Bengals News and Notes: Looking back on a busy Saturday

With Cincinnati expecting a prolonged rehabilitation process for rookie quarterback A.J. McCarron and Jason Campbell nursing a bruised elbow, the Bengals signed former Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson, who entered the NFL as Oakland's fourth-round draft choice in 2013. During his first preseason in Oakland, Wilson completed 11 of 18 passes for 93 yards with no scores or picks. He spent the first 10 weeks of the regular season on Oakland's practice squad before his promotion to their 53-man roster for two weeks (week 11-12). Eventually he returned to Oakland's practice squad, where he will pilfered by the Tennessee Titans in mid-December. Wilson, who stayed with the Titans throughout the offseason, was waived by Tennessee on August 6.

If you're looking at Wilson long-term, don't. He's here as a body while Campbell recovers and McCarron rehabilitates. Then again, we may not see McCarron at all this season -- he's currently on PUP and may jump to reserve/PUP, eliminating his eligibility for the first six weeks. Not that it matters; he wasn't going to play regardless with Andy Dalton and Campbell holding solid ground as the team's starter and backup respectively.

+ Schedule: The Bengals are off on Sunday. They will practice at West Carrolton high school at 5:30 p.m., before finishing up training camp on Tuesday (3:00 p.m), Wednesday (3:00 p.m) and Thursday (11:15 a.m).

+ Because the preseason is where scores are settled: New York Jets defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson remembers Cincinnati's 49-9 thrashing last October. So much so that he told the media this week that "we owe them one. We owe them one big time." Go ahead. Take your prize. On the other hand, Bengals fans feel differently. The 40-point win felt like an accumulation from 2009 -- the embarrassing regular season finale and the wild card game the following week. Yet, like the preseason doesn't equate to a regular season loss, the regular doesn't equate to a post-season loss. We still owe them.

"That was pretty much the only team that dog-walked this defense like that, honestly, to me personally," Richardson said.

Eh. Go ahead. Have fun trying to owe the Bengals while you play one quarter in an exhibition game where the final score isn't even on the team's top-ten list of things to care about.

+ Despite having every reason to, Bengals special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons hasn't "unleashed hell" after Thursday's abysmal showing in Kansas City. Coverage teams allowed an 80-yard punt return for a touchdown, another long return, Brandon Tate's popcorn observation on a punt and penalties.

"It was good to learn from," Simmons said via the Cincinnati. "Now is not the time to unleash hell, I guess. It's a lot of these guys first exposure to the NFL and the speed of the game. So there's a lot of good learning to go on."

+ Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Geno Atkins, who's recovering from an ACL tear last October, took part in one snap on 11-on-11 drills Saturday. However, Atkins' position coach, Jay Hayes, appears optimistic after individual drills, writes the mothership.

"I think that means he feels like himself," said Hayes after Atkins jumped into the huddle when he was asked if he wanted a shot. "He’s feeling better, he’s getting stronger. He looked very good in individuals. He’s explosive and we’re taking our time. But he looks good."

+ Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther called Travis Kelce's 69-yard touchdown reception, the one play that "I felt really bad about because if you really look at it, our defense outscored their offense 7-6 in the first half," Guenther said via the Cincinnati Enquirer. Guenther blamed miscommunication more than anything, because "we had an injury on the play right before that so we swapped some guys in. It was a blown coverage at the end of the day. That's why you have these preseason games to iron things, talk through things."