A.J. Green injury update: Bengals WR reportedly has hamstring tear

A no good, very bad season for the Bengals continues, and it looks like A.J. Green is the latest to suffer greatly from it.

According to NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport, Green suffered a tear in his hamstring during Sunday’s 16-12 loss to Buffalo, and an MRI is coming soon.

Green himself is telling reporters that he’ll be back this season, though we should probably assume that’s what the Bengals told him to say.

I’d expect Cincinnati to try and put enough mystery around this injury in hopes of forcing future opponents to keep game-planning for him. Building a defensive game-plan to defend the Bengals is night and day when Green is in or out of the lineup, as evidenced by Buffalo holding Cincinnati to 12 points without Green on the field.

It’s hard to say how long Green will be out though. A small tear in the hamstring could be something he returns from in a week or two, but a bigger tear could be bad enough to sideline him for several months.

Seeing how much pain Green was in and how he had to be carted to the locker room, it was probably bad enough to sideline him for several weeks, if not months. At the very least, we should consider him out next week when the Bengals face the Baltimore Ravens.

If this is it for Green in 2016, he’ll finish the season with 66 catches for 964 yards and four scores, robbing him of his sixth-straight season with at least 1,000 receiving yards to begin his career.

That’s something that former Bengals great Chad Johnson doesn’t want to see, even though Green will likely soon hold all of Ochocino’s old franchise receiving records.

We will keep you posted on Green’s status once more information comes out. It’s expected he’ll get an MRI on Monday morning.

Update: Green may really be done for the year.