Zac Taylor updates status of injured Bengals

The NFL playoffs are back in the Queen City, as the Cincinnati Bengals will look to take down the Las Vegas Raiders during Wild Card weekend.

On Monday, head coach Zac Taylor met with the media to update the status of several players battling injuries as the postseason begins.

The Bengals were thankfully able to avoid any injuries during Sunday’s regular-season finale vs. the Cleveland Browns. The most severe injuries involved backup safety Ricardo Allen suffering a concussion, while defensive tackle Josh Tupou sprained his MCL. Tupou’s injury is week-to-week, so don’t expect him to play Saturday.

Thankfully, it appears neither injury will be a long-term issue, so a return for both players during the playoffs is possible depending on how far Cincinnati goes. Both players will be unrestricted free agents this offseason, so it’s good to know these injuries won’t linger into March when they hope to sign new deals with the Bengals or other NFL teams.

The real news is with starting left guard Quinton Spain, who was already going to miss Week 18 with an ankle injury, then landed on the COVID-19 list. Spain did come off the list today along with other key players like Joe Mixon, Vonn Bell, Trey Hendrickson and Trey Hopkins, all of whom are expected to play this week.

As for Spain, he too will resume practicing this week, a good sign he’ll be able to go Saturday.

Backup cornerback Jalen Davis (ankle) and defensive lineman Cam Sample (hamstring) did not practice last week before being inactive at Cleveland, but it sounds like they’ll resume practicing with a chance of playing Saturday.

One more note: Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo said today that he believes cornerback Mike Hilton is fine after it appeared he got dinged during Sunday’s game.

Hilton seemed to be in good spirits following the game after FOX mistakenly showed him on the bench thinking it was Ja’Marr Chase.

Good times.

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