Wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase is on the first Bengals injury report of the week.
Chase is listed as a limited participant in practice due to a shoulder injury. Chase’s listing is just an estimation as the Bengals are only holding a walkthrough two days after their loss to the Commanders.
The rest of the week should provide a better idea of Chase’s outlook for this weekend’s matchup with the Panthers.
Defensive end Trey Hendrickson (illness), defensive tackle B.J. Hill (hamstring), tight end Tanner Hudson (knee), and defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins (hamstring) were listed as non-participants. Right tackle Trent Brown, who tore his patellar tendon, would have also been on the sideline Wednesday.
Panthers starting left guard Damien Lewis played 54 of 74 snaps on Sunday before leaving with an elbow injury. He did not practice Wednesday.
Coach Dave Canales said Lewis injured his ulnar collateral ligament.
Now comes word that Lewis actually tore the UCL in his elbow, Jordan Schultz reports. Lewis will miss at least one game but a stint on injured reserve is unlikely since Lewis plans eventually to play through it.
Lewis signed a four-year, $53 million deal with the Panthers in March.
The Seahawks made him a third-round pick in 2020, and he started all 61 games he played for Seattle in his time there.
Panthers quarterback Andy Dalton popped up on the practice report Wednesday with an ankle injury. Dalton, though, was a full participant.
Dalton made his first start since Week 3 of last season, leading the Panthers to their first win of the season Sunday. He completed 26 of 37 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns in the 36-22 win over the Raiders.
The Panthers practiced without five players Wednesday.
Defensive linemen A’Shawn Robinson (knee) and Shy Tuttle (foot) joined right guard Damien Lewis (elbow) and core special teams player Lonnie Johnson (hip) in rehab. Outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney had a rest day.
Running back Chuba Hubbard was limited in a load-management day after 169 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown against the Raiders.
Safety Nick Scott (quad) also was limited.
Most don’t like the overlapping doubleheaders on Monday night. Disney apparently does; two games apparently generate bigger ratings than one.
ESPN announced that Jaguars-Bills (on ESPN) and Commanders-Bengals (on ABC and ESPN+) averaged “more than 19 million viewers” during the two-hour overlap of the two games. For most of the two-hour overlap, Jags-Bills was not a compelling game.
The Commanders-Bengals game averaged 13.2 million viewers. The number for the full Jaguars-Bills game wasn’t specified, which likely means it fell significantly below whatever ESPN had hoped.
The late game averaged 15.2 million viewers during the exciting final 45 minutes from 10:15 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. ET. Frankly, that’s a disappointing number for a three-letter network.
So why do it? It extends the total viewing window for one or both games to roughly four hours. But it seems as if the numbers would be better if they just televised one game and put it on all three networks — ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2.
Then again, if last night’s one game had been Jaguars-Bills, many might have turned the TV off with nearly two quarters to play.
After reports emerged earlier on Tuesday, the Panthers made it official in the afternoon, announcing that receiver Adam Thielen has been placed on injured reserve.
Thielen suffered a hamstring injury while catching a 31-yard touchdown pass late in the first half of Sunday’s victory over the Raiders.
Carolina also placed safety Jordan Fuller on injured reserve with a hamstring injury.
Thielen and Fuller will be out for at least the next four weeks.
Additionally, the Panthers waived tight end Messiah Swinson. He was signed off the Packers practice squad but did not appear in a game.
As corresponding moves, the Panthers signed receiver Jalen Coker, safety Demani Richardson, and safety Russ Yeast to the 53-man roster.
Finally, Carolina signed safety Alex Cook and cornerback Justin Hardy to the practice squad, releasing outside linebacker Eku Leota from the practice squad.
