After a rough 24 hours of injuries, the Cincinnati Bengals finally got some good news on Monday: A.J. Green might not miss the rest of the season.
Although Green will definitely miss the team's Week 12 game against Baltimore, coach Marvin Lewis said on Monday that the Bengals star wide receiver could be back before the end of the year. After playing the Ravens, the Bengals close the year with Eagles, Browns, Steelers and Texans before playing the Ravens again in their regular season finale.
After Green was injured in the first quarter of the Bengals' 16-12 loss to Buffalo, the initial thought was that he might miss the rest of the season with a torn hamstring. However, after undergoing an MRI, the team discovered that the hamstring was still intact and that Green had just strained it.
The injury to Green is going to hamper the Bengals offense as it heads into its biggest week of the season. The team's game in Baltimore on Sunday is basically a must-win situation. At 3-6-1, the Bengals aren't yet out of the AFC North race, but they will be if they lose to the 5-5 Ravens.
The Bengals are only still alive because of how bad the AFC North has been this year. If Cincinnati loses on Sunday, then it wouldn't be a surprise to see the team sit Green for the rest of the season because there would be no need to risk further injury if the Bengals are already out of the playoff race.
Before getting injured, Green had caught 66 passes for 964 yards and four touchdowns on the season. Green's receptions and yardage total ranks second in the NFL in both categories, which is even more impressive when you consider that he only played in 62 seconds of Sunday's game against Buffalo.
Besides Green, the Bengals will also be without Gio Bernard when they travel to Baltimore. Bernard tore his ACL against the Bills and will miss the rest of the season.
