I just went to the Bengals' home page.
We have so many starters out injured, it's not even funny. And they aren't little things. Like the player with the most minor injury is out for 3-4 weeks.
- Tab Perry, our beast kick returner (also plays on punts, punt returns, and kickoffs) is out for weeks. He had a 94-yard punt return in the 2nd regular-season game against the Steelers last year, dragging someone from punt coverage for the last 30 yards.
- T.J. Houshmandzadeh, our #2 receiver. He's probably the most underrated receiver in the NFL. When Chad Johnson is double-covered, T.J. gets himself open with ease and is good at getting yards after the catch. He's been nursing a heel injury since the 3rd pre-season game and hasn't so much as practiced since.
- Rich Braham, our 14-year veteran center. His experience means he knows how to call blocks for the defensive packages he sees.
- Levi Jones, our left tackle who is at the cusp of a Pro Bowl berth. Actually, he will probably play Sunday.
- Chris Henry, our #3 receiver. He apparently had a groin injury in practice today.
- Antonio Chatman, our #4 receiver and punt returner that we picked up from Green Bay in the offseason. He's never played a down for the Bengals, even in the pre-season.
- Dexter Jackson, our new safety is a former Super Bowl MVP. Now he's out for several weeks. Our saftey position is the thinnest on the entire team and that was plainly obvious last year when both of our starting safeties were out almost the whole year.
- David Pollack, our first-round pick in the 2005 draft. He's been hurt most of his NFL career, but came on strong near the end of last season and has a tremendous upside. He's being groomed as a pass-rushing linebacker/defensive end. Well, now he has a broken neck and is out for the year.
- Chris Perry, our first-round pick in the 2004 draft. He's a running back who has agility similar to Reggie Bush (though I'm not going to kid myself, Reggie is better), and was huge on third down last year. This guy has also been hurt most of his NFL career and is currently on the physically unable to perform list, which means he can't do anything until week 7.
- Odell Thurman, a standout rookie middle linebacker had a huge season last year. He started game one as a rookie, which is pretty rare these days. Well, the NFL suspended him through week 4 for failing to appear at three drug screenings.
So yeah, you could say we're pretty banged-up. Luckily, we are a deep team. Our #5 WR (Kelley Washington) would be a #2 on many teams. Our center is expected to retire after this year, so we have been grooming his backup anyway. We are thin at safety, so Dexter is impossible to replace, but Kevin Kaseviharn is a capable, veteran backup who plays hard. Kenny Watson, our backup running back will fill in on kick returns. He's capable, but Tab is the man. Rookie Reggie McNeal will fill in on punt returns, but there is definately drop-off here. First off, he is a rookie. Secondly he is a college quarterback that is being converted to a wide receiver in the NFL. Thirdly, we fished him off of the
practice squad after the extent of Tab's injuries were determined. Even though we have two tremendous linebackers out, we still have very good ones in place.
So this will be a tough-fought game, but I still think we can pull it off.
