The Pittsburgh Steelers will head to Cincinnati for their second straight divisional matchup with the Bengals on Thursday Night Football, and while the Steelers will be down core special teamer Miles Killebrew, Cincinnati is a banged-up group. In his press conference today, head coach Zac Taylor called Trey Hendrickson “day-to-day” while ruling out TE Mike Gesicki.
“We’ll see, early in the week, Monday, we’ll have to give it a day-to-day listing,” he said about Hendrickson via the team’s YouTube channel.
“He’ll be out for this game for sure…it’s gonna be awhile,” Taylor said about Gesicki. He added OT Amarius Mims should be good to go after getting banged up in Week 6 against the Packers.
TE Tanner Hudson is also in concussion protocol, and it may be tough for him to clear in time for Thursday’s game. With Gesicki out and Hudson potentially out, the Bengals could be thin at tight end.
It sounds as if Hendrickson at least has a chance to play, which would obviously be great news for Cincinnati. He exited the team’s Week 6 game in the first half with a back injury that Taylor described as a “bad contusion” and didn’t return. The short week will make it tougher, but Hendrickson wasn’t ruled out.
Gesicki suffered a pectoral injury and was quickly ruled out, and it sounds as if he could be an IR candidate for the Bengals. Cincinnati does have Noah Fant, but with Hudson, who caught a touchdown against the Packers, also potentially out, they would be down to Fant, Drew Sample and Cam Grandy in their tight end room.
Mims got hurt, tried to come back and exited in the fourth quarter against the Packers, and the news that he should be good to go is important for a Cincinnati offensive line that has struggled immensely this season. Being down a starting tackle against the Steelers’ front would be a big blow, especially with a quarterback in Joe Flacco under center who doesn’t have a lot of mobility at this point in his career.
Hendrickson’s status will be worth monitoring throughout the week, as he’s the most notable player who could miss the game. He has four sacks already this season and he had 3.5 sacks the last time the Steelers played the Bengals, and Mike Tomlin called him a “game-wrecker” in his press conference today. If he can’t go, the Steelers will have an advantage in the trenches on Thursday.
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