The Cincinnati Bengals released their first injury report ahead of their Week 12 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Neither DT D.J. Reader (illness) nor WR Tee Higgins (hamstring) practiced for the Bengals on Wednesday. QB Joe Burrow, who is out for the season, is still listed on the injury report as he’s yet to be officially placed on IR. He too, obviously did not practice. CB Cameron Taylor-Britt, who’s developed into a key piece in Cincinnati’s secondary, also missed practice Wednesday with a quad injury.
Rookie WR Andrei Iosivas (knee), who’s caught two touchdown passes for Cincinnati this season, was limited, along with DE Sam Hubbard (ankle), DT B.J. Hill (knee) and LB Akeem Davis-Gaither (knee). Hubbard has not played since Nov. 5 because of a knee injury, but he looks like he could be on track to return against Pittsburgh.
RB Chase Brown, who was designated to return off IR and had his practice window opened on Monday, practiced in full. Also full participants for Cincinnati were WR Trenton Irwin (hip), DE Cameron Sample (knee) and OT Jonah Williams (shoulder).
The Bengals are being investigated by the league for not having Burrow’s original wrist injury on their injury report last week, so they made sure to include him now. Obviously, Higgins is the biggest name who didn’t practice outside of Burrow, and he would provide a legitimate receiving threat for backup QB Jake Browning alongside WR Ja’Marr Chase.
Higgins’ status is one to monitor throughout the week, and we’ll see if he’ll be able to suit up Sunday. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are both looking for a win after losing their last matchup. Cincinnati has now lost two in a row after falling to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 11 and Houston Texans in Week 10.
