{"id":35502,"date":"2025-10-15T13:56:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T13:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=35502"},"modified":"2025-10-15T13:56:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T13:56:07","slug":"bengals-hendrickson-could-be-available-thursday-for-showdown-with-steelers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=35502","title":{"rendered":"Bengals: Hendrickson could be available Thursday for showdown with Steelers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Cincinnati<\/section>\n

The Bengals struggled defensively in the second half, allowing 17 points and hamstringing the offense\u2019s attempts to rally from a double-digit deficit, and the lack of a pass rush was an obvious issue after Hendrickson\u2019s exit.<\/p>\n

Now, they are hoping he can be back on the field Thursday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it\u2019s a quick turnaround to a tough AFC North rival.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see,\u201d Taylor said Monday. \u201cEarly in the week, Monday, we\u2019ll have to give it kind of a day-to-day listing here. A lot of guys are just sore, so we\u2019ll just have to play it by ear.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bengals already will be without starting tight end Mike Gesicki, due to a pectoral injury that will sideline him for \u201ca while,\u201d and now Tanner Hudson is in concussion protocol.<\/p>\n

Even the possibility of Hendrickson being available is a positive sign. They\u2019ve already been missing rookie defensive end Shemar Stewart the past four games because of an ankle injury, and he never went on injured reserve because of the hope he could be back before now.<\/p>\n

Taylor said Stewart is \u201cprogressing back\u201d and even though there won\u2019t be a lot of full-speed work this week to test out his readiness, Taylor is \u201coptimistic about him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cincinnati just needs a win, after dropping four straight games since Joe Burrow\u2019s turf toe surgery, and Thursday would be a great time to end the skid. Pittsburgh (4-1) sits atop the AFC North standings, but the Bengals (2-4) are next in line, and moving to 3-4 would put them right back in the thick of things while Baltimore and Cleveland have struggled through 1-5 starts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of emphasis on this game,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cWe\u2019re coming off the stretch we\u2019ve come off of. We want to win. We\u2019re hungry for it. Our guys have worked for it. We got to do a better job from start to finish getting that done, but there\u2019s a lot here. You got a home divisional game. Division is where it is right now. As it stands, it\u2019s the top two teams at the top, and you get a chance to knock them down a peg and put yourself up one, so our guys understand what\u2019s at stake, and it\u2019s big for us. We\u2019ll treat it as such, and guys got to get to work, and we\u2019ve got to have a great performance by everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

DJ Turner and Geno Stone, who played arguably their best games of the season Sunday, both said Thursday is a good opportunity to change the narrative. The defense has been playing well for stretches of games but hasn\u2019t been able to put two good halves together, while the offense has struggled with slow starts.<\/p>\n

Veteran quarterback Joe Flacco finally found a rhythm in his new offense after four poor drives to open the game, and the Bengals crossed into Green Bay territory on each of the last five series. Struggles moving the ball with a quarterback who was acquired just five days before gameday isn\u2019t all that surprising, but the finish to the game was an encouraging step.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he settled in,\u201d Taylor said Monday when asked what he saw on the film of how Flacco operated in the offense. \u201cEspecially being on the road. \u2026 With the nonverbal stuff at the line of scrimmage, I thought he operated really well. It\u2019s surprising how quickly he was able to do that. But gave us a lot of confidence in seeing how he did it. So, now we get a chance to carry it over to home and use the verbal cadence and all that kind of stuff. Really pleased with how he operated and gave us a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defensively, the Bengals held the Packers to 10 points in the first half and forced the only turnover of the game when Turner tipped a pass that Stone intercepted in the red zone on the opening drive. The tackling was poor in the second half, Stone noted, but even if Hendrickson can\u2019t go Thursday, Cincinnati has to figure out how to put together a complete game.<\/p>\n

If the Bengals are able to build on the positives of the 28-17 loss at Green Bay and secure a win Thursday, that would be a huge boost in the standings and for confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019d be huge,\u201d Stone said. \u201cThat\u2019s the one thing that we just need. I feel like everyone\u2019s got that attitude now. I feel like ever since that Minnesota game (the first loss), I feel like we all got that attitude that we want to win. Like I said, we just gotta put a whole game together. The offense picked up in the second half, we didn\u2019t. We just gotta put the whole thing together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we get the win, we\u2019ll get the momentum going from there.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor isn\u2019t ruling out the possibility Trey Hendrickson will be available Thursday night, despite suffering a back contusion injury that sidelined him the entire second half of Sunday\u2019s loss at Green Bay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cincinnati-bengals"],"yoast_head":"\nBengals: Hendrickson could be available Thursday for showdown with Steelers - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=35502\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bengals: Hendrickson could be available Thursday for showdown with Steelers - 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