Preston Brown iffy for Bengals vs. Ravens

The Bengals have a major injury concern ahead of their Week 2 matchup with the Ravens.

According to Bengals.com, starting linebacker Preston Brown is iffy for Thursday due to an ankle injury.

Middle linebacker Preston Brown has never missed one of his 65 NFL games, but the Bengals may not know until Thursday night’s game against the Ravens if he’s available as they check out the ankle he injured in the first half in Sunday’s win in Indianapolis.

Later on Monday, Marvin Lewis did what Marvin Lewis always does and used weather updates as references for injury news:

That would seem to be a good indicator that Brown is more likely to play than not on Thursday, but with Lewis, you just never know.

Brown suffered a right ankle injury late in the first half of the Bengals’ Week 1 win over the Colts, but he returned in the second half. When he did get injured, it led to Hardy Nickerson playing more the rest of the game instead of Vincent Rey, who missed most of the preseason with an ankle injury.

Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin actually spoke briefly about the next man up if Brown is out when the Ravens come to Paul Brown Stadium,

“I think Hardy (Nickerson) was more ready to go in for this game, and we’ll see how it shakes out this week if one of those guys has to play, who will be ahead of the other,” Austin said of Nickerson and Rey on who would replace Brown.

I would venture to guess we’ll see plenty of Rey and Nickerson on Thursday if Brown is out, which would be really bad news against a strong Ravens running game.

Brown was key in Sunday’s win at Indy, recording an interception, five tackles and a pass deflection.