Notes: Peerless Peerman, Bengals can't clinch

Marvin Lewis is rarely effusive when speaking about any one particular player or position group as a whole, but the Cincinnati Bengals head coach couldn’t help but praise punter Kevin Huber and his coverage units after limiting St. Louis Rams punt returner Tavon Austin to just nine yards on two returnable punts.

But Austin, who came into the game with one punt return for a score and averaging 7.7 yards per return, isn’t the only “name” punt returner the Bengals have shut down.

Longtime foil Antonio Brown was held without a return when the Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers back on Nov. 1. And other premier punt returners, like Cleveland’s Travis Benjamin, Seattle’s Tyler Lockett and Arizona’s Patrick Peterson have been virtual non-factors in the return game.

A big part of that is Huber, but the leading edge of the sword in coverage is Cedric Peerman, who is turning a Pro Bowl-caliber season in that area.

“Cedric has been outstanding as a cover guy all year,” Lewis said. “He’s the leader of the entire special teams unit, he and Vinny Rey, although Vinny’s role has been somewhat reduced early in the season. Vinny’s been given some of that back now, and I think those two guys have been outstanding leaders, and Cedric in his play week in and week out.”

The 29-year-old Peerman is in his seventh season and he has made 14 tackles, 12 of the solo variety. He also forced a fumble in Baltimore. But he says he’s been able to make those plays because of the rest of the coverage unit alongside him.

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“The other guys along side me – Vinny Rey, Shawn Williams, Emmanuel Lamur – we’ve all been together for a while now and that helps,” he said. “You feel comfortable playing with one another. Even our young guys, rookies out there, Derron Smith and Tyler Kroft out there with this, we all feel comfortable together. The thing about teams is everyone stay in your lanes, do your job – you don’t have to do anything special or spectacular, you don’t have to be Superman. Just do your job, do it well and everything will take care of itself.”

Peerman did incorporate a new element to his routine this year, working in additional time to hit the tackling dummies after practice. It’s something he had never done before, but after missing five tackles last year by his count – “quote,” he said – he decided he needed to work on that, specifically his footwork through the stop.

“If you miss that one tackle, that could be the one,” he said. “You could be the guy that’s in position to make the play and if you don’t make it, there’s a crease there, which I’ve seen happen in the past. It’s happened to me before.”

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That has paid off in that the Bengals are second only to New England in the AFC in opponent’s average starting field position (opponent’s start at their own 23.2-yard line) and the longest punt return they’ve surrendered is 21 yards. The longest kick return they’ve allowed is 33 yards.

“Special teams is kind of like the unsung hero,” Peerman said. “Maybe other fans don’t pay much attention to it unless there is a big play. But on this team everyone knows special teams is important so it means that much more to the guys because coaches emphasize and we want to be good on special teams. We have a culture around of being – maybe we haven’t been number one – but we’ve been at the top the last few years. When you have that culture and you have that type of atmosphere, and guys buy into that, that’s what makes it better year after year.”

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NO CLINCH YET

With Pittsburgh losing to Seattle on Sunday night the Bengals now lead the AFC North race by three games with five to play.

The Bengals can not clinch the division title this weekend, though. Even if Steelers lose at Indianapolis and Bengals win in Cleveland tiebreakers would still keep Pittsburgh’s faint hopes alive over the final four games.

Regardless of the results this weekend, however, the Bengals can clinch the North and a fifth consecutive playoff berth with a victory against the Steelers on Dec. 13 at Paul Brown Stadium.

In the bigger picture of a chase for a first-round bye the Bengals are tied with Denver (9-2), one game behind New England (10-1) after the Broncos overtime win late Sunday. All signs point toward the game at Invesco Field in Week 16 determining who ends up with a first-round bye between the two teams barring a Patriots collapse.

The Bengals players put themselves in position to check the scores as Sunday unfolds.

“You keep up with everything that’s going on,” Andy Dalton said. "We keep handling our business and we’ll let everything fall how it’s going to fall, but if we can earn that that would be great. Obviously that gives you the best advantage you can get.”

BACK ON SCHEDULE

As the Bengals filtered out of the locker room Sunday afternoon, one of the biggest reasons players were smiling (outside of the victory) was that it wasn’t midnight, or the next morning. A stretch of three straight primetime games can do that.

Beginning with the Rams game, the team will play three consecutive Sunday afternoon contests at 1 p.m. once the NFL decided to flex the New England-Houston game to Sunday night next week.

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As of now, the next Bengals primetime game is scheduled for Sunday night, Dec. 18 in San Francisco.

“I think most guys would say if you could have a streak of 1 o’clock games on Sunday it makes it easier because you have your routine,” Dalton said. “When the times and days of the game get moved around, things just change. It’s nice for us these next two weeks.”

PORTER CUT, JACKSON SIGNED TO PRACTICE SQUAD

The Bengals made a trio of minor roster moves on Monday. They waived linebacker Sean Porter, as they had to make a decision on the 2013 fourth round pick out of Texas A&M. He had been practicing the last three weeks after beginning the year on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list but there was no room on the 53-man roster for him.

The Bengals also released lineman Dan France off the practice squad, a move aided in part by the fact that first round pick Cedric Ogbuehi is now on the 53-man roster.

To fill out the practice unit, the team signed fourth-year veteran corner Asa Jackson. Jackson was a fifth-round choice by the Baltimore Ravens in 2012 and was waived by the team on Nov. 20.

“It's great to have another opportunity,” Jackson said. “Not everybody gets that. I'm just grateful to this team and this organization for them to be the ones to give me that shot. I'm looking forward to helping this team in any way I can.”