A pair of AFC teams looking to remain atop their respective divisions meet Sunday in Cincinnati, when the Bengals host the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Bengals (2-1) look to bounce back from their first setback of the season, a 30-27 road loss at Pittsburgh in Week 3. The Jaguars (2-1), in turn, rebounded from a Week 2 loss in Denver with a 35-6 domination of the New England Patriots last Sunday in Jacksonville.
The Bengals enter the game banged up in the secondary and with a new look on special teams.
Already with Ja’Sir Taylor on injured reserve, the Bengals lost another slot corner when Jalen Davis landed on IR with a hamstring injury. Additionally, three of their safeties — Jordan Battle (ankle), Bryan Cook (hamstring) and Kyle Dugger (quadricep) — are dealing with injuries, with the latter two missing practice on Wednesday.
The injuries have forced the Bengals to shuffle their secondary, with starting outside corner Dax Hill moving inside to slot corner, likely drawing Jacksonville top receiver Parker Washington. DJ Turner II and DJ Ivey will start on the outside.
“That’s what makes guys valuable when you’re look for them, when they can cover you at two spots or have starting experience, inside-out flex as a corner,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said of the secondary depth on the roster.
Offensively, rookie receiver Colbie Young suffered a knee injury and has been ruled out this week. Ke’Shawn Williams was cut after muffing a critical punt in the fourth quarter Sunday. The Bengals brought back receiver Mitchell Tinsley, who was signed off the Houston practice squad and added to the active roster. Tinsley will serve primarily as a receiver with Young out, while Dohnte Meyers assumes punt return responsibilities.
Tinsley had a key touchdown in the Bengals’ 31-27 win over the Jaguars last season in Week 2, the same week Cincinnati lost Joe Burrow for nine weeks to a turf toe injury.
Prior to the late-game turnover in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati’s offense had put together perhaps its best performance of the young season. Burrow registered season highs in completions (28), completion percentage (75.7), passing yards (282), TD passes (three) and passer rating (123.9).
The Jaguars, who ranked 20th in the NFL in run offense in 2025, rank 10th in the category through three games this season at 119.3 yards per game with 4.2 yards per carry. This was an area of focus this past offseason after the Jaguars averaged just 91.2 yards rushing over their last six regular-season games of 2025.
Running back Bhayshul Tuten leads the Jaguars with 204 yards and two touchdowns rushing while fellow running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. has rushed for 73 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.
The Jaguars have rushed for at least 95 yards in all three games this season, and they rushed for a season-high 137 yards and two touchdowns in the 35-6 win over the Patriots.
“You can really dictate more when you’re running the ball well,” Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said. “It feels like you’re going with your plan more and you’re calling what you want to call as opposed to sometimes when you get behind the chains, you feel like you’re on your heels a little bit and you’re having to make up some ground.”
The Bengals have won the last four meetings dating back to 2020.
“It’s definitely something when you’re going into this game that you think about,” Lawrence said. “You’re not sitting there thinking about it every second of the day all week, but I’ve thought about it. It’s a team we haven’t beat and we lost a tough one there early in the season last year.”
