INDIANAPOLIS — Call it "The Red Scare."
As quarterback Andy Dalton went down like a sack of potatoes during his only drive of Thursday night's preseason finale, all of Bengaldom put a bag over its collective head.
"I'm good," he said following the Colts 20-16 win at Lucas Oil Stadium. "I'm getting ready for Baltimore."
It was called a bruised throwing arm and he didn't come back after just six plays. Dalton said he got hit in the funny bone as he got stormed in the pocket by end Robert Mathis and it went numb on him. He had a wrap around his right ring finger, but that didn't seem to be related or significant. He had no ice or towel or anything on the arm. Head coach Marvin Lewis said if this game counted, he would have put Dalton back in.
"I'll be fine," Dalton said. "I would have done everything I could to stay in. Fortunately I didn't have to worry about that this week. I'm ready for next week."
As Dalton motioned to the sideline that he was hurt, the coaches and trainers told him to get down on the ground so they'd get a timeout. He went down as if there was a sniper in Section 116.
"I don't work on getting down like that," he said.
SKUTA ALSO LEAVES: Backup SAM backer Dan Skuta was the only other Bengal to suffer an injury Thursday. Lewis held him out of the second half when he appeared to get "his bell rung."
DOUBLE PLAY: Third-rounder Mohamed Sanu and fifth-rounder Marvin Jones keep impressing at wide receiver. Sanu had his best game with a game-high eight catches for 80 yards and Jones caught a touchdown pass from backup Brue Gradkowski for the second straight game, this one a 10-yarder, as he finished with four catches for 39 yards that gave him a team-leading 150 yards. Sanu took the Bengals preseason receiving title with 12 catches.
Jones beat cornerback Josh Gordy earlier in his TD drive, and he dropped it in the end zone.
"It was embarrassing," Jones said. "I lost it in the lights. I didn't know I had it until it was on the ground."
But Jones had the final say. He said the TD was similar to the one last week against Green Bay. Gordy pressed him at the line with no safety help. Gradkowski saw it, checked it, and Jones just ran past Gordy.
SLANTS AND SCREENS
Defensive end/ SAM backer Dontay Moch's string of sacks in every game came to an end, but he had a tackle from both scrimmage and special teams, and a pass defensed ... Safety Jeromy Miles had six tackles for the second straight week.
