01-19-2022, 07:41 PM
(01-19-2022, 02:48 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Yeah, I'm sure Vrabel is telling Henry "We've checked your foot out and know it is healed enough to play on, but I just want to make sure the rest of your body can handle the amount of contact you get on practice. I mean it is only a playoff game."
What Vrabel has said for months on the possibility Henry might be back for play-offs, is that the doctors would have to clear him, and Henry would also have to show in practice that he is good to go. Vrabel has never changed on that in the last months. That Vrabel will make the final call on if Henry is able to go, once doctors clear him.
Henry has not played a game in months. This would be like Burrow on IL and not playing a game in months. You don't rush the future of your franchise back for one game, even a play-off game, even a Super Bowl, if they are not healthy to take the field.
So Vrabel is not going back and forth on this in cat and mouse tricks. What Vrabel has said for months, Vrabel is saying still. Now it may be Henry plays, how much he plays is unknown. If Henry plays, don't be surprised it he gets replaced more than usual by the running backs who have been carrying the load in his absence. In other words, Henry may not be 100 % in his first game back and may need more relief help.
On the Bengals end, they would love to have Hendrickson, but that is up to the NFL to clear him on Concussion. That is no longer left up to teams who would run out players who where still suffering concussion and in great risk being on the field. This is not the old days where they would carry Bob Trumpy off the field, give him smelling salts and put him back in the game.
Yes, it s a play-off game, but player health and safety is still important. If Hendrickson and Henry play, they will have to pass some tests this week in order to play. It is not throw out the safety rules just because it is the play-offs.
Ogunjobi will be missed. It sounds like Bengals get a DT back from injury, but Ogunjobi will be missed. It would be nice to at least have Hendrickson.
1968 Bengal Fan
