Bengals avoid another QB injury as Jake Browning continues to thrive
Another quality outing from Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jake Browning nearly ended in familiar tragedy as he suffered an apparent thumb injury early in the fourth quarter of Cincy's 34-14 win over the Indianapolis Colts. Fortunately, Browning's injury was muscle cramps, and he returned to finish the game after missing five plays for the offense.Instead of […]
Another quality outing from Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jake Browning nearly ended in familiar tragedy as he suffered an apparent thumb injury early in the fourth quarter of Cincy's 34-14 win over the Indianapolis Colts.
Fortunately, Browning's injury was muscle cramps, and he returned to finish the game after missing five plays for the offense.
Instead of another gigantic curve ball interrupting their playoff hopes, the Bengals are 7-6 and have scored 34 points in each of their last two games with their backup quarterback.
Much like last week against another AFC South opponent, Browning executed the Bengals' new-look offense well and let his playmakers do the work. Chase Brown took a screen pass over 50 yards to the house for his first career touchdown, and Joe Mixon had an explosive screen play of his own.
100 of Browning's 135 yards in the first half came on those two calls. He added 140 more in the second half and another touchdown to finish with 275 yards, two touchdowns, and a pick-six interception from an off-target pass.
The book is out on Browning: He's a point guard passer capable of throwing a dime here and there. When the defense gets him in obvious passing situations, he struggles like a backup often does. It definitely helps when he is protected well, and the Bengals' offensive line did its part in preventing pressure for most of the day. Browning took a grand total of zero sacks.
When Browning did take a hit late in the game, muscle cramps took him out of the game and into the locker room. AJ McCarron, a former fifth-round pick by the Bengals nearly a decade ago who has made his own prior history as a Bengals backup QB, came in for a handful of plays and threw one pass for -1 yard. He threw a touchdown to Tee Higgins that looked a lot like his touchdown to A.J. Green back in the 2016 AFC Wild Card loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it was called back due to offensive pass interference on Higgins.
McCarron didn't get enough reps to get warmed up, but the Bengals didn't need him to. Browning came back after quick treatment and finished the game, mostly by handing the ball off to Mixon and Brown. The former finished with 79 yards on 21 carries, but his day looked a lot better than that 3.8 yards per carry would indicate. The same can be said about Brown's 25 yards on eight carries, as his explosion and quickness was on full display.
The Bengals' quarterback situation will continue to be Browning starting and McCarron backing him up as the playoff race dramatically heats up in Cincinnati. The Bengals can breath a sigh of relief they don't have another quarterback with an injured right hand to deal with.
Bengals cannot hold Chase Brown back now
Cincinnati’s rookie running back proved his worth during Monday night’s victory over Jacksonville.
