Bengals News (9/16): Chasing records

Bengals kicker Evan McPherson always stays cool, even in high pressure situations
Back when McPherson ended a long-ago overtime with his head. Back when he grew up fast and Fort Payne High School became the champions of Class 6A in the state of Alabama. Since it is soccer in Alabama, which is slightly behind water polo in local interest, the only ones that really remember McPherson's walk-off sudden death header against Northview are the ones that matter.

Bengals Notebook: Joe Mixon's fast start breaks open the record books
Against the backdrop of Sunday's game at Soldier Field (1 p.m.-Cincinnati's Channel 19) pitting the NFL's two leading rushers, league leader Joe Mixon is coming off Cincinnati's best Opening Day rushing performance in a half century and senses there is more hay to be made with the running game clicking earlier than it ever has in his career.

Bengals Joe Mixon Named The FedEX Ground Player of The Week
Mixon finished with 129 rushing yards on 29 carries and a touchdown. He also had four receptions for 23 yards. Mixon's rushing total was the highest of any player across the league in Week 1.

Bengals Place Ricardo Allen On Reserve/Injured, Promote Trenton Irwin To Active Roster
*Signed S Sean Davis to the practice squad. Davis (6-1, 202), a sixth-year player out of the University of Maryland, originally was a second-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2016. He also has spent time with the Washington Football Team and Indianapolis Colts. He has played in 65 career games, and has 244 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 21 PDs, five INTs, a FF and a FR. He was released from the Colts' practice squad yesterday.

Bengals Evan McPherson Named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week
In his NFL debut, McPherson kicked a game-winning 33-yard FG as time expired in OT to give Cincinnati a 27-24 win over Minnesota. At 22 years and 53 days old, McPherson became the youngest kicker in NFL history to kick a game-winner in OT, and he's just the second rookie kicker ever to convert a FG as time expired in OT. Earlier in the game, McPherson made his first career NFL field goal, a 53-yarder that counted as the second-longest in the AFC in Week 1.

Cincinnati Bengals Wide Receivers Could Have Big Day Against Chicago Bears' Secondary
Cincinnati finished the week with the fourth-best receiving grade in the league according to Pro Football Focus (78.8). Meanwhile, the Bears' secondary earned a 35.4 coverage grade, which was the worst in the NFL.

Cincinnati Bengals news: Joe Burrow on facing Chicago Bears
“The main thing we would be is we would get a win on the road,” Burrow said. “That's a big thing for us. We were 1-0 last week, we want to be 1-0 this week. We're not going to look ahead and we're not going to look back. We're going to focus on this week. It's a really talented defense and they've got some players on offense so we're going to have to go in there and get the job done."

NFL: Bengals rookie Ja'Marr Chase: 'I'm trying to break every record I can'
With a great Week 1 performance under his belt, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase is already looking at what's ahead of him. Not just the Bengals' Week 2 matchup against the Chicago Bears, but at what he wants to accomplish in his career.

Around the league

NFL roundup: Latest league news from Thursday, Sept. 16
After losing not one, not two, but all three of its top running backs to season-ending injuries before the regular season even started, Baltimore went on a dollar store shopping spree. With a cupboard to fill and veterans to be had, the Ravens signed Freeman, Le'Veon Bell and Latavius Murray.

RB Index, Week 2: Three running backs poised to bounce back
The 2021 NFL season opened with a thud for the running back position. Not only did a number of RBs cough up costly fumbles, but Week 1 saw just five 100-yard backs: Joe Mixon (127 yards), David Montgomery (108), Elijah Mitchell (104), Melvin Gordon (101) and Damien Harris (100), with Montgomery being the only representative from last year's top five rushers.

2022 NFL Draft: Top 25 Senior Bowl prospects entering Week 3 of college football season
With the first two weeks of the 2021 college football season in the books, I'm updating my ranking of the top 25 prospects for the 2022 Reese's Senior Bowl. For the most part, it's been so far, so good for this group early in the season. There are eight newcomers to the list this week (along with an expanded others to watch section), with prospects rising to the high standards required by NFL scouts to be selected in the top 75 overall picks next April.

QB Index, Week 2: Tom Brady just gets better with age, while Trevor Lawrence shows his youth
I stopped writing this column for two seasons, and Tom Brady is better now than when I left. Back then, there was appropriate awe that he was hanging on as a top-10 regular-season quarterback before he lit up the AFC on the way to his final Patriots title. He fell further in his final New England season, closer to league average. Just 18 months later, it's obvious that no NFL quarterback has played better since last December, a stretch lasting nine Bucs games.