For the second time this season and in his career Monday night, Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green was held without a catch in a game because of injury. After gingerly putting on his jacket one-handed, he walked out of Paul Brown Stadium saying he thinks he can play in next Sunday's AFC North title game (8:30 p.m.-Cincinnati's Channel 5) in Pittsburgh.
But he couldn't in the 37-28 victory over Denver after the fourth snap from scrimmage, even though he tried. He was wide open on a slant, but quarterback Andy Dalton air-mailed it and when Green went to leap and grab it with his left-hand, safety T.J. Ward drilled him in the right bicep with his helmet. The ball bounced off his left hand and Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib grabbed it for a 33-yard pick six that gave Denver a 7-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.
Meanwhile, Green writhed on the ground in agony, then missed a couple of series, came in for a few snaps, then went into the locker room to get an MRI, and went back in.
But by the middle of the fourth quarter, they pulled him with what he called a bruise.
"It's not fractured," he said. "I couldn't lift it."
Green said he wouldn't sit out Sunday to rest for the playoffs.
"Not if I can play, I'm playing," Green said. "I think I can."
DR. DRE: Cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick came to the rescue in true General Hospital fashion. Starting cornerback Terence Newman awoke with a terrible sickness Monday and tried to play through it with IVs and all sorts of medical efforts but it was too much. Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning hit him on some uncharacteristic deep balls on back-to-back scoring drives as Denver took a 28-27 lead.
After wide receiver Demaryius Thomas got behind him for a 46-yarder with 3:05 left in the third quarter, Newman came out, Kirkpatrick went in and ended up with two picks of Manning in a span of 1:34 to end it with 1:07 left.
"I can't tell you how proud I am of Dre," said cornerback Adam Jones of the third-year pro. "He listened...I think he's caught up to the speed of the game." ....
SLANTS AND SCREENS: Dalton joined the Ravens' Joe Flacco as the only quarterback to make the playoffs in his first four seasons during the Super Bowl era...
Head coach Marvin Lewis won his 100th game Monday night in reaching his sixth playoff berth in 12 seasons...
A win Sunday and the Bengals host a Wild Card Game. The Bengals can clinch a first-round bye with a win and a Denver loss or tie vs. the Raiders. Or if they tie the Steelers, the Broncos lose and the Colts lose or tie...
It looks like the loser of the AFC North title game is headed to Indianapolis for a Wild Card Game...
According to Stats Research, Bengals running back Jeremy Hill is the third rookie in NFL history with four games of 140-plus rushing yards in a season. Curtis Martin did it four times with the 1995 Patriots and Eric Dickerson did it five times with the 1983 Rams. Only Hill and veteran DeMarco Murray of the Cowboys have done it this season...
