On Wednesday, Higgins was doing some work on the rehab field with trainers, while Brown watched as offensive line drills began. Bengals coach Zac Taylor said he won’t be able to predict either player’s availability for Sunday’s home game against the Las Vegas Raiders until later in the week.
“We’ll just take a day to day and see where it goes,” Taylor said.
Brown had been limited the first two practices last week before upgrading to full participation on Friday, but Taylor said the veteran left tackle felt some discomfort after being hit during the game and it didn’t make sense to continue. Cody Ford finished the game in his place.
Taylor said the setback doesn’t necessarily make the staff more cautious about how Brown is managed this week.
“I think each week’s a little bit different, and so we’ll just, we’ll see where the week goes with this,” Taylor said.
Higgins also missed the first two games because of a hamstring injury that occurred just three days before the opener. All three of the team’s wins this season came with Higgins on the field.
When deciding what to do with Brown and Higgins, the Bengals also will have to weigh in the fact that next week’s game at Baltimore will come on a short turnaround to Thursday Night Football.
“We always factor it in,” Taylor said. “Again, I think we’ll just know more here in these next couple of days of what the overall picture is for this week and beyond. It’s too early for me to really make a decision on where that’s going to head.”
Cincinnati is desperate to salvage its season before it’s too late. Quarterback Joe Burrow said Sunday he thinks winning seven of the next nine games would be “doable” but that leaves very little room for error going forward if the Bengals want to get to 10-7 for the most likely chance at a playoff berth.
Taylor said there’s no difference in the amount of pressure to meet expectations now than any other week, despite the 3-5 record.
“We just take it week to week,” he said. “We have our own expectations every single week. It’s disappointing when you don’t win the game. The best remedy for that is to have a great week and go find a way and create some momentum.”
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