Cincinnati Bengals' Injuries Matter Less Than How They Handle Them

The Cincinnati Bengals had an overall successful outing against the New York Jets in their preseason opener, winning 17-6 and showcasing their talent on both sides of the ball.

However, a number of starters suffered injuries of varying severity in that game, resulting in players set to miss at least this week's preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons while another will be out for the entirety of the season.

Those hurt include starting left guard Travelle Wharton, who will miss the year with a knee injury, defensive end Carlos Dunlap, who is out for Bengals at least four weeks with a sprained right knee, running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis and middle linebacker Rey Maulaluga will sit out against the Falcons with the former dealing with a sore foot and the latter a minor knee injury and safety Taylor Mays suffering from Bengals an apparent concussion, which happened against the Jets.

In addition, defensive end Robert Geathers has been dealing with a knee injury of his own, running back Bernard Scott hasn't been participating with a hand injury and the same goes for cornerback Brandon Ghee.

It's never the ideal situation when a team has to deal with that many injuries while still trying to get things finalized for the start of the regular season, but the Bengals will be just fine as long as they handle these setbacks properly right now.

The best way for the Bengals to approach these glut of injuries is simply to take them in stride. Clearly, injuries are part of the game of football and there's no reason to dwell on what is lost with these players off the field—instead, the Bengals need to look at what they can gain.

Namely, it means more reps for otherwise marginal players. It allows those on the roster bubble to state a stronger case for staying on the team. And it allows the coaching staff to better evaluate their depth.

With both Dunlap and Geathers on the sideline, Jamaal Anderson will be the starting left defensive end against the Falcons on Thursday. Anderson is better-equipped to take on this job than he would be on other teams, thanks to the nature of the Bengals' constantly-rotating defensive line.

Though Ghee is one of the Bengals' most promising corners, they also have a lot of depth at the position, so his absence isn't as harmful as it could have been otherwise. While it hurts to not have both starting running backs on the field during the preseason, it's more important that Green-Ellis and Scott are healthy come September. 

Obviously, the injury with most potential to damage the Bengals' overall efforts this year is Wharton's. Wharton was brought on in the offseason to improve the offensive line and help them run the ball better up the middle.

Now, Clint Boling is the most likely replacement for Wharton, and his level of experience appears on paper to be a significant downgrade. Boling has never played left guard in the NFL, though he's done some work at the position during practices. He started for three games at right guard last year while Bobbie Williams served a suspension, struggled while doing so and only played one snap after Week 4.

With Boling at left guard and the two starting running backs shelved for at least this week, it will be hard for the Bengals to tell right away how well Boling will fit into their offense. 

Training camp and the preseason poses many opportunities for NFL teams to adapt on the fly, and the Bengals' ability to proactively respond to these injuries now will prepare them for handling them come the regular season.

At the very least, the fact that these injuries have come during the preseason and not the regular season means there's less reason to panic. Most, if not all (aside from Wharton) of these players should be 100-percent healthy by the time the season opener at the Baltimore Ravens rolls around. And, at the same time, the Bengals will now have far better knowledge of their depth at a number of positions simply because they've been forced to use backups with the first-team offense and defense.

This long list of injured starters isn't welcome news for the Bengals; but, as we're just early into the preseason and there are options at each position, the team could be in far worse shape.

The commitment to building depth is about to pay off for Cincinnati, and as long as they can avoid more long-term injuries to key players throughout the next three weeks, they should be better prepared for things not going according to plan during the regular season.

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