Each Sunday, Bengals first-round draft pick Levi Jones talks about life as an NFL rookie.

Going against Pittsburgh will be the first time I've played against the same team for a second game.

It lets me know, gives me a gauge, how much I might have improved and am coming along. It's a good test. It shows me if I've gotten better on certain things, where I need improvement.

It helps that I've played Joey Porter before, but he's just one of the four guys I'll be facing in Pittsburgh.

There's Porter and Kimo von Oelhoffen. They'll move Jason Gildon. And now Kendrell Bell's back, and he likes to blitz off the edge, too. I'm just looking forward to it.

They're all a lot different. All of them. They all do different things.

Instead of playing against one right end in the traditional 4-3 defense, I'm going against four guys with different styles. And I might get them all in one series, too.

It has to be in your head. You have to be thinking all the time. I can't play Joey Porter the way I play Kimo. That's one of the mistakes I made last game and ended up giving up a sack. As soon as I see another one come over there, I have to change the dial, change the tune, so I'm ready for him.

I can tell you this: Porter is an up-the-field, speed kind of guy. Kimo's a big power-type guy. Kendrell is a mixture of both. Gildon is a reactive pass rusher, meaning he'll wait until the offensive tackle does something to react off of.

All different mix, and they all change what they do at different times.

I was in high school when the Steelers came to Phoenix for the Super Bowl after the 1995 season. The Steelers were on the West Coast channels all the time when I was growing up. I've seen a lot of them.

It's an exciting game. It's got its own name down here in Cincinnati, "Steeler Week."

As told to Mark Curnutte

Return to Bengals front page...