Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin knows the Bengals won't have quarterback Joe Burrow on Sunday in Cincinnati but he's anticipating they'll still run their usual stuff on offense.
Austin isn't expecting an attack designed to protect quarterback Jake Browning, who is in line to make the first start of his career when the Bengals host the Steelers at Paycor Stadium.
Browning has thrown 15 NFL passes, 14 of which were launched after he replaced Burrow late in the second quarter of the Bengals' 34-20 loss to the Ravens on Nov. 16 in Baltimore.
Browning's only other NFL action consisted of a four-snap appearance in Cincinnati's season-opening, 24-3 loss to Cleveland.
"It didn't look much different," Austin said of the two-plus quarters of regular-season Browning tape available. "You just assume they'll be tailoring (the offense) to him, what he likes, but I don't think it'll be a big reduction in what they do.
"It's gonna be the Bengals offense but it'll be more tailored to what he likes instead of to maybe what Joe likes, and I think that's how we have to approach it."
Austin also addressed the following prior to practice today:
First-year safety Trenton Thompson playing 77 percent of the defensive snaps and contributing six tackles and two passes defensed in last Sunday's 13-10 loss in Cleveland, the first extended defensive action of Thompson's career:
"It says a lot about the young guy's preparation and being ready for his moment. Some guys, they're not ready for their moment and it comes and they go in there and they lay an egg. He was ready for his moment. We thought he performed well. He did a lot of really good things. Now, the big thing is can he continue to build on that and continue to accelerate his development as a player?"
Fourth-year inside linebacker Mykal Walker starting and playing 84 percent of the defensive snaps against the Browns after being signed to the Steelers' practice squad on Oct. 30:
"We kind of expected a solid, NFL-type game out of Mike and that's what we got."
Veteran inside linebacker Elandon Roberts playing 100 percent of the defensive snaps and registering 15 tackles:
"The one area that was really outstanding for him was the amount of times he was matched up in the flat and the amount of flat-tackles that he made. A lot of times, he was 1-on-1 and if the guy catches the ball and runs from there it's gonna be a pretty sizable gain. I was really excited about 'E' having an opportunity to do that.
"We kind of leaned on him because he'd been here the longest, knows our stuff. Even though he hadn't played a lot of (six-defensive backs) 'Dime' defense for us he did it and he did it well."
The Steelers limiting the Browns to 96 rushing yards on 29 carries (a 3.3 average), with a long run of 16 yards:
"Our front really rose to the challenge in terms of stopping the run. We've been challenging those guys to do that and they have. I thought we were really stout against the run. The week before (against Green Bay) we were stout all except for one play (a 40-yard burst by running back A.J. Dillon). We gotta get those one plays off of our tape, as we know. But watching our big guys step up up front as the season moves on has been really encouraging."
