The Bengals opted for experience Tuesday to replace backup defensive end Jamaal Anderson when they signed Wallace Gilberry, a fifth-year player on Tampa Bay's Opening Day inactive list.
The Bucs, who signed Gilberry in the offseason, released him this past Friday but it looks like the Bengals need him right away for this Sunday's game against the Redskins (1 p.m.-Cincinnati's Channel 12) in Washington.
Anderson, who tore the quad tendon just above his knee with 1:50 left in Sunday's 34-27 victory over Cleveland, went on season-ending injured reserve to make room for Gilberry. Gilberry is now one of three healthy ends with Robert Geathers and Michael Johnson.
The Bengals hope to get back starting left end Carlos Dunlap (knee) this week, but since he hasn't played since the Aug. 10 preseason opener it would be hard to see them going into the game without four ends.
The 6-2, 275-pound Gilberry joined the Chiefs as a free agent out of Alabama in 2008 and from 2009-2011 had 14 sacks that included one in '09 at Paul Brown Stadium off Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer. The only Bengals with more career sacks are Geathers (30) and SAM backer Manny Lawson (16), with Dunlap also having 14.
Gilberry had a career-high seven sacks in 2010 before following it up with 2.5 last season and moving on to Tampa Bay. He also has a career line of four forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, five passes defensed and 46 tackles.
BROWN, LEWIS SALUTE SABOL: Steve Sabol, who along with his father made pro football a staple of American television viewing in the 1960s and 1970s as the president of NFL Films, died Tuesday after an 18-month battle with brain cancer. He was 69.
Sabol is best known to a a new generation as the archittect of the HBO series "Hard Knocks," an annual look at an NFL training camp and the 2009 edition with the Bengals took one of his countless Emmys. That September, Sabol called the Bengals access "unprecedented," and said it was Bengals president Mike Brown's decision to have it so open that made it the most successful "Hard Knocks" to that point.
Brown, who had a long relationship with Sabol dating back to the first Bengals training camps, released a statement Tuesday:
"Steve was an extraordinary contributor to the success of the NFL. He almost single-handedly built the image of the league through his work with NFL Films. The impact of it all was exceptional, and all of us in the league have been indebted to him. I am saddened to learn of his passing."
But maybe the biggest guy Sabol had to sell on the idea of going behind-the-scenes was head coach Marvin Lewis. As Lewis discovered, Sabol's enthusiasm was contagious.
"I'm very saddened to hear of Steve's passing," Lewis said in a statement. "Steve and his work have meant so much to the NFL through his expertise and his passion for his job. You could never say 'no' to that passion. My prayers and deepest condolences go out to his family."
