Bengals back from bye refreshed, and with ping-pong

Bengals coach Zac Taylor told the players in meetings last Monday, before the bye, that the ping-pong tables were making a comeback, following a 4-7 start. Cincinnati is trying to find its mojo again heading into the final six games with playoff hopes teetering. The Bengals play the Pittsburgh Steelers at home Sunday in the first of their two matchups still remaining.

“Just create energy in the locker room,” Taylor said. “You know, it’s December football now, and need everyone to be at their best. Need everyone to have energy when they walk in the building. That creates some competitiveness. That’s about all there is to it.”

“I just want guys to interact, and you know, so that’s one way to do it,” Taylor added. “I’m not overthinking it too much, but here’s a way to create some energy and get guys up and active.”

Ping-pong isn’t for everyone. Rookie cornerback Josh Newton said he’s just there to play football so he has no interest in participating in other activities that might be made available. Last year, there was also a card table and cornhole.

Bengals kicker Evan McPherson said there had been back-and-forth conversations about the ping-pong tables throughout the season before Taylor announced the decision to bring them back. They had been removed to keep the new locker room looking new, “clean and sleek,” he said, but he is glad to see them back.

“Honestly, and some people might think it’s stupid, but I think it does help because kind of the vision of it is you are playing with guys you might not always talk to,” McPherson said. “There’s a bunch of guys on the team, and you may not get around to talking to everybody but everybody loves ping-pong. So, you might be playing with or against someone you might not get to talk to much, and so, I feel like the teams I’ve been on the past three years have been really close, and I feel like all the games we play with each other have something to do with it.”

During McPherson’s first two seasons, the Bengals went to a Super Bowl and back-to-back AFC Championships before Joe Burrow’s season-ending wrist injury derailed their 2023 turnaround from a slow start, resulting in a 9-8 finish.

Now, Cincinnati is on the outside looking in on the playoffs but still considered “in the hunt,” thanks to the AFC only having seven teams with above .500 records. Denver (7-5) hold the last spot into the playoffs currently, and Miami (5-6) and Indianapolis (5-7) are the next teams in before the Bengals.

“What a great opportunity for us,” Taylor said. “I mean, at home against Pittsburgh and divisional game, no better way to get our season back on track right now than to have our best week, you know. And so, I thought the energy was tremendous when played the Raiders here recently, from the crowd. I expect the same. We’re playing Pittsburgh. Players will certainly match that energy as well. And so just phenomenal opportunity. This is December football. This is where it means something, regardless what our record is right now you need to play your best football in December, and now, more than ever, we’re going to need that from our guys, and they understand that. They subscribe to it, and we just keep more moving forward from here.”

The Bengals got an extra practice in Monday coming back from the bye, when they normally just have meetings the day after a game, but defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins was still out after missing the last game because of illness, and Sam Hubbard also was out because personal reasons.

Orlando Brown Jr. was participating at least in some fashion during the media portion of practice.

“We’ll see,” Taylor said when asked about Brown’s status this week. “We’ll just get to Wednesday and we’ll see everybody’s at.”

SUNDAY’S GAME

Steelers at Bengals, 1 p.m., CBS, 700, 1530, 102.7, 104.7