The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals will square-off for a third time this season Saturday night in an AFC Wild Card game and at some point during this coming week we should know whether or not Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton will play in that contest as he’s scheduled to get the cast off his broken right thumb on Monday.
On Friday, Dalton was asked about his upcoming doctor visit and his potential playing status.
“It depends how it feels and what the doctor says,” Dalton said. “It’s hard to tell exactly how it feels. It’s getting better. That’s what they’re saying.”
After the Bengals Sunday win over the Baltimore Ravens, head coach Marvin Lewis was asked about Dalton’s status for next weekend.
“We’ll see. I wish Andy would just be quiet and quit telling you all what he’s doing,” Lewis said. “He puts a lot of pressure on himself that way.”
Should Dalton wind up being cleared to play against the Steelers, he’ll certainly have a lot of pressure on him as he’s currently 0-4 in the playoffs over the course of the last four seasons. During that span of four games, the Bengals quarterback has thrown just one touchdown pass to go along with 6 interceptions.
It’s been 22 days since Dalton broke his thumb against the Steelers and the time off has probably created some rustiness as well. Should Dalton not be able to play Saturday night against the Steelers, backup A.J. McCarron will make his first career playoff start in Cincinnati.
