The Packers let Slaton go in free agency this offseason, and the Bengals scooped him up to fill the run-stopping defensive tackle role that had been a big need since DJ Reader left following the 2023 season.
Slaton said it’s “just another football game” and “not really” a big deal to be going back. He called his four years there “fun, eventful” and said it was a good place to be.
“I ain’t got no bad blood,” Slaton said. “Thinking about it, you would say I would think about it like that (wanting to have a good game against an old team), but at end of the day I’m just trying to come in and just play football well, just do the things that I do well, just trying to do my job, make sure I can be accounted for all the other 10 people out there. That’s how it’s.”
Slaton was a fifth-round draft pick of the Packers coming out of the University of Florida in 2021, and he played in all 17 regular-season games each of his four seasons in Green Bay, including his last two as a full-time starter.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Although disappointing not to get an extension as his rookie deal expired, Slaton didn’t have to wait long to find a new team. He and the Bengals agreed to a two-year deal worth $15.1 million on the first day of legal tampering this offseason.
A 6-foot-5, 330-pound “truck,” as he describes himself, Slaton seems to be starting to settle into the defense. He’s coming off his best game, recording eight tackles Sunday in a 37-24 loss to the Detroit Lions – an old NFC North foe with whom he was familiar.
“I feel like I could have (done) more as far as technique-wise and then just all around just could have given the team a little bit more, but I feel like I did well just for individual, but just can do more to help the team,” Slaton said.
The Bengals gave up a touchdown on the opening drive and then buckled down, only giving up seven more points before halftime, off a short field following a turnover. Slaton said it was tough being on the field so much the first three quarters while the offense was struggling through what ended up being a 28-3 deficit going into the final period, but he liked seeing that this is a team that is “not going to quit.”
Cincinnati just needs to take care of the “small things to get over the hump,” Slaton said, noting it’s just being in the right places and keeping eyes where they need to be to make plays.
Slaton is hoping his experience playing with the Packers can help this week. They bring a balanced attack, including the seventh-best running game in the league with 114.5 rushing yards per game, and they are scoring 26.0 points per game (ninth most).
“You just got to play a physical game of football,” Slaton said, when asked how to stop Green Bay’s running game. “It’s going to be another physical one. They got Josh (Jacobs). Josh is a great back, so we have to get him down.”
Jacobs has 266 yards and four touchdowns on 80 carries and adds 119 yards on 10 catches out of the backfield.
Cincinnati played well against Detroit’s run, which is arguably stronger. The Bengals gave up 118 yards rushing, which was their best performance since allowing just 49 yards on the ground at Cleveland.
“We played really well against the run,” Slaton said. “We were physical. Just like what we discussed as a D-line is we could have got a little bit more knock-back, but other than that we played very well as a group holding them to just three yards a carry.”
Jordan Love will bring another challenge with the 11th-best passing game in the league. He has completed 69.4 percent of his passes for 1,000 yards and eight touchdowns with just one interception.
Slaton said he hasn’t thought much about finally getting a chance to try to bring down Love, after not being able to in practices with the Packers in his four seasons playing with him. Slaton only has two career sacks and still awaits one with Cincinnati, but he’s already matched his career-high for quarterback hits in a season with three.
“He’s a great quarterback,” Slaton said. “We just got to make him be indecisive. We got to get hits.”
Slaton said the feeling among the Bengals players is they just need the feeling of a win right now after dropping three straight losses. Defensively, they are “heading in a good direction” but need to do everything possible to help the offense while it’s struggling after the loss of Joe Burrow.
“At the end of the day, we just want to play our brand football,” Slaton said. We just want to play up to our standard and just do the little things, get the offense back to the ball, punch out the ball, get turnovers, but those come with the game, so we got to take our opportunities to force those turnovers and put it into perfection. We just keep chugging on.”
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