Steelers at Bengals injury report: John Ross and William Jackson are questionable

Update: Bengals wide receiver John Ross is not expected to play against the Steelers on Sunday in Cincinnati, according to Ian Rapoport.

This is bad news for the Bengals who could greatly use Ross on the field. William Jackson III’s status is unknown as the cornerback is still questionable to play.

The Bengals will have several players that are game-time decisions on Sunday when the Steelers come to town.

On Friday, the team declared John Ross (groin), William Jackson (knee) and Cedric Ogbuehi (wrist) as questionable to play this week. The team also ruled out Billy Price (foot), Giovani Bernard (knee) and Tyler Kroft (foot).

Of this group, Jackson would easily be the biggest loss. He was instrumental in shutting down All-Pro receiver Antonio Brown in two matchups with Pittsburgh in 2017. If Jackson is out, that puts a lot more pressure on a struggling Bengals defense to contain one of the best players in football.

As for Ross, he’s still dealing with a groin injury that has him very iffy to play this week. Having him to stretch the defense would be big, and it was evident last week against Miami that the offense wasn’t quite the same without the threat of Ross to stretch the field.

Ogbuehi was likely going to be a healthy scratch, so him being out due to injury is no loss.

On Pittsburgh’s side, wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey (ankle) and safety Morgan Burnett (groin) have been ruled out, while linebacker L.J. Fort (ankle) is listed as doubtful for Sunday.