Bengals QB Andy Dalton Week To Week With Broken Thumb

Image via Zimbio

After suffering a broken thumb in a division matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, initial reports indicated that Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton would likely miss the rest of the regular season, if not the postseason. A grim situation for a team whose stranglehold on the AFC North is now suddenly in jeopardy.

On Monday the Bengals got a sliver of good news, as tests revealed Dalton won’t require surgery to aid the healing process. At his press conference, coach Marvin Lewis didn’t rule his quarterback out beyond Cincinnati’s Week 15 game against the San Francisco 49ers, for which A.J. McCarron has been named the starter.

Lewis was quick to shoot down any speculation that Dalton’s ability to play was dependent merely on pain tolerance. He said that it was a healing issue, plain and simple.

Although Lewis wouldn’t rule Dalton out definitively beyond Week 15, the general consensus is that a Week 17 return is likely the best case scenario given his injury. That being said, if the Bengals lose this weekend and the Steelers win, it’s hard to imagine Dalton wouldn’t be feeling immense pressure to play regardless of his progress.