If there’s a plus to having several players dealing with knee sprains suffered in preseason games, it is that the Bengals can now describe new injuries in relation to those previously afflicted.
That’s what coach Marvin Lewis did when discussing the status of tight end Jermaine Gresham. Lewis described Gresham as “fine” in the aftermath of Thursday night’s game against the Falcons, but he gave a bit more color during a session with the media on Sunday. Lewis said Gresham has a knee sprain that isn’t quite as bad as defensive end Carlos Dunlap’s but is worse than the one that linebacker Rey Maualuga is battling.
“He’s got a little twist, so we’ve just got to let him get all of the strength back before we bring him out here to play football again,” Gresham said, via Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Dunlap is expected to miss the next three weeks or so after getting hurt in the preseason opener. Maualuga also went down in that game against the Jets and has yet to return to practice since spraining his knee. Maualuga is expected back soon, which suggests Gresham should be ready to play in Week One even if the team limits him for the rest of the preseason.