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Whether it's been training camp practices or preseason games, the Bengals have been snakebitten with injuries over the past month.
If you take away the injuries Cincinnati suffered throughout the night, Sunday was about as good of a preseason performance as you could ask of the Bengals who will make the 53-man roster. The question is, how many of the injuries suffered were significant enough to cost players regular season games.
Sunday night's game in Jacksonville saw EverBank field claim three 2016 Pro Bowl players: Adam Jones, Cedric Peerman and A.J. Green. For Green, it looks like clear that he will not miss any regular season playing time due to his injury.
Green Update:
After leaving with a knee injury in the first quarter, the immediate worry was the All-Pro receiver had suffered some kind of damage that may cost him Week 1 at New York. Not only does that look unlikely, but it sounds like Green could have come back into the game, if needed.
"I just came down on it, banged knees," Green told NBC at halftime. "I’m fine. This sucks because I wanted to play a little bit longer. It’s not serious at all."
Jones update:
It sounds like the same issue is true with Jones, who suffered a calf strain during pregame warm-ups. The injury doesn't look serious and may have also been minor enough for Jones to play if needed.
"I’m good. When I back-pedaled I didn’t feel a pull, I just felt pain," Jones told Bengals.com. "It loosened up as I was going. I was trying to go back out and Coach (Marvin) Lewis said, ‘No way.’
"Yeah, if it was the regular season I would have played."
Lewis also said, "I think if it was a regular season game, he’d be on the field," so it looks like there should be no worries here.
Peerman update:
While the Bengals endured several injuries in this game, none was as serious as Cedric Peerman breaking his forearm. The veteran running back was forced into more snaps due to Rex Burkhead sitting out with a minor injury, but Peerman ended up suffering what may be a season-ending injury.
Lewis didn't dwell into the injury much, but he did sound like he's preparing for life without Peerman in 2016.
"Obviously, I don’t want to speculate, but we have some great guys that can step in," Lewis said. "Obviously, he’s (Peerman) done a great job for us and maybe guys at other positions will step up. It just changes how we go about things."
It’s very possible Peerman will be put on Injured Reserve and could be the top candidate to return after Week 8 of the regular-season, if he heals accordingly.
As a special teams guy with not much value at the position he plays (running back), Peerman may only have a handful of years left in the NFL. Losing one of them to injury is gut-wrenching to see.