| Bengals cornerback Leon Hall returned to practice Wednesday after being sidelined with a hamstring injury. (US Presswire) |
The Bengals secondary reached cataclysmic health levels in Sunday's win at Jacksonville. Only two of six cornerbacks on the roster were active, and Marvin Lewis needed to activate CB Chris Lewis-Harris off the practice squad as insurance.
One week later, the outlook brightened for the corners.
CB Leon Hall (hamstring), CB/S Nate Clements (calf) and first-round pick Dre Kirkpatrick (knee) all returned to practice Wednesday. Granted, all three came in a limited variety and Lewis stated in the past, while Kirkpatrick isn't expected to play in a game until November.
Still, signs are improving for a group that Adam Jones and Terence Newman held together along with safety Chris Crocker, who signed with the team last Thursday.
Hall missed the last two games, and Clements missed last week without even traveling to Jacksonville.
Sifting through the meteorologic coachspeak of Lewis' injury diagnosis, he upgraded his optimism when asked if the situation was partly cloudy or mostly cloud.
“Partly sunny,” Lewis said with a laugh. “We're good.”
He felt good enough to waive Lewis-Harris, who is likely to return to the practice squad later this week.
Turnover the odds: Nobody preaches the value of the turnover more than Lewis. He constantly reiterates it as the most telling stat in all of pro football. Teams that lead the NFL in turnovers typically make the playoffs.
The Bengals bucked the trend the last two weeks. They haven't won the turnover battle in either game but managed to walk away with two wins. Does it become difficult to stress the importance of turnovers when the team is winning without them?
“No, it’s not at all,” Lewis said. “They understand that if you don’t take care of the ball you won’t be playing. That’s a plain and simple fact. If we can’t get turnovers on defense, we’ve got to find somebody else to do it or change what we’re doing. Because it’s important that we turn the ball over on defense.”
Plans for Moch: LB Dontay Moch returns off a four-game suspension for use of a banned substance this week. The Bengals were granted a one-week roster exemption, so he doesn't have to be activated until Monday at the latest.
It's still unknown whether the team will add the second-year man for Sunday's game against Miami or wait a week, but Lewis allowed a deeper understanding of how he'll be used when he does return. Lewis transitioned the college DE into a linebacker last year, but Moch never touched the field. In preseason, he played about half his snaps at defensive end and led the team with 2.5 sacks.
Lewis stuck by his linebacker blueprint.
“Any outside backer kind of has to have the flexibility of going the other way,” Lewis said. “And sometimes the other way has to have the flexibility of being a backer. But I think he’ll continue to work with the linebackers and he’ll continue to have a role as a sub-rusher and emergency defensive end at all times.”
Follow Paul Dehner Jr. for Bengals updates on Twitter at @CBSBengals.