Nine Bengals OUT; two frosh linemen starting... yikes

by Kirkendall on Nov 19, 2008 3:23 PM EST in Injury Comment 7 comments

With Antonio Chatman ending his season on Injured Reserve, and Chris Henry playing so terribly since his Mike Brown early Christmas resurrection, what's left of the Bengals passing game beyond Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh? Glenn Holt and Andre Caldwell (who just recovered from his own injury); Jerome Simpson is still hurt, and unlikely to play Thursday. On the practice squad ranks are Mario Urrutia and Maurice Purify.

Three's a company? It's a freaking party. With Levi Jones and Andrew Whitworth declared "out", the Bengals will turn to Anthony Collins at left tackle and Scott Kooistra at left guard. Kooistra is out also. Seriously? Thursday night, the Bengals will have two guys starting on the left side of the offensive line that's never started. Inexperienced be damned, says Nate Livings, expected to start at left guard. "I've been playing this game all my life. It's what I do. Ever since I was nine, 10 years old. To me, it's no different than that," said Livings before Wednesday's practice. "I think that's where people go wrong. They put too much (emphasis on inexperience). Yes, it's the NFL. But it's my job. I come to work every day and that's how I look at it."

What's the tally on injury? Chris Crocker looks to get a start after Chinedum Ndukwe was declared out, one of nine players out. Three offensive linemen, three players on their way to IR (if you include Carson Palmer), and two defensive ends, Eric Henderson and Antwan Odom. Starting cornerback Johnathan Joseph also missed practices this week and is listed as questionable.

STATUS

OUT	DOUBTFUL	QUESTIONABLE	PROBABLE
Carson Palmer	Jerome Simpson	Johnathan Joseph	Andre Caldwell
Antonio Chatman			Houshmandzadeh
Eric Henderson			Reggie Kelly
Abdul Hodge			Kenny Watson
Levi Jones
Scott Kooistra
Chinedum Ndukwe
Antwan Odom
Andrew Whitworth

TUESDAY: Not including Antonio Chatman and Carson Palmer, declared out already, the Bengals had eight players sit out practice for various elements on Tuesday; three linemen and two starting defensive backs, more notable. Levi Jones and Andrew Whitworth figure to be out, meaning Anthony Collins will make his first start alongside Scott Kooistra, if his presence on the injury report with a "knee" is only for rest.

Practices

BENGALS	TUES	WED
WR Antonio Chatman (neck)	OUT	OUT
QB Carson Palmer (right elbow)	OUT	OUT
DE Eric Henderson (neck)	DNP	OUT
T Levi Jones (back)	DNP	OUT
CB Johnathan Joseph (foot)	DNP	DNP
G Scott Kooistra (knee)	DNP	OUT
S Chinedum Ndukwe (foot)	DNP	OUT
DE Antwan Odom (shoulder)	DNP	OUT
WR Jerome Simpson (ankle)	DNP	DNP
G Andrew Whitworth (ankle	DNP	OUT
RB Kenny Watson (shoulder)	LP	FP
WR Andre Caldwell (foot)	FP	FP
WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh (back)	FP	FP
TE Reggie Kelly (ankle)	FP	FP


STEELERS	TUES	WED
T Marvel Smith (back)	DNP
CB Deshea Townsend (hamstring)	DNP
TE Matt Spaeth (wrist)	LP
CB Bryant McFadden (forearm)	FP

DNP - Did Not Practice
LP - Limited Participation in Practice
FP - Full Participation in Practice

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Comments

Yikes.

Good luck guys. Y’all are gonna need it.

Guns don't kill people. Lamar Woodley kills people.

by BostonWahoo on Nov 19, 2008 4:39 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Neither Collins or Livings were even active last week, so that’s what the coaching staff thinks of them. I don’t believe that either of the them have played a single snap in a real game, so there were probably be growing( Fitzpatrick) pains?

On the other hand, the line wasn’t playing well anyway.
Hopefully we having been working on some gimmick package with Collins all season so he can at least do something.

by R.F. Mehl on Nov 19, 2008 6:40 PM EST reply actions 0 recs