The Bengals will be doing a little bit of shuffling on the interior of their offensive line this week.
Coach Marvin Lewis said, via Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer, that right guard Kevin Zeitler should return to the lineup for the Week 14 game against the Colts. Zeitler has missed the last two games with a foot injury and the Bengals running game should benefit from getting him back.
Mike Pollak replaced Zeitler in the starting lineup the last two weeks, but he may headed back to the bench. Lewis also said that the team believes left guard Clint Boling tore his ACL in Sunday’s victory over the Chargers, so the Bengals will need a new starter. Assuming that belief is confirmed, Boling will be the ninth Bengals player on injured reserve and the first offensive player to be lost for the season.
It could be Pollak or the Bengals could use the alignment they turned to on Sunday with Zeitler out of the lineup. Andrew Whitworth moved to left guard, Anthony Collins moved from right tackle to left tackle and Andre Smith came into the game to play right tackle.
All the maneuvering didn’t stop the Bengals from running for 164 yards and holding the Chargers without a sack, so the Bengals should be able to make things work in Boling’s absence.