The Cincinnati Bengals continue to remain one of the hottest teams in the league as they push towards the postseason. With the Andy Dalton-AJ Green connection proving to be as lethal as ever, the Bengals are benefitting from production coming from other players on the roster as well. However, the one thing that could prevent late-season success is injuries and the Bengals certainly got a scare in their win over the St. Louis Rams.
Tight end Tyler Eifert is having a career season with the Bengals, but that does not make him immune from injuries. The tight end went down in the third quarter of the team's win over the Rams with what he referred to as a stinger in his neck. That is certainly cause for concern considering Eifert's first two seasons in the NFL were marred by injury issues. Now healthy, the tight end has been making up for lost time which is why no one wants to see him miss any time on the field. According to Eifert, he will be good to go after leaving the game and not returning.
"I'm OK," Eifert said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer. "There's protocol with the stinger. I've had it before, I've dealt with it before. Just want to make sure you get your strength back and feeling back in your arm. Whether I would have come back or not, they just kind of said, 'All right you're done, we are not even going to worry about it.' If I had to come in, probably, but I'll be fine."
That is good news for Bengals fans as the team prepares to play the Browns in Week 13. More good news is the rise of Jeremy Hill who put up numbers reminiscent of his early years with the team. The running back got 86 yards on 16 carries which was his best showing of the season as he looked like he did when he was a rookie. The Bengals needed Hill and he came up big for the team as he could get more carries as the week goes on. According to NFL.com, Hill had a meeting with Hue Jackson who told him he needed to be the spark in the offense.
"Gio Bernard, who lost his job to Hill, responded the way Hue Jackson wanted, saying 'I'll show you,'" NFL Media's Mike Silver said. "(Jackson) is waiting on that from Jeremy Hill. So he said to him, 'Hey now is the time, it's been long enough, it's time for you to jumpstart this running game.'"
The rise of Hill comes with the fall of Giovani Bernard. The running back struggled big time with just 16 yards on 10 carries. He also had a key fumble that certainly did not help his case to get back as the starter. With Hill looking strong behind Dalton, do not expect Bernard to see a heavy workload soon.