The Cincinnati Bengals suffered multiple injuries upfront on defense in their playoff win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday, and one of those players has been ruled out for the upcoming Divisional Round contest against the Tennessee Titans.
On Monday, the Bengals announced that starting defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi has been placed on Injured Reserve, ending his 2021 season.
This is obviously a big blow for the Bengals. Ogunjobi played well this season, and now Cincinnati has to go without him in a matchup against Tennessee’s elite rushing attack that is getting Derrick Henry back.
The injury concerns for Cincy upfront don’t stop there, though.
The Bengals’ top defensive line backup, Josh Tupou (knee), and veteran Mike Daniels (groin) also suffered injuries and left the game against the Raiders early, as did Cincinnati’s sack leader, defensive end Trey Hendrickson (concussion).
The statuses of Hendrickson and Tupou remain up in the air, but Daniels is expected to miss the rest of the playoffs.
Should Tupou sit out, it would be yet another blow to the Bengals upfront, and more specifically to their run defense, which finished fifth in the NFL during the regular season but allowed 103 yards on 7.4 yards per carry against the Raiders.
If Hendrickson gets ruled out, Cincinnati’s pass-rush would take a major hit. The Florida Atlantic product, who was signed by the Bengals in free agency last offseason, had 14 sacks in 16 games this season, and has 27.5 the last two seasons. He tallied one sack in the win over Las Vegas, also.
Tennessee and Cincinnati are set to meet at Nissan Stadium on Saturday, with kickoff scheduled for 3:30 p.m. CST.
