Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict had an eventful week.
He reportedly agreed to a new contract, although it hasn’t been signed yet, and then was waylaid by a stomach virus that kept him out of practice. He recovered enough to play in Sunday night’s game against the Cardinals, but now there’s a new health concern.
Burfict left the game after one defensive series with a hamstring injury. There’s no word on severity yet, although Burfict probably wasn’t slated to play in Thursday night’s preseason finale so there’s a couple of weeks for him to heal up before the season opener.
Defensive tackle Geno Atkins made his preseason debut for the Bengals, but joined Burfict on the bench for the second defensive series. There’s been no announced injury for Atkins, who may have just been on a limited snap count in his first game action after last year’s torn ACL.
Neither absence hurt the Bengals defense all that much. Cornerback Terence Newman picked off a Carson Palmer pass and returned it for a touchdown to put Cincinnati up 7-0 in the first quarter.
UPDATE 8:33 p.m. ET: Atkins was back on the field following Newman’s touchdown.