CINCINNATI — While the Cincinnati Bengals were able to overcome the absence of Vontaze Burfict in a 33-7 victory against Tennessee on Sept. 21, the linebacker’s absence was glaring Sunday night in a 43-17 loss at New England.

It wasn’t just Burfict’s play the team was missing, but his presence as a leader and communicator, especially when the Patriots went up-tempo.

Vinny Rey started at Burfict’s weak-side position while the Pro Bowler continued to deal with lingering effects from a concussion, but Emmanuel Lamur, who was making just his fourth NFL start, was the one wearing the communication device in his helmet and filling the role as the liaison between defensive coordinator Paul Guenther and the rest of the defense.

“You’ve got to get the calls and get everybody lined up and then you have to get lined up for yourself,” Lamur said. “At the same time you have to stay poised and give out the calls as fast as possible, especially when they were going no-huddle. There’s a lot of mistakes we made but we learned from that and we are moving forward.”

Things were especially difficult during a stretch in the first half when the microphone inside the helmet went out for “four or five plays,” Lamur added.

That’s when Burfict’s knowledge of the defense would have made a big difference.

“He’s more comfortable making every check on the field,” defensive end Wallace Gilberry said. “Vontaze, a lot of people don’t realize this or notice, he’s smart, man. I just now noticed it with Paulie being at the helm because he’s more vocal in meetings. He knows what everybody is doing on every play. You can’t teach that. He’s a student of the game and it shows.”