Jim Owczarski

jowczarski@enquirer.com

At first, Adam Jones didn’t want to entertain a conversation about Terrelle Pryor. The Cincinnati Bengals’ Pro Bowl corner said he’d let the results of Sunday’s game do the talking when it came to the Cleveland Browns’ number one wide receiver.

Finally, he relented.

“He pushes off, every route. He’s an OK receiver,” Jones said. “They do feature him a little bit so he does get more looks than a guy who would be in his situation. He’s just a guy to me.”

Pryor is in his first full season as a wide receiver after failing as an NFL quarterback in Oakland and, briefly, with the Bengals. Pryor has been using his size (6 feet, 6 inches, 240 pounds) to his advantage as he’s tried to learn the nuances of the position on the fly.

“It’s been a learning process throughout but yet he’s really accelerated the process during the course of the season,” Bengals defensive backs coach Kevin Coyle said. “He’s better now at route running and doing some of the little things from earlier in the season, now that he’s got a lot of time under his belt.”

Bengals ready for Hue Jackson's 'ball of knives'

In order to put Pryor in positions to succeed, the Browns often use his straight-line speed, routes that allow him to wall off defenders like slants, deep crosses or comebacks. Coyle also noted he’s a good back-shoulder target because of his wide frame.

“I think he’s a very good athlete that obviously is becoming more and more of a polished receiver as the weeks go on,” Bengals defensive back Josh Shaw said. “But if I had to pinpoint one thing I would say he’s pretty good at attacking the ball. He’s bigger than most defensive backs he plays. They give him some jump balls and he’s won most of his 50-50 battles this year. I think that is his strongest asset.”

Pryor is knocking on the door of a 1,000-yard receiving season as he is tied for 11th in the NFL in yards with 850. He is tied for 22nd in total catches with 62. He has been targeted 113 times. All are team highs.

“I got into every week just trying to dominate the other corners and stuff like that, people that have guarded me,” Pryor said. “It's a thing as you go you just continue to learn.”

The next closest receiver to Pryor is former Bengal Andrew Hawkins, who has 25 catches on 45 targets. Running back Duke Johnson is second on the team with 45 receptions on 63 targets.

But he will be going up against Bengals corners Adam Jones, Dre Kirkpatrick, Josh Shaw and Darqueze Dennard, a group that has allowed just three passing touchdowns in their coverage since the bye.

For Pryor, however, any matchup on Sunday has more to do with him than the Bengals’ defensive backs.

“It's not about what they do because at the end of the day, they have to guard me,” Pryor said. “They have to guard the deep ball and make sure I don't get on top of them. There are a lot of things I try to control. I've got to control what I do, and I've got to worry about myself. There is some stuff I've got to study. You guys got some guys over there in Jones and Kirkpatrick, they are solid players.”

Pryor has caught at least five passes per game since the Oct. 23 game against the Bengals in Cincinnati.

“He can’t push at the top of a route, so you’ve just got to be in good position,” Jones said of how to defend Pryor. “We played him last game and he didn’t do (expletive).”

Indeed. The Browns’ previous meeting with the Bengals – one in which Pryor was questionable to play in due to a hamstring injury – has been his least productive outing of the year (4 targets, 2 catches, 18 yards).

Bengals notes: Eifert returns, Pryor grows, defense regroups

“Yeah,” Jones said. Then he had to get in at least one parting shot before lining up across from Pryor on Sunday.

“I don’t like him. You can put that in there.”