Just because the Cincinnati Bengals are eliminated from playoff contention for the third consecutive season, it doesn’t mean there’s still not football to play. I mean, it’s football that doesn’t matter, and this season has been like a punch in the gut, but Sunday’s still Who Dey—I guess.
The Bengals are on the road in sunny Florida to face the Miami Dolphins, another team eliminated from the playoffs, and are also set to face Quinn Ewers, who will be making his NFL debut after the team decided to bench Tua Tagovailoa.
The Bengals had some injury news this week as defensive tackle Kris Jenkins Jr. was placed on IR, but there were also a few key players who seemed to get dinged up during practice as well.
Here’s who is inactive for the Bengals today:
With Ossai out, the Bengals are not only going to need Myles Murphy’s upward trajectory to kick into overdrive, but they’ll need to see what they have in their other backup edge rushers, including Cedric Johnson. The Bengals have the worst record in the NFL against quarterbacks making their league debuts, and allowing Ewers to sit in the pocket isn’t going to help them. This also means wide receiver Tee Higgins, who has been battling through concussion protocol, is active.
DJ Turner, who was a late addition to the injury report due to an illness, is active.
And here’s out for Miami: