The Bengals are getting a little cheeky when it comes to the throwing wrist of their starting quarterback.
Via Paul Dehner Jr. of TheAthletic.com, Cincinnati’s initial injury report in advance of Monday night’s game at Jacksonville includes the disclosure that quarterback Jake Browning fully participated in practice with a “right wrist” injury.
It’s either a coincidence that Browning has the same injury Joe Burrow developed two weeks ago tonight (if not earlier), or the Bengals are being cute about the scrutiny they have faced in the aftermath of the Burrow injury.
(Remember when the Patriots used to list Tom Brady as “probable” every week with a right shoulder injury? That traces to Brady icing his shoulder after games and reporters questioning whether he had an injury that was undisclosed. So the Patriots just listed him every week with a right shoulder, and iced away.)
Yes, the league is investigating the Bengals for failing to disclose Burrow’s injury. Yes, the league-owned media conglomerate has already gotten ahead of the likely “nothing to see here” conclusion, since it’s not in the NFL’s interests to label the Bengals as lying about the truth of the health of the team’s most important player.
If the Bengals are simply being a little snarky with the Browning injury, let’s see how committed they are to the bit. Let’s see if they eventually post — and delete — video of Browning on socials media with a wrap extending beyond and over his thumb while traveling to Florida for Monday’s game.
Regardless of the fan pushback to the probe as to whether Burrow had an existing injury that was hidden by the team (and common sense alone suggests that he did, wrist or elsewhere), in an age of legalized gambling it’s very important that teams don’t conceal such information and that, if/when they do, the league takes real action. On multiple occasions this year, NFL teams have played fast and loose with the injury report. It’s just a matter of time before something like this blows up in the NFL’s face, in the form of potential litigation, regulation, and even prosecution.
Without legalized gambling from which the NFL and its teams make millions of dollars, it’s a non-issue. In the current climate, with gambling advertisements everywhere and the league stuffing its pockets with cash more aggressively than Costanza filling his face with shrimp, a reckoning is inevitable — unless the NFL wreaks a little havoc on each and every team that tries to keep injuries secret.