Bengals Week 3 Snap Counts at Steelers: Dohnte Meyers takes over in the slot, Tacario Davis gets the call
There’s plenty of uncertainty in the air after the Cincinnati Bengals’ first loss of the season. Injury concerns impacted how the snap counts looked for Cincinnati in Week 3.
There’s plenty of uncertainty in the air after the Cincinnati Bengals’ first loss of the season. Cincinnati fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 30-27, in the first AFC North showdown of 2026, proving old problems on both sides of the ball can resurface at any time.
Momentum from the first two weeks of the season feels lost. Pristine health from the beginning of the year is definitely out the door as well. The latter clearly impacted how the game went upon looking at who played.
Here are the snap counts from the Bengals’ first loss game of the 2026 season.
Bengals’ Week 3 snap counts at Steelers
Dohnte Meyers’ growing role
The Bengals had a plan in place starting this week to compensate for the absence of Andrei Iosivas, who was placed on the Reserve/Injured list Saturday. That plan was immediately changed after just one snap on Sunday.
Rookie wide receiver Colbie Young (1) injured his knee on Cincinnati’s first snap on offense. He was ruled doubtful to return, and he never did. Young was supposed to rotate in and out alongside Dohnte Meyers (32), but it was Myers who ended up playing over half of the game. He didn’t get to start, but he may as well as acted like he did.
Meyers started off strong with a 22-yard reception to convert the Bengals’ first third down of the game. Heyl only caught two more passes on four additional targets for the remainder of the afternoon, racking up a total of 29 receiving yards. 72% of his snaps in the passing game were from the slot.
The severity of Young’s knee injury will determine whether or not Meyers logs his actual first start Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Cincinnati’s depth at receiver is being put to the test, but Meyers turned everyone’s heads just a month ago to secure roster spot. Now he needs to really step up and prove it wasn’t a fluke.
The Tacario Davis contingency
Another injury made rookie cornerback Tacario Davis (27) busier than expected as well. Starting nickelback Jalen Davis (19) got off on the wrong foot, giving up the game’s first touchdown in coverage and leaving the contest with a hamstring injury early in the second half.
The Bengals’ contingency plan proved to be moving Dax Hill (62) into the slot to replace Davis while the rookie Davis take’s Hill’s place on the outside.
Just over two-thirds of Davis’ 27 snaps came at CB, but he also took eight snaps in or near the box. He found himself matched up and targeted against Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth, and it resulted in his first-career pass breakup. He was also penalized for defensive holding late in the second quarter.
Cincinnati’s secondary was one of the main culprits in its first defeat of the year. Moving pieces around mid-game is not ideal, but the Bengals need Davis to hit the ground running next week should he make his first start.
Expert analysis on Bengals Week 3 snap counts at Steelers
Other key takeaways from Cincinnati’s first loss of the season:
- Safety Kyle Dugger (41) came in for the injured Bryan Cook (21), who tried playing through an ankle injury.
- Nose tackle Dexter Lawrence (49) led all defensive linemen in snaps, a notable shift from the opening two weeks in which he played a little over 60% of the snaps.
- Tight end Tanner Hudson (13), a practice squad elevation, saw the field more often than TE Erick All Jr. (12).
- Shemar Stewart was active but did play a single snap.
