CINCINNATI \u2014\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco didn\u2019t practice on Wednesday because of a shoulder injury, leaving his status for Sunday\u2019s game against the Chicago Bears in question.<\/p>\n
Flacco is making an effort to play, which Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor appreciates.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Flacco injured his throwing shoulder on a sack in the fourth quarter in Sunday\u2019s 39-38 loss to the New York Jets
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Taylor said that the Bengals (3-5) will see what they can get out of Flacco in practice on Thursday
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If Flacco doesn\u2019t start, then Jake Browning will return to the lineup against the Bears<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be easy to make decision that there\u2019s no way I\u2019m playing,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cThat has not been the communication he\u2019s given to me at all. Ultimately, he may not be able to play, we may make that decision. For him just to want to put it out there for a team, like he said before, he\u2019s just a football player. That\u2019s what he does. That certainly goes a long way with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flacco injured his throwing shoulder on a sack in the fourth quarter in Sunday\u2019s 39-38 loss to the New York Jets. Flacco went back to the tunnel before returning for the final drive, which resulted in a stop for the Jets.<\/p>\n
Taylor said that the Bengals (3-5) will see what they can get out of Flacco in practice on Thursday. But even if Flacco can\u2019t participate on Thursday, he has shown that he can play with minimal practice time.<\/p>\n
Flacco made two starts for the Bengals in nine days after getting traded from the Cleveland Browns on Oct. 7.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if anybody in this league can get by on minimal reps right now it\u2019s him,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n
If Flacco doesn\u2019t start, then Jake Browning will return to the lineup against the Bears.<\/p>\n
Browning opened the season as the Bengals\u2019 backup quarterback, but he lost all of his three starts and struggled with interceptions. The Bengals then traded for Flacco to spark the offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been happy with Jake\u2019s response,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cHe\u2019s still working hard. If he\u2019s in there and he gets the opportunity, then I have confidence in Jake and that Jake can win us the game. However it shakes out we\u2019ll have a great plan in place to help those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Browning operated as the starting quarterback in practice on Wednesday as Flacco rehabbed.<\/p>\n
\u201cJake\u2019s a pro,\u201d offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said. \u201cJake\u2019s a guy who\u2019s always carried himself with confidence. He\u2019s continued to put the work in. He\u2019s as disappointed as I\u2019m sure he was. Part of him probably remains, with how things have transpired. He\u2019s done his job. He\u2019s helped Joe (Flacco) and at the same time prepared himself should the opportunity arise where he needs to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regardless of who\u2019s under center, it helps that the Bengals had the most efficient rushing attack in the NFL in October and also showed impressive explosiveness last week against the Jets.<\/p>\n
If Flacco is out, then the Bengals will likely lean heavier into their run game with Chase Brown and backup running back Samaje Perine, who has especially given the offense a boost. Perine averaged 10.4 yards per carry against the Jets.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s very much aware of his personal strengths and what has allowed him to produce as an NFL football player,\u201d Pitcher said. \u201cHe leans into those things, we try to put him in position to do those things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CINCINNATI \u2014\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco didn\u2019t practice on Wednesday because of a shoulder injury, leaving his status…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[1615,1613,2910,228,227,256,2296,7,88,6,996,14382,45204,45201,45203,1614,9,1004],"class_list":{"0":"post-486659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-app-sports","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-associated-press","11":"tag-bengals","12":"tag-cincinnati","13":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","14":"tag-cincinnatibengals","15":"tag-football","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-ohio","19":"tag-ohio-cincinnati-bengals","20":"tag-ohio-cincinnati-top-stories","21":"tag-ohio-columbus-top-stories","22":"tag-ohio-dayton-top-stories","23":"tag-spectrum-news-staff","24":"tag-sports","25":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115462955693407392","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}