CINCINNATI -- A superstitious man, count Adam Jones among those Cincinnati Bengals most desperate for the team's postseason fortunes to change.
The veteran cornerback on Tuesday gave a rather emphatic indication of just how desperate he was.
"I want a bye," Jones said. "I've gotten to the point where like we don't ... we need a f-----' bye. Period."
The Bengals have been to the playoffs five straight seasons and lost all five of their wild-card games. Since head coach Marvin Lewis was hired in 2003, the Bengals are 0-8 in the postseason. The franchise itself hasn't won a playoff game in more than 25 years.
Jones brought up the Bengals' postseason woes as part of an interview session following the first day of the team's organized team activity practices. He was saying that by the end of Tuesday's practice he felt a lot like he did this time last May. He also had something happen to him Tuesday much like what happened at the start of the 2015 OTAs.
Just like on Day 1 of last year's OTAs, Jones was beaten deep once by receiver A.J. Green on Tuesday.
He considered that a promising omen for his team.
"I had a good year last year and he beat me on the first day," said Jones, who agreed to a new three-year contract worth $22 million earlier this offseason.
"I don't know, man. I'm a bit -- what's the word I'm looking for? -- superstitious."
Cincinnati went 12-4 last season ahead of its fifth straight first-round exit. Jones shoulders some of the blame for that playoff loss, after his 15-yard penalty for making contact with an official tacked on enough yards to allow the Steelers to kick a 35-yard field goal in the game's closing seconds. Right before Jones' penalty -- he inadvertently bumped into the official as he was going after Steelers assistant Joey Porter, who was standing in the middle of the field at the time -- Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict had been flagged 15 yards for unnecessary roughness.
The two penalties, combined with a Jeremy Hill fumble on the prior Bengals possession helped negate a one-point lead Cincinnati held inside the final two minutes.
"Let's do whatever we got to do to win the conference and be in the top teams to get the bye," Jones said. "If you go back and look at it, we're a snap here and a snap there from f----' having a bye. And then if you come back and look at it again, we might have had Andy [Dalton] back and then we'd have the bye."
Dalton was lost for the final three regular-season games, as well as the playoff game because of a broken thumb he suffered in a Week 14 loss to Pittsburgh. Had Dalton been healthy through the end of the season, he might have quarterbacked the Bengals to a bye with a potential win at Denver in Week 16. Backup AJ McCarron got the Bengals into overtime against the Broncos, but a mishandled snap by him on the final play resulted in an overtime loss.
"We have a good team," Jones said of this year's Bengals. "We could be way better than last year if we just stay healthy and do the little things."