Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict and CB Darqueze Dennard suffer injuries vs. Steelers

UPDATE 3:

The Bengals are hoping cornerback Darqueze Dennard’s shoulder injury is just sprain. The same is true of linebacker Nick Vigil’s knee injury. Though, not much is known as of now.

UPDATE 2:

Darqueze Dennard was seen wearing a sling following the game:

That’s not a good sign for Dennard, who can’t afford to have an extended absence in the middle of a contract year. He suffered a season-ending shoulder injury back in the middle of the 2015 season.

UPDATE:

Darqueze Dennard has been declared out, so the Bengals are down one of their top three cornerbacks. That means Tony McRae is likely taking his spot, though we could also see some Darius Phillips and KeiVarae Russell.

Darqueze Dennard would like to forget about this play, but it’s not going away anytime soon.

Late in the second quarter with the Bengals and Steelers tied at 7-all, Ben Roethlisberger aired out a deep shot for JuJu Smith-Schuster down the sideline. Dennard seemingly had perfect coverage on the play, as he boxed out Smith-Schuster to get great position for the interception as the ball fell into his arms.

But in the process, Smith-Schuster got his arms down to the ball and ripped it away for an insane catch Smith-Schuster was ruled down at the 1-yard line, and the Steelers scored on the next play.

Making matters worse is Dennard suffered a shoulder injury on the play and is now questionable to return. If he’s out, Tony McRae is going to get a lot more snaps for the rest of this game.

During the drive in which Dennard was injured, the Bengals also lost linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who injured his right shoulder after missing a tackle on tight end Vance McDonald and was being attended to for the remainder of the Steelers drive late in the second quarter.

The Steelers scored several plays later with Burfict still sidelined, but is reportedly reported probable to return.

We’ll update this story when more information becomes available.