Chris Pressley
The Bengals waived fullback Chris Pressley off the physically unable to perform list (PUP) Tuesday, three days shy of a year when he suffered a knee injury during the victory in Philadelphia on a Thursday night.
It was hard not to see it coming the way the fullback position has evolved in the Bengals system even before Pressley got hurt. He finished last season averaging just 13 snaps per game and in this past training camp the Bengals ended up cutting fullback John Conner and went with four tight ends even though Conner had one of the strongest camps on offense while displaying his ample lead blocking skills.
And the Bengals went with just three of those tight ends this past Sunday, deactivating Orson Charles, the tight end learning fullback who ended up making the team instead of Conner. One of the tight ends kept, veteran Alex Smith, played an excellent game Sunday blocking in the running game as he lined up as both a lead fullback and in-line blocker taking 25 percent of the 77 snaps.
It looks like the Bengals aren't going to mess with an offense that rolled up 430 yards last week and is now in the NFL's top 10. Plus, with some nicks in the secondary it is doubtful they're going to go heavy on offense heading into Sunday's game (8:30 p.m.-Cincinnati's Channel 5).
The club opted to put quarterback Zac Robinson (elbow) on what basically amounts to injured reserve for the rest of the season when he didn't get cleared to practice off PUP.
SLANTS AND SCREENS: Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green has 3,582 receiving yards, seven more than all-time leader Jerry Rice had in his first three seasons, good for third-highest of all time in the first three seasons. The leader, Randy Moss with 4,163, can't be caught, but Green needs only 205 to pass Torry Holt into second place…Green is on pace to set the Bengals all-time single-season receiving yards records by six yards with 1,446…Quarterback Andy Dalton is on pace to throw 31 TD passes, one off Carson Palmer's club mark set in 2005.
