bengals need to be less predictable from one running back, one tight end formations (11). They’ve shown ’10’ formations. Yes, the Bengals don’t have a great running game or tight end presence right now, but they have the most important piece in a franchise quarterback. Time is now to find different ways to arm and deploy that weapon.

• Tee Higgins:

Playing through bruised ribs, Higgins had two catches on four targets for just 20 yards Sunday. He’s had one breakout game in five. He opened with eight targets and no catches against Cleveland. He had eight catches in 12 targets for 89 yards against Baltimore with two touchdowns. Overall, 14 catches in 36 targets for 149 yards with two scores isn’t going to cut it. If the Bengals can ignite Higgins, that will go a long, long way to returning the offense to the standard that fans have grown accustomed over the last two seasons. No one will ever doubt Higgins’ toughness or desire to play but bigger and better numbers are needed to make everyone feel like he can threaten defenses deep.

• Joe Burrow:

Consistency. That’s the thing the Bengals need most from their franchise quarterback. The first two drives were brilliant against Seattle. He was 17-of-19, including 15 straight completions. The last eight possessions, not so much. Burrow doesn’t have to be spectacular all the time. He just needs to convert third downs when they need it late in the game and not rely on the defense to bail them out. Burrow has proven that he is one of the game’s best at manipulating and reading defenses. He needs to get into a comfort zone where he’s trusting his weapons more to help him deconstruct and dismantle the defenses in front of him. Obviously, he was limited early by his calf injury. But now that he’s moving about and has the bye week to rest even more, Burrow should be able to come out for the final 11 games proving his immense value to the Bengals and that’s he’s capable of leading the franchise to its first Super Bowl title.

The devil is in the details and the lack of executing the details on critical plays has led to hellish results for the offense. Take 3rd-and-1 on the first play of the fourth quarter Sunday. It was designed to be a simple run for Joe Mixon for a first down. Instead, he gets stuffed and the Bengals have to punt, protecting a 14-13 lead.

“It was multiple things that happened,” Callahan offered. “Jonah (Williams) doesn’t come off on the combination (block) on Jordan Brooks and Jordan Brooks is unblocked right in the middle of the hole. And that’s not at all what’s supposed to happen. But even if he does do it, Andrei (Iosivas) is too wide and doesn’t cut, he doesn’t seal off the backside and Jamal Adams is ripping through there. So even if the ball does cut back there, we got a problem on that side too.

“So you’ve got two glaring issues on a play. That’s a critical play in a game on third-and-1, top of the fourth quarter to keep a drive alive. We don’t do it. Things like that, just detailed things, execution things, that has held us back. And so I wish it was one thing. It’s a lot easier to, to address if it’s one particular thing that’s a problem. We’ve just had too many inconsistencies, too much lack of execution, not coached well enough on our end. So, just not in a good place end of the day. So that’s unfortunate. It’s not where we want to be.”

The post Bengals Beat: Brian Callahan Knows It’s Time To Figure Some Things Out While Lou Anarumo Has Something To Build On appeared first on CLNS Media.

Last week in Arizona, their quarterback looks like he is back close to full strength and throwing the ball all over the field to his star receiver, setting new team records.

Sunday, the offense looked as if it were going to continue riding the momentum as Joe Burrow couldn’t miss early. He completed 17 of his first 19 passes, including 15 straight at one point. He threw touchdown passes to Tyler Boyd and rookie birthday boy Andrei Iosivas.

One look into Burrow’s eyes and it appeared the Bengals were going to get behind their franchise quarterback and roll to its second straight win.

Well, they did win, 17-13 against the hard-nosed Seattle Seahawks. But it was not their quarterback that led the way in the second half. It was their rock solid defense that stopped Seattle from scoring touchdowns on four different second half possessions inside the Bengals 10.

The Bengals had 10 defensive snaps in the second half inside their 12 yard line. That’s an amazing accomplishment in today’s NFL.

They allowed five yards and three points over four possessions. That is a stunningly good number. The Bengals won’t make a living like that on most days but thanks to a group of playmakers like Cam Taylor-Britt and pass rushers Sam Hubbard, Trey Hendrickson, DJ Reader and BJ Hill, they lived to tell about it.

“Yeah. It’s actually crazy. I was guarding DK (Metcalf) on one of them — I think it was a back line route — and they threw the ball to him and it was altered because Sam or Trey got back there,” Taylor-Britt told me. “But I knew the ball got altered because I heard the crowd, so I looked and the ball was coming and I was like ‘Oh!’ But it does give me little tips here and there.”

Cam Taylor-Britt explains his great day and a great red zone defense "I want the ball. It's as simple as that… we want to be in those (game-saving) moments" pic.twitter.com/AaNvorzFXx

— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) October 15, 2023

Mike Hilton picked off a Geno Smith pass for Jaxon Smith-Njigba at the Bengals 3 on Seattle’s first drive of the second half. It came after a bad Joe Burrow pass for Ja’Marr Chase was intercepted at the Seattle 31. That was just one of several examples Sunday of the defense picking up the offense.

Later in the third quarter, the Seahawks had again driven to the Bengals 5, Cam Taylor-Britt trailed Tyler Lockett in the end zone and was careful not to draw a pass interference call. As Smith targeted Lockett for the touchdown, Taylor-Britt knocked the ball away, saving four points as Seattle settled for a field goal.

Showing out on his birthday @CamTaylorBritt_#SEAvsCIN | CBS pic.twitter.com/WvGZj2E6T9

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) October 15, 2023

Back to Burrow, he was not pleased with the way things turned out. His short answers and body language reflected the enormous frustration the offense was feeling after scoring touchdowns the first two times they touched the ball.

“Our defense stepped up big in the second half,” Burrow told me after. “Offense was really good in the first half; we were horrible in the second half. So, we just have to be able to put together a complete game.”

"Got it done." Joe Burrow was clearly not thrilled but he'll take win. 17-13. pic.twitter.com/sTscf7jlbp

— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) October 15, 2023

What changed after those first two drives?

“We’ll watch the tape and see,” Burrow said.

The film will provide Burrow, Zac Taylor and Brian Callahan the roadmap of what happened. The stats tell a hard truth. The Bengals couldn’t pass or run for final 30 minutes.

Even when the other birthday boy Cam Taylor-Britt played Superman and flew threw the air to pick off a Geno Smith fourth-quarter pass and returned it to the Seattle 34, the Bengals didn’t move the ball a single yard. They settled for a 52-yard Evan McPherson field goal.

Burrow was 18-for-22 for 143 yards in the first half. He was just 6-for-13 for 42 yards in the second half. The running game was again absent. Last week, the Bengals couldn’t score twice from the one in the first half on a pair of Joe Mixon runs.

“We’ll have to watch it and see because (we) felt like we had some opportunities,” Zac Taylor said. “(We) felt that we weren’t in a great flow, but it’s really hard for me to put my thumb on it and I’ll have to check it out. And the good news is we found a way to (win).

“I walked off the field and I had I texted Steve Specht yesterday, the St. (Xavier) coach. They had a win on the road and that’s a great job. He said it’s better to win ugly than to lose pretty. And that was the first thing that hit me when I walked off the field today. At times it felt ugly, especially on offense. But again, our defense stepped up and made some big plays for us. It allowed us to get out of there.”

On Sunday, the fourth quarter opened with Mixon getting nowhere on third-and-one at the Bengals 44. The Bengals offense was riding the coattails of the defense on this day.

On Seattle’s final two possessions within the final three minutes, the Bengals front put pressure on Smith to keep him out of the end zone, thanks to a sack from Sam Hubbard to end one possession and up-the-middle pressure from BJ Hill, DJ Reader and Logan Wilson on the final possession to end the game.

“I know they were going to make a play, but at the same time, I knew we had opportunities on offense to put it away and we didn’t,” lamented Burrow.

Chase and Burrow were not on the same page Sunday in the second half. Both stars were muted in their enthusiasm after the win because of it.

“Defense is going to win a championship for us,” Chase declared. “They keep playing like that, it’s going to be a great season for us.”

Chase isn’t wrong. Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo deserves a shoutout for the effort Sunday. He received one Sunday postgame as the entire defense received a game ball for helping the Bengals get back to .500 in the ultra-competitive AFC North.

Great team win, now on to the bye

Locker Room Celly | @KetteringHealth pic.twitter.com/2knDVjwL7b

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) October 15, 2023

Burrow insisted like he did after the New England escape last Christmas Eve said he was never going to apologize for a win. And he shouldn’t. Chase echoed Burrow’s sentiments.

“It’s not disappointing — we just hold ourselves to a standard and we’ve got to execute,” Chase said. “As good of an offense as we have, we just have to stay on top of that and not have mental errors like we did today. I think we had a couple of those. I know I had one today. Simple things like that will take us a long way.”

At 3-3, the Bengals have plenty of time to figure things out, with San Francisco on the road coming out of the bye on Oct. 29. And given the Bengals track record over the last two seasons with Burrow and Zac Taylor, there’s reason to believe they will.

There goes that man.#SEAvsCIN | CBS pic.twitter.com/AIRXIWEO1u

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) October 15, 2023

Understand that the Seahawks are a Top 10 defense with a young and aggressive secondary with edge rushers and the best run defense in the NFL. The Seahawks were going to make adjustments when Burrow lit them up over the first two drives. The Bengals had communication breakdowns with their best players when they tried to make their adjustments.

Sunday showed that the Bengals could beat a very physical and mentally tough team like Seattle. DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and Kenneth Walker had their explosive plays. But aside from a one-yard TD plunge from Walker on the first drive of the game, the defense held up their end of the bargain. The Bengals won a game that championship teams win, beating a high caliber team when you don’t play up to your standard.

Sometimes high school coaches can offer the best perspective. Steve Specht gave that to Zac Taylor. The Bengals won with an ugly offense. There’s no shame in that. It certainly beats the alternative.

The post Bengals Beat: Defense Shows Its True Colors, Rescues ‘Horrible’ Bengals Offense appeared first on CLNS Media.

The first five weeks of the season, Chase was mostly serious and focused on the task at hand, knowing his quarterback was not at full strength and neither was the offense.

On Thursday, after catching a team-record 15 passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-20 win, Chase was in a playful and engaging mood in front of his locker.

Coincidence? Perhaps. But one stroll through the Bengals locker room this week and you can tell the mood is changing.

The Bengals really do need to follow up Sunday’s win in Arizona with a solid winning performance against Seattle heading into the bye.

Chase wasn’t about to get triggered by some proxy trash talking coming from Seattle star receiver DK Metcalf. In all honesty, it wasn’t actually even trash talk by today’s standards coming from Metcalf. It was standing up for his rookie teammate Devon Witherspoon, who will be charged with and likely assigned Chase in coverage during Sunday’s showdown at Paycor.

“I think Spoon will get the best of him,” Metcalf said.

Chase’s response?

“That’s why I didn’t say anything,” Chase said. “Until he say something I’ll say something. But it’s DK. I’m not checking DK. DK’s not checking me. He’s just saying what he wants to say at the end of the day.”

Chase said he intends to let his play do the talking and not get too bogged down in talk.

“I don’t care. I really give zero effs,” Chase added.

Of course, there will be talk. There always is. Remember Chase’s double uno greeting to Minkah Fitzpatrick during the 2022 season opener?

“I love it. It’s sports. I expect people to talk trash to me,” Chase said. “If you don’t talk trash, you don’t like football. I’m usually the one talking first. I don’t think they have time to talk about.”

And when they do?

“I start laughing first,” Chase said. “I haven’t heard anything that’s like, ‘Damn, you said that?’ like damn, it made me think about it.”

In other words, he’s not going faux rage in his mind against Witherspoon. There’ll be plenty of time for that in the heat of battle.

Are there magic words or actions that will trigger him? A line not to be crossed?

“There is no line in trash talking,” Chase told me without missing a beat. “No. There’s no rules to it. That’s why it’s called trash talking.”

Fair enough. That’s what makes Ja’Marr Chase truly an Uno personality in the Bengals room. Every word that comes out of his mouth is true to himself. “To thine own self be true,” Shakespeare famously wrote in Hamlet.

Chase is acting out his own epic play in 17 parts, with the hope of several encores.

Chase is supremely confident. That comes with an intense off-season workout program and in-season work ethic at practice and study of game plans and film. While it was great that he had 15 catches on 19 targets for 192 yards and three TDs, he didn’t need those numbers to boost his confidence.

“I have confidence every game,” Chase said. “It’s not just because I go off and have that many catches. I play with a lot of confidence every game. That’s what I’m here for, to have that confidence, and that confidence probably helps the team. So, you know, I’m just playing my game.”

Chase knows every great NFL receiver needs the mindset of dominating his opponent. He had that against Jalen Ramsey in Super Bowl LVI and he had that last week against a bunch of backups in a banged up Arizona secondary.

“Hell yeah. Hell yeah,” Chase said before being asked if a game like Arizona helps him. His answer was one of the best snapshots of his attitude and what he expects to fight through every game if he playing to his potential.

“It helps, yeah. It helps the defense to double your ass,” Chase said. “Other than that, you should already have confidence as a receiver. That should be your mindset every game.”

Asked if he has his sights set on Brandon Marshall’s NFL single-game reception record of 21, Chase again was honest.

“Brandon really? Damn!” Chase said at first. “I did see that I did. See that. Yeah, I don’t know if I’m gonna get there. I don’t know if I’m get there.”

“I had 18 targets, (actually 19)… I dropped two of them, slant and skinny route in the middle of the field. That was the two I wish I had back but you know, God’s plan man. I appreciate the (coaching) staff upstairs and them just giving me the opportunity to make plays.”

Every @Real10jayy__ catch that led him to his new franchise record pic.twitter.com/qPe0QyHcQl

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) October 9, 2023

While Chase is a dominant personality, his best trait is his aforementioned work ethic. He and Joe Burrow pride themselves on the work they put in to make the Bengals offense click, something it has done with regularity over the last two seasons as the season progresses.

“It’s the standard I want to say,” Chase explained. “They expect us to play like that and practice like that every play. It’s how we make the guys around us better, going harder and just pushing everybody around us (to be better).

“As for me, I don’t really (try to lead) I’m not really much of a talker. I leave much by example, but if I have to speak I can, it’s not something that I always do. But for my most part and if I had to speak up, it will probably be in a receiver room, if anything.”

Chase will get his chance to shine again on Sunday against one of the better rookie corners in football. He plans to let his numbers and production do the loudest talking.

Tee Higgins (ribs) and Chido Awuzie (back) were both limited again in practice on Friday and are questionable for Sunday’s game against Seattle. Zac Taylor indicated Friday that he will see how both of them progress over the weekend and get a better feel for a final decision in the hours before Sunday’s 1 p.m. kickoff. Nose tackle Josh Tupou appeared Friday on the injury report with a toe issue and did not practice. He is also questionable for the game. Linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither (right knee) was spotted with crutches in the locker room Friday and is out for Sunday, missing his second straight game. The Bengals will re-assess his status and use the bye week to determine if a trip to the IR is in his future.

The post Bengals Beat: Appreciating The Directness and Greatness of Ja’Marr Chase ‘I Really Give Zero Effs’ appeared first on CLNS Media.

The Bengals are hoping to be that great team by the end of the season.

Their record is what it is right now at 2-3. But the leaders in the locker room believe they are setting the foundation for later in the season when the stakes are higher and the margin of error diminishes to near-zero.

Whether it’s a rookie like DJ Turner stepping in for the ailing Chido Awuzie (dealing with back discomfort) or a leader like Joe Burrow, or even the head coach, everyone has a standard to meet if the Bengals are to start rising to the expectations they had in the summer.

In the game against Tennessee, the Bengals had a total of 12 official missed tackles in coaches’ bookkeeping records.

Last week, it improved but there were still issues on the perimeter, such as the 41-yard run by Rondale Moore or the 11-yard TD run by Emari Demercado in the third quarter or the open field missed tackle midway through the third for everyone to see when DJ Turner sped past Hollywood Brown on a simple dump off.

Turner is someone who has impressed Zac Taylor from the start of training camp. Turner has fit in well with fellow rookie Jordan Battle and second-year DBs Dax Hill and Cam Taylor-Britt.

“Well and that’s just what our roster is right now,” Taylor said. “I think our roster is what it is because we have trust in those guys and they’ve earned the opportunity to be on the roster and to be on the field. Your youngest player you’ve got out there right now is DJ Turner and I thought he had a tremendous training camp.

“Every opportunity (Turner) got, yeah it wasn’t always perfect, but you saw him just make a lot of plays on the ball. That creates more opportunity for him, obviously Chido being out helped that as well. He took it and ran with it. Same for Cam Taylor Britt last year, he took it and ran with it. Those guys you don’t know until you see them out there and throw them into the fire and because of that some good things have happened.”

Turner said that the early reps in camp and the preseason helped him get more comfortable sooner so he would be ready to contribute in the regular season. That’s precisely what’s happened.

“So it wasn’t like it was a big learning curve,” Turner said. “I had to go through so it was definitely a good thing.”

If there was something to be corrected, defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo was there to correct it and offer a teaching point.

“Everyone gets held to a high standard so you know if I mess up something, it’s going to get corrected. We hold everybody to high standards.”

One thing DJ Turner has worked on is his ability to tackle.

“I wanted to show that I was good at and it showed up this game because a lot of situations happen so to where I had to tackle and so I was definitely positive thing that game,” Turner said.

"Everyone is held to a high standard" DJ Turner on Bengals DC Lou Anarumo pic.twitter.com/pca2IWt8aW

— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) October 11, 2023

Taylor has embraced the need to bring his young secondary up to speed and, for the most part, it’s paid off in the likes of Turner, Battle, Hill and Taylor-Britt.

“You gain so much experience with knowledge,” Taylor said. “And you can you can coach it up and show him the clips of it happening around the league or it happened to us into past years of us, but until you get out there and you have to make that split second decision or see it for the first time.

“It’s like anything, you know, you continue to experience your own things and you try your best to learn it. But there’s no teacher greater than just experiences you have and we’re seeing guys, you know, get better and better with every rep that they get.”

Logan Wilson had a pair of missed tackles on the second half-opening drive and so did Cam Taylor-Britt.

When you’re accountable, mistakes get fixed quicker and are less likely to be repeated. That was the model the 2022 Bengals followed when they opened 0-2, 2-3 and 4-4. The players who are most likely to be accountable are also the hardest workers. No one works harder than Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, the two most important players on the roster.

“It’s the standard,” Chase told me. “They expect us to play like that and practice like that every play. It’s how we make the guys around us better, know what I’m saying, going harder and just pushing everybody around us (to be better).”

Both sides of the ball answered that challenge Sunday a couple of times. Trailing 14-10, Cam Taylor-Britt (with the help of Mike Hilton in the slot) picked off a pass for an 11-yard pick-6. Up 24-14, the Bengals allowed Arizona to trim the game to four, 24-20. But a fourth down stop in the red zone extinguished any hope of a Cardinals comeback. Turner, Taylor-Britt, Battle and Hill all played key roles.

With hard work comes accountability. It’s no secret that the offense wasn’t giving the defense a chance in the games in Cleveland and Tennessee. Burrow’s health and the execution of the receivers, running backs and offensive line was not consistent. It was addressed and led to a business-like win in Arizona.

“You have to. You have to or else you’re not going to be able to play well,” Burrow said of the work ethic. “I think that’s pretty constant across the league. The great players all work hard. You can’t miss any reps. You can’t go through the offseason and not work hard and expect to, one, get through an entire season healthy, and two, play really well that whole year. It’s what you need to have if you’re going to have a great team.”

Work ethic leads to natural competition inside the locker room.

“We’re competitive in everything in there,” Burrow told me. “You guys are in there. Guys are playing ping pong and everything. People at this level, they’re competitive in everything they do.”

And accountable.

Tee Higgins said he was feeling better on Thursday and feels like he could play Sunday without a flak jacket. This is very encouraging news for the Bengals. Higgins injured his ribs against the Titans and sat out last week against Arizona. He was limited on Thursday.

Tee Higgins says he could play Sunday vs Seattle without a flak jacket. pic.twitter.com/duegelMzuU

— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) October 12, 2023

Chido Awuzie was back on the field for full pads practice on Thursday after a back issue forced him to miss last Friday and Sunday’s game in Arizona. Awuzie was also limited but a good sign that he could be ready by Sunday.

Chido Awuzie participating today in Bengals full pads. pic.twitter.com/vqTn5zrtrk

— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) October 12, 2023

The post Bengals Beat: Accountability Is Bengals’ Biggest Strength So Far appeared first on CLNS Media.

On the second night of a back-to-back to start the preseason schedule, head coach Joe Mazzulla sat all five members of Sunday’s starting lineup in New York, along with Jrue Holiday, who was first off the bench in Sunday’s win against the 76ers. This opened up meaningful playing time for Mykhailiuk, who is using his five years of NBA experience as an edge to help secure a spot on this year’s Celtics team and was one of the first players off Mazzulla’s bench midway through the first quarter at Madison Square Garden.

After receiving a DNP-CD in Boston, Mykhailiuk’s 15 points on 5-of-9 attempts, including 3-for-7 from beyond the 3-point arc, led the second unit. He also finished with three rebounds and one assist in 25 minutes.

“It was just great to get out there and compete… As for me, I’ve been in the league. This is my sixth year. So, I feel like everyone runs mostly the same stuff, just different names, so it’s not that hard,” Mykhailiuk said about acclimating to Mazzulla’s system. “I just come in here to learn it, get it (early), and try to learn all the plays. All the guys, how they play, and just adjust to that.”

Mykhailiuk signed a one-year, partially guaranteed deal with the Celtics in late August. He started the 2022-23 campaign with the Knicks before he was traded to the Charlotte Hornets, where he averaged 10.6 points while shooting at a 40.1% clip from 3 to go with his 2.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 19 games.

Svi showed flashes of his playmaking ability against the Knicks. He finished with one assist but made the right passes early and often that kept the offense flowing and New York’s defense on its heels during particular stretches of the Celtics’ 114-107 loss. Mykhailiuk also finished strong at the rim.

Payton Pritchard (21) led the Celtics in scoring for the second straight night, and Dalano Banton added 20 on 8-of-19 shooting.

“There’s just situational stuff regardless that you can learn from,” Mazzulla said after Monday’s loss. “So, I love the effort, and I love our mindset, I love our physicality. There’s a lot of really good situational possessions that we could learn from.”

Joining his seventh team in his sixth year in the NBA, Mykhailiuk was reportedly considering a deal to play overseas for Greece’s Panathinaikos Athens before Boston’s one-year offer came across the table. With three games left in the preseason, Svi should be granted a chance to showcase his skillset alongside the Celtics’ regulars when Boston travels to Philadelphia for a preseason rematch against the Sixers on Wednesday.

Mykhailiuk has evoked enough intrigue for Mazzulla to tinker with upcoming in-game lineups incorporating the 26-year-old journeyman, who was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 47th overall pick in the second round of the 2018 Draft, to gauge his fit with everyday rotational players. That’s when we’ll get a clearer picture of how he fares with Boston’s core players.

“It comes down to; can you build trust, and the first way to build trust is by playing hard, by paying attention, and knowing what you’re doing,” Mazzulla said. “Everybody top to bottom has done that, thus far. They’ve played hard, they’ve paid attention. The mistakes we’ve made are not because we’re not working hard; and they’re just mistakes that we learn from. So, I think that’s the first evaluation. Can we trust you, put you in a situation to execute a possession with physicality and IQ?”

Svi, a career 36% 3-point shooter, eclipsed 40% (42.4%) from deep last season — which piqued the Celtics’ intrigue after losing Grant Williams in free agency. But gaining the head coach’s confidence is the next step for Mykhailiuk to make the team, and he still has plenty of opportunities to do so.

The post Will Svi Mykhailiuk Earn a Celtics Roster Spot? appeared first on CLNS Media.

On a night when the Celtics’ newcomers Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday made their Boston debuts at TD Garden, Pritchard’s game-high 26 points, including six 3-pointers and four assists, stole the show. Singlehandedly outscoring the Philadelphia 76ers 13-10 in the final seven minutes, Pritchard led the Celtics to a 114-106 win in their first of five preseason tune-ups.

“What you saw tonight and what you’ll see throughout the years is his mindset, his professionalism to be prepared over the last three years,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said after Sunday’s win. “Guys like him, they get rewarded in some capacity, and as I said before, we’re going to rely on him to us another layer of toughness, another layer of physicality, another layer of playing with the right mindset.”

Pritchard and the Celtics agreed to a four-year, $30 million extension on Sunday. Securing Payton’s future in Boston for the foreseeable future as the Celtics lock in another player committed to their championship-chasing window.

Upon entering his fourth season, the final year of his rookie extension, Pritchard yearned for security. The Oregon product selected 28th overall in the 2020 NBA Draft, fell out of Mazzulla’s rotation last season. His playing time was inconsistent. His role was unclear heading into training camp before everything changed in the final week of the offseason.

After trading starting point guard Marcus Smart in a three-team deal that brought Porzingis to help strengthen the Celtics’ frontcourt, team president of basketball operations Brad Stevens traded the second guard ahead of Payton on Mazzulla’s depth chart — Malcolm Brogdon — which opened up a path for the four-year guard. And while the opportunity came seemingly at the perfect time, merely days before the start of training camp, credit Pritchard for staying ready.

He spent the summer putting in the work — which he exemplified by scoring 26 points on 9-for-14 attempts, including 6-for-11 from deep, four assists, and one steal in 23 minutes.

“When I signed, it was almost a relief, a feeling of being secure, and that was kind of my mindset towards it,” Pritchard said Sunday. “I wanted to lock something in, so I wasn’t playing this year out.”

In July, he joined the USA Select Team. A group of NBA players picked to practice and scrimmaged against Team USA in Las Vegas this summer in preparation for the FIBA World Cup. Joining Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham, Sacramento Kings’ Keegan Murray, and Oklahoma City Thunder duo Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, Pritchard played alongside a handful of young talented players.

They took on the likes of All-Star Anthony Edwards, 2023 Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero, Brandon Ingram, and the rest of Team USA. This experience helped Pritchard in preparation for the upcoming season.

“I think it was a confidence booster. All the players there are top-level players. They’re stars of their team,” Pritchard said. “So, to go out there and compete with those guys to see where your game matches up was definitely a boost of confidence, and I believe in myself at a high level. So, I’ll continue to do that.”

Payton sees his role this season as everchanging. He is the second unit’s lynchpin in the backcourt, supplementing energy, high-level plays, and finding consistency in making his mark on the game.

“That changes night-to-night; whatever the teams needs,” Pritchard said when asked how he envisions his role in 2023-24. “Obviously, I can stretch the floor out and be able to hit threes, but I really try to hang my hat on the energy plays, and picking up, and little things like that to change the game. Obviously, we (have) unbelievable players, so scoring is not something we necessarily need. So, I have to find ways always to affect the game.”

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