Teryl Austin Explains Nick Herbig's Role in Steelers Loss to Bengals; Lamar Jackson’s Injury Update
In Friday’s “First Call,” Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin discusses the lack of snaps for Nick Herbig last week.
The Baltimore Ravens await clarity on Lamar Jackson’s status. The Penguins get back into divisional play Saturday.
And there is an interesting family tie for Robert Morris hockey this weekend.
He blamed game flow and a lack of pure passing situations against the Cincinnati Bengals for Herbig’s limited participation during Thursday night’s 33-31 loss.
Mike Tomlin said the same thing, pointing out Cincy’s surprising success running the football (142 yards). Yet the Bengals also threw 47 times.
“We thought we would — in that regard — have more situational things for (Herbig) to really rush
Herbig had just two tackles against the Bengals. He played a season-low 38% of the defensive snaps. The Wisconsin product leads the team with 4.5 sacks.
Hoping for more Herbig
Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin says the team will “have to explore” getting back to more reps for outside linebacker Nick Herbig.
Looking for Lamar
The Baltimore Ravens (1-5) are still waiting to find out if they will have Lamar Jackson at quarterback this weekend. They play at home against Chicago (4-2) on Sunday.
Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com reports that Jackson practiced for the second straight day on Thursday, although he was limited.
The two-time MVP quarterback has missed the past two games thanks to a hamstring injury suffered against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Baltimore has gone 0-2, scoring only one touchdown since Jackson has been out. Cooper Rush has been at the helm. He has thrown four interceptions in two starts and was benched
Kelee Ringo is getting another chance to redeem himself vs Giants and he better not blow it
Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Kelee Ringo is set to get another chance to redeem himself against the New York Giants in Week 8, and he better not blow it like he did two weeks ago.
In the Eagles' Week 6 loss to New York, Ringo was targeted five times, allowing four catches for 69 yards. What made that performance so bad is that he struggled to contain Giants wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey, who is on NY's practice squad.
Ringo was also penalized twice; once for pass interference and then for illegal contact. Pro Football Focus gave him an embarrassing 33.4 coverage grade and a 29.6 overall defensive grade on 38 defensive snaps.
The hope was that Eagles' veteran cornerback Jakorian Bennett would be available this week, but he is not quite ready to return from his pectoral injury. Meanwhile, Adoree Jackson is in concussion protocol.
Vic Fangio is holding back from using rookie Mac McWilliams
Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio hasn't given any reason as to why the Eagles haven't used rookie cornerback Mac McWilliams this season.
He did, however, say that he could end up getting involved at outside cornerback ahead of the Eagles' win over the Minnesota Vikings when Quinyon Mitchell was dealing with an injury. But they still kept him inactive.
"Yeah, potentially could get involved," Fangio said. "We’ve been trying to focus him at one point on learning the nickel spot to be the backup nickel. Then we shifted our focus to try and get him to learn corner and be a viable option if we had issues out there. So he’s kind of been going back and forth."
With Jackson and Bennett out, the Eagles might not have a choice this week but to give him a chance. He certainly can’t perform much worse than Ringo, and this could be the perfect opportunity to see what the rookie’s capable of.
