–Wide receiver A.J. Green did all he could to return from a toe injury after missing three games but may have injured his foot even worse and Wednesday he was placed on injured reserve.
On a second-and-long play in the second quarter against Denver, Green faced single coverage from the secondary and backup quarterback Jeff Driskel was poised to get Green the ball.
Instead, he barely made it the beyond the line of scrimmage and merely crumpled to the turf. CBS replays showed Green’s face twist in pain while grabbing the toe on his right shoe.
Green needed to exit on a cart and while exiting the field, he covered his face and showed how upset he was at the injury reoccurring.
Green caught one pass for seven yards before the frustrating exit and it his season is over.
“When you lose anybody, especially a guy like him who can take over a game, it makes it tough,” Driskel said. “I’m just hoping for the best for him and his health. Any time you lose an A.J. Green, it takes a toll.”
Green returned after there was speculation surgery might be needed and he returned after passionately reiterating his desire to finish his career with the Bengals.
“I think he’s just devastated because he wants to be out here and he knows where we’re at in the season and how important every game is from here on out,” wideout Alex Erickson said.
Green finished with 46 catches and 694 yards. He averaged 15.1 yards per reception, equaling the second-highest average of his career.
–Jeff Driskel made his first start and constantly found himself encountering third-and-long situations and typical of any debut for a backup quarterback, it had its good and bad moments.
“He kind of had a moxie in the huddle, I was like nice, ‘Nice’,” tight end C.J. Uzomah said. “He’s encouraging guys. Even when something would happen, he’d say let’s get it back.
“As a backup quarterback not too many guys are vocal, so from that standpoint as the starting quarterback, it was good to see him step in and fill in and demand respect in the huddle. I was all for it and he got the ball downfield and it was good.”
The bad moments included getting called for intentional grounding and an interception. On the interception, he faked a handoff, rolled slightly to his right only to throw the ball right to Denver safety Justin Simmons.
“That was a play that I could make, it was just a very poor decision,” Driskel said. “When you get under pressure like that, you just have to be smart with the football, especially when you’re down there getting in position to score points.”
–Linebacker Nick Vigil will be playing his second game back from a knee injury and hopes it goes better than last week against Denver. Vigil played all but two snaps but was hardly productive.
He missed a pair of tackles and was credited for one assisted tackle. According to Pro Football Focus, he recorded the second-worst grade on the defense, mostly related to his lack of tackles.
–The Bengals are in a streak of facing some difficult to defend pass rushers and it continues when the offensive line tries to block the duo of Melvin Ingram III and Joey Bosa.
The Bengals faced Terrell Suggs in Baltimore three weeks ago then they opposed Myles Garrett in the Cleveland loss and last week they had to contend with the Denver duo of Von Miller and rookie Bradley Chubb.
The Bengals did not allow a sack to Suggs and limited him to one tackle. Garrett also did not get a sack and one tackle but Chubb and Miller combined for 2.5 sacks and six tackles.
It will be a familiar matchup for rookie center Billy Price who was a freshman and sophomore at Ohio State when Bosa was there.
“A freak. I think that’s probably the unanimous term for him,” Price said. “He’s very big, 6-5, 260, 270 whatever he is at this point (listed at 280), he’s rare that he turns from quickness to power very quickly. I think that he can impact the game whenever he wants. If he wants to flip that switch there’s nobody stopping him. It’s a great challenge for us. It’s going to be fun going against him again.”
BY THE NUMBERS: 25 — This represents the number of times the Bengals have been penalized in the last two games in losses to Denver and Cleveland. It is the first time under head coach Marvin Lewis the Bengals were penalized at least 12 times in consecutive games. It also was the 26th time in team history the Bengals were whistled for at least 12 penalties and the ninth instance under Lewis. “Some of them are hustle penalties, and some of them are dumb penalties,” tight end C.J. Uzomah said. “And I think we had too many dumb penalties.”
