Nickel cornerback Mike Hilton joked he was feeling old. Second-year players Dax Hill and Cam Taylor-Britt were the other two defensive backs filling roles.
That youth movement of sorts could be a continuing trend moving forward and particularly heading into this Sunday’s game against Seattle. Awuzie was a limited participant in practice Wednesday, after injuring his back Oct. 3, and he returned to work Thursday during the portion open to media. But his availability for the game Sunday remains up in the air.
Even if he does return, Turner has been getting opportunities, and it seems Battle is earning more snaps as well. Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo doesn’t necessarily view it as “getting younger” in the secondary, though, or any change in philosophy in how to approach his defense.
“Sometimes it’s out of necessity or need (to go younger), but yeah, I don’t think we’re in that mode,” Anarumo said. “I just think that some guys have shown promise and, you know, injuries through Chido and things. But we had a package for D.J. from the first game, so we felt like he had progressed through training camp. And so Jordan seems to be coming on a little bit, so he deserves some snaps. This isn’t high school or college where you’ve got to wait your turn. The best ones will play.”
Anarumo conceded he does coach the younger players differently than he did last year’s secondary, which featured veteran safeties Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell and cornerback Eli Apple opposite Awuzie until Awuzie’s ACL tear last Halloween. That was when Taylor-Britt stepped in, and he’s been steadily progressing.
Taylor-Britt had his first NFL regular-season interception last week at Arizona and turned it into a pick-6.
The youth likely has factored into some of the defensive concerns through the first five games. Last week was better thanks to turnovers, but missed tackles still continue to be an issue. To some extent, that is to be expected early in the season. It doesn’t help that Scott, a free agent newcomer this year, also has struggled at times.
“(I’m) way more patient because they’re going to just do things that rookies do in the first quarter of the season, you know?” Anarumo said. “And thank God we’ve been getting D.J. the reps we’ve been getting him. That’s, I guess, the one blessing about Chido’s injuries, that he’s been able to have all those reps so that wasn’t the first game you had to start. And you can see his progression and how he’s playing, but it’s just a different game, you know, and they continue to improve, but there’s certainly some things that you’d be like ‘What are we doing?’ But that’s just part of it when you got rookies.”
D.K. Metcalf and the Seahawks wide receivers could be a big challenge for a young secondary but the players say they are up for it. Metcalf, a thicker version of Higgins, has 268 yards receiving and two touchdowns through four games and a 3-1 start for Seattle.
Turner hasn’t felt like there’s been any overwhelming challenges in the regular season since having to face Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase throughout training camp while Awuzie was still easing back from his knee surgery. He played all but two snaps on defense Sunday and had four tackles and a pass defended.
“When it comes to receivers, we’ve got the best receiving corps in the league, so you get comfortable guarding them, it definitely helps your confidence going into each game so that’s really what I say,” Turner said. “It’s a blessing I came here to where any learning curve that would happen, that would have to happen in camp, so it definitely helps you take games confidently when you go against guys like that.”
Turner said his goal is to just not look like a rookie on film because the young guys already know opponents will be targeting them first. He and Battle just want to keep earning more opportunities.
Anarumo said he plans to just keep rotating Battle and Scott and see how it goes. Battle had a quarterback hit, two tackles and a pass defended at Arizona while upping his snap count to 39 percent, and the former Alabama safety said he is feeling more confident with each game.
“Just being in there, making a few plays, it feels good,” Battle said. “Obviously you want to be in there and contribute however you can as a player, so whenever you get that chance you want to make the best of it, so I feel like every opportunity I get, just go out and play hard and let the plays come to me.
“I feel like everything is falling into place for me as a player, the playbook and everything, getting comfortable,” he added.
The Bengals will be hoping that is the case for the entire secondary.
SUNDAY’S GAME
Seahawks at Bengals, 1 p.m., CBS, 700, 1530, 102.7, 104.7
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