Turnovers have truly been costly for the Bengals' top two quarterbacks in this orange-and-black-and-blue December.
But with AJ McCarron apparently day-to-day with a strained left wrist, the early sense is it looks like he could get his third NFL start in Sunday's season finale (1 p.m.-Cincinnati's Channel 19) against the Ravens at Paul Brown Stadium. McCarron hurt it on the last play of Monday night's loss in Denver in overtime, when he tried to recover his fumble after he mishandled a shot-gun snap.
But that's now and they'll wait to see how the week unfolds when the week's practices begin Wednesday. Just in case, the Bengals added journeyman quarterback Mike Kafka to the practice squad. It also looks like fullback/tight end Ryan Hewitt has avoided a major knee injury, but his status for Sunday is uncertain with what looks to be a sprained knee. Hewitt left Monday night's game on the first drive.
His wrist is expected to be sore over the next couple of days, but since there is no major damage it would appear McCarron has dodged a bullet. The Bengals are still in the hunt for the No. 2 seed and a bye, so they'd like to put as much pressure on the Broncos as possible in their home game against the Chargers.
Keith Wenning, who has yet to take an NFL snap, would appear to be on-deck. Naturally, Wenning is a 2014 sixth-round pick of the Ravens out of Ball State and spent that entire season on Baltimore's practice squad. That's where he was in Cincinnati this season until Andy Dalton
broke his throwing Dec. 13 making a tackle after an interception.
Wenning clearly has more command of the Bengals offense than Kafka, a guy that has game experience.
But not much.
The 6-3, 225-pound Kafka, a third-year player and fourth-round draft choice of Philadelphia in 2010 out of Northwestern, has played in four NFL games. But none since 2011 for the Eagles, when he completed 11 of 16 passes for 107 yards with no TDs and two interceptions.
This season, Kafka was on the Tennessee practice squad briefly earlier this month. He was with Minnesota in the preseason, where he was nine of 13 for 75 yards with one TD and no picks. He was waived by the Vikings in final pre-season cuts.
