Andy Dalton, as a good Bengals quarterback should, made the correction at the line of scrimmage.
Bengals.com had it wrong on Sunday. Armon Binns was not the last rookie wide receiver to start for the Bengals on Opening Day in Baltimore in 2012. Just to fact check it before Monday's practice, Dalton turned to wide receiver A.J. Green and asked, "Was Armon our year? I thought he was our draft class."
"Yeah, you're right. He was," said Green of that 2011 group that re-booted it all.
But Binns didn't get drafted out of the University of Cincinnati. The Jaguars signed him after the draft and when they released him on Cut Down Day in 2011 he surfaced on the Bengals practice squad three weeks later. Then he made the club out of the next training camp and got the start. So his first NFL game was Opening Day, but he wasn't a rookie.
Yes, Green has the honor of the last rookie wide receiver to start a Bengals opener in 2011. Damion Willis, who grew up watching Green because they have similar builds and is now playing in his X spot, will take in Seattle on Sept. 8 what Green did that day in a road opener. He caught just one ball in Cleveland, but it was a 41-yard touchdown that won the game in the fourth quarter.
"He's done everything right," Dalton said of Willis. "He's been in the right spot and when he's had a chance to make plays in the preseason, he's made them."
Green, by the way, is still on his scooter and his injured ankle is still in a boot. It's been 30 days since the injury and head coach Zac Taylor is saying nothing about a timetable. Green isn't talking to the media, a sign he's not ready to get on the rehab field.
- Green was the second straight rookie receiver to start an opener for the Bengals. Jordan Shipley joined graybeards Chad Johnson and Terrell Owens in a three-receiver set in New England in 2010. But it doesn't happen often. Not even Johnson, T.J, Houshmandzadeh or Chris Henry made Opening Day starts in the 10 years between Shipley and rookies Peter Warrick and Ron Dugans lining up in the Paul Brown Stadium opener in 2000.
- Wide receiver Auden Tate (knee) didn't work Monday, but he was wearing his jersey and it looks like he'll be back for opener if he makes the team. Also not working Monday was quarterback Jeff Driskel (hamstring), running back Trayveon Williams (foot), wide receiver Stanley Morgan (unknown), and tight end Moritz Bohringer (unknown).
