If cornerback Darqueze Dennard (knee) holds up during Friday's practice, it looks like he'll start Sunday's game against the Jaguars (1 p.m.-Cincinnati's Channel 12) at Paul Brown Stadium. Even though it will be the end of his first week of practice since last year's finale in Pittsburgh. That comes in the nick of time with starters William Jackson III (shoulder) and Dre Kirkpatrick (knee) out.
"I'm going to give it another day, but he's looked good," Taylor said after Thursday's practice. "He's done a nice job. He's anxious to get back. He brings great energy, leadership, experience. I've seen a lot of great qualities out of Darqueze … Let's give it one more day. I want to give it one more day. So far, so good."
_Taylor reiterated what franchise wide receiver A.J. Green said before practice. No reason to rush him, although he did say Green was sore after working limited for two days last week.
"He had some soreness. That doesn't mean it's necessarily a setback, we just have to be smart with him," Taylor said. "We want to make sure we get him for as much as we can get him this season. I said yesterday he was going to do some limited practice, but he was a little bit sore. Today we gave him another day and tomorrow we'll take it tomorrow. I don't want to make any guarantees. No setback in that regard. We just make sure he's healthy and we're doing the right thing by him so we can get a lot of good use out of him this year."
Taylor said the Oct. 27 game against the Rams in London is still in play and they haven't targeted the PBS game against the Ravens on Nov. 10 because it's after the bye.
"Honestly, it really is day-to-day with him. Every day I go down there and see how he feels," Taylor says. "I see what the trainers say about it. What the approach will be for practice that day. I probably shouldn't have said what I said yesterday that he was going to be limited in practice, because then he didn't go out there and practice. He's still in good shape. He's making progress we'll just take it day to day."
_Rookie guard Fred Johnson, who arrived here on waivers from the Steelers on Wednesday, is a play away from making his NFL debut on Sunday. The massive Johnson (6-8, 326 pounds) is an undrafted free agent out of Florida that played primarily at guard. But he's been working at both guard and tackle in the pros and on Thursday Taylor said Johnson is backing up John Jerry at left tackle. Last week that had been right guard Alex Redmond, but when John Miller injured his groin on the eighth play last week in Baltimore, Redmond came in, played well and gets Sunday's start. Miller has yet to practice this week.
_On Thursday, as on Wednesday, left tackle Andre Smith (ankle) didn't practice and neither did defensive ends Carlos Dunlap (knee) and Carl Lawson (hamstring). But defensive tackle Ryan Glasgow (thigh) went full Thursday after missing last Sunday's game and safety Shawn Williams (thigh) remained limited Thursday.
_Taylor addressed the Cordy Glenn situation after practice on the heels of a profootballtalk.com report that said the left tackle and the club are disputing the handling of a claimed pre-season injury. Media reports are that Glenn has been fined $200,000 for conduct detrimental to the team. Although Glenn had been cleared to practice on Wednesday and was listed as full go, he wasn't on the field Thursday. It's the third straight season Glenn has been involved with a delayed recovery from a medical situation. Last year he missed three games with a back injury and the year before that in Buffalo he missed ten games with ankle and foot injuries.
Taylor would only say it is "an internal discipline matter," and that he was still on the team. But he also staunchly defended offensive line coach Jim Turner after a training camp two offensive linemen (Clint Boling and Kent Perkins) retired and another, Christian Westerman, left the team for about a week before returning and then being released after the preseason.
Boling retired because of a blood clot and Perkins and Westerman had personal reasons that Taylor didn't want to discuss.
"Every issue has been completely separate," Taylor said. "Every situation has been so unique. None of them I can really talk about. I can't get into their personal matters."
Asked if he was comfortable how Turner addressed Glenn's situation, Taylor said "absolutely, absolutely," and said that no one had lodged a complaint about Turner.
