_The day after the midterms one elephant surfaced in the Bengals locker room before practice for Sunday's game (1 p.m.-Cincinnati's Channel 19) at Paul Brown Stadium against the Saints. No one said it officially, but everyone knows that their best player, wide receiver A.J. Green (toe), won't play. He was nowhere to be found, which means he wasn't on the rehab field and that gets the antenna up. They just don't know how much time he'll be out.

When he did this to the same toe in 2014, he hurt it on the first series against Atlanta and after sitting out the rest of the game, he came back to play the next two. After catching 11 balls for 183 yards and a TD in those two games, the next Wednesday he came up limping so early in practice the media saw it and he missed the next three games and didn't miss any time with it after that. So who knows what this time frame is? …

_John Ross (groin), who has missed three of the last four games, sounds like he can go and he was listed as full go after Wednesday's practice. So was left guard Clint Boling (back) and center Billy Price (foot). Running back Giovani Bernard (knee) went limited, as did C.J. Uzomah (shoulder). Right guard Alex Redmond (hamstring) didn't practice. Also out were linebacker Vontaze Burfict (hip), slot cornerback Darqueze Dennard (shoulder), linebacker Nick Vigil (knee) and tight end Tyler Kroft (foot), all on the rehab field.

"I'm good with where I am. I'm good," Ross said. "It's tough to see anybody going down, especially someone who contributes as much as he does. Especially someone who works hard extremely hard and never complains about anything." …

_So that means Tyler Boyd, in the midst of his career year, gets to be the No. 1 wide receiver. With everyone getting into throw-back celebrations, thanks to Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas' cell-phone ode to Joe Horn, Boyd is talking about channeling Bengals great Chad Johnson if he gets into the end zone. In the true tradition of The Ocho, Boyd won't divulge which celebration. But he did say his favorites are "The River Dance," and the putting of the football. That's the one T.J. Houshmandzadeh dubbed, "Tiger Hood." …

_Rookie center Billy Price, expected to start his third NFL game, won't say he's playing. But he has been back to practice the last two weeks and he's chomping after missing six games with a foot injury.

"On schedule," is all he said. He did say he's looking forward to going against some old Ohio State teammates in the secondary in cornerbacks Eli Apple and Marshon Lattimore …

_Left end Carlos Dunlap, the club's sack leader with seven, knows it's going to be hard to haul down future Hall-of-Famer Drew Brees. Not only is the Saints offensive line good (right tackle Ryan Ramczyk has been solid since they took him with the last pick in the 2017 first round) Dunlap says it does whatever it can to protect Brees, whether it be chipping on the edge, max protecting by just sending out two or three receivers or sliding the entire line. It shows up. They are No. 3 when it comes to allowing fewest sacks per pass …

_The Bengals defense is not only raving about Brees, but running back Alvin Kamara, a matchup nightmare out of the backfield. Cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick says he's shiftier than Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt, a main culprit in the Bengals missing 18 tackles that night. Linebacker Vincent Rey said the key to good tackling is everyone playing as fast as they can and coming out when they get tired …    

_More Ohio State DBs: Remember Kurt Coleman, the nine-year free safety the Bengals met with during free agency? He's starting ahead of another Buckeye, Vonn Bell. According to profootballfocus.com, he's ranked 114th among NFL safeties with no picks or pass breakups in 215 snaps. Rookie Jessie Bates, who the Bengals took in the second round after adding no one there in free agency, is ranked seventh by the web site with three picks and one PBU …

- John Ross (groin), who has missed three of the last four games, sounds like he can go.

"I'm good with where I am. I'm good," Ross said. "It's tough to see anybody going down, especially someone who contributes as much as he does. Especially someone who works hard, extremely hard and never complains about anything." …

- So that means Tyler Boyd, in the midst of his career year, gets to be the No. 1 wide receiver. With everyone getting into throw-back celebrations, thanks to Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas' cell-phone ode to Joe Horn, Boyd is talking about channeling Bengals great Chad Johnson if he gets into the end zone. In the true tradition of The Ocho, Boyd won't divulge which celebration. But he did say his favorites are "The River Dance," and the putting of the football. That's the one T.J. Houshmandzadeh dubbed, "Tiger Hood." …

- Rookie center Billy Price, expected to start his third NFL game, won't say he's playing. But he has been back to practice the last two weeks and he's chomping after missing six games with a foot injury.

"On schedule," is all he said. He did say he's looking forward to going against some old Ohio State teammates in the secondary in cornerbacks Eli Apple and Marshon Lattimore …

- Left end Carlos Dunlap, the club's sack leader with seven, knows it's going to be hard to haul down future Hall-of-Famer Drew Brees. Not only is the Saints offensive line good (right tackle Ryan Ramczyk has been solid since they took him with the last pick in the 2017 first round) Dunlap says it does whatever it can to protect Brees, whether it be chipping on the edge, max protecting by just sending out two or three receivers or sliding the entire line. It shows up. They are No. 3 when it comes to allowing fewest sacks per pass …

- The Bengals defense is not only raving about Brees, but running back Alvin Kamara, a matchup nightmare out of the backfield. Cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick says he's shiftier than Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt, a main culprit in the Bengals missing 18 tackles that night. Linebacker Vincent Rey said the key to good tackling is everyone playing as fast as they can and coming out when they get tired …

- More Ohio State DBs: Remember Kurt Coleman, the nine-year free safety the Bengals met with during free agency? He's starting ahead of another Buckeye, Vonn Bell. According to profootballfocus.com, he's ranked 114th among NFL safeties with no picks or pass breakups in 215 snaps. Rookie Jessie Bates, who the Bengals took in the second round after adding no one there in free agency, is ranked seventh by the web site with three picks and one pass break up…