Cincinnati Bengals Get Positive Injury News Ahead of Matchup vs New York Jets

CINCINNATI — Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson is expected to play on Sunday against the Jets, despite dealing with a lingering hip injury that kept him sidelined in Week 7. Multiple league sources throughout the week confirmed that Hendrickson planned on playing. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler is also reporting that the reigning NFL sack leader will play.

Hendrickson leads the Bengals with four sacks. He was a limited participant in practice on Wednesday and Thursday. He didn't practice on Friday, but those [Friday] sessions are basically walkthroughs ahead of a Sunday game this time of year.

Hendrickson has 15 tackles (three for loss) and four sacks in six games this year. The Bengals' pass rush struggled last week against the Steelers without him. They didn't sack Aaron Rodgers and gave up 31 points.

Despite their struggles on defense, the Bengals won the game 33-31. Now they're in position to get to .500 if they can improve to 2-1 with Joe Flacco at quarterback.

Flacco Fun

If the Bengals beat the Jets on Sunday, they'll improve to 4-4 on the season and keep pace in the wide open AFC playoff race. They went 0-4 after losing Joe Burrow to a grade 3 turf toe injury, but Flacco has given them new life midway through the season.

"Consistent. Very consistent. Never overwhelmed," Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said when asked about Flacco. "It’s a lot of information being thrown at you. All things that he’s been exposed to over the course of his career. Maybe just called differently. Maybe just operated differently. So he’s just getting used to how we do it. Again, you can never tell if it’s something he’s heard or hasn’t heard. His demeanor is always the same, which I appreciate because there’s no, ‘Wait, what is that?’ There’s no panic or anything. He’s solving the problem. He gets in the huddle. He calls the play with confidence when he’s in the huddle, which is critical for the other 10 guys to here to have that confidence level in your quarterback. Just impressed with how quickly he’s picked it all up. It always looks effortless. I know it’s not. I know he’s putting in a lot of work. But that’s the feel that it comes off to everybody. That’s a positive thing for us."

The belief Flacco brings on offense combined with Hendrickson's return on defense puts the Bengals in position to salvage their season.

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