Mohamed Sanu made his mark as a Bengal on Sept. 23 with a 73-yard bomb to A.J. Green on the first play of the game.

Sunday against the Steelers, the 2012 third-round pick out of Rutgers did what he was drafted to do and caught the first pass of his career. Sanu caught three passes in all for 27 yards and had a 7-yard rush in the 24-17 loss to the Steelers.

“It felt really good to help out the team,” Sanu said. “I’ll do anything I can to make plays. I just like being out there. If coach wants me outside, I’ll go outside. If he wants me inside, I’ll be inside and do the best I can with it.”

Sanu said the inside slot position is the harder position to learn.

“You’ve got to know your surroundings,” he said. “You’ve got to know who’s buzzing out, who’s over top of you. You’ve got to know when to sit down. There’s just a lot more thinking.”

Bye week timing: The Bengals don’t play again until Nov. 4 against Denver at Paul Brown Stadium, and while some players might prefer to get back at it this weekend, head coach Marvin Lewis likes the timing of the bye week.

“I think it’s a great time for us,” Lewis said. “It’s like going back to training camp, back to the fundamentals of what we’re doing. We’ve had an opportunity to look at us through seven football games. There are some positive things, and there are some things we need to correct and do better. It gives us an opportunity to get some guys who aren’t getting much playing time to practice in our schemes a little more.”

Offense regresses: Offensive coordinator Jay Gruden, who got a lot of praise after that victory over the Redskins in Week 3, has seen how fast things can change in recent weeks.

The Bengals averaged 28 points per game in the first four games and have averaged 18 over the last three.

“That’s the way it is,” Gruden said. “What a difference a week makes, a month makes, a season makes in careers and lives in this business. You just have to keep doing what you’re doing. You’ve just got to do a better job of getting players in the right spots and coaching better. We’ve got to take players who are not quite ready and make them ready. We’ve got to take the great players and utilize them the best way we can.”