Green: Bengals' 0-7 start won't affect return - 2 minutes read


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CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green scoffed at the notion that Cincinnati's winless start to the season will affect his timeline to return from an ankle injury.

Green said the Bengals' record, which is now 0-7 after Sunday's 27-17 home loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, will "never" dictate when he will make his debut this season.

"Everybody knows what type of guy I am," Green said. "I'm not going to fake anything. I'm not going to milk anything. When I'm ready to play, you know it's time for me to go. It doesn't matter what the record (is). Nobody can hold me back when it's time to play."

Green has been out since he suffered an ankle injury during the team's first practice of the season. On Sunday, ESPN's Adam Schefter said the star wide receiver is not expected to return until after the Oct. 29 trade deadline.

Since Green suffered the injury on the first practice of the preseason, he and the team have hesitated to give any timeline on a potential return. The only action since then were two days of position drills leading up to the Bengals' Week 6 loss at Baltimore. Green has yet to be a full participant at practice since the injury. He said he didn't know if he will be available for the Bengals' Week 8 game in London against the Los Angeles Rams.

"We'll see," Green said on Sunday. "Like I said, I don't like to put that I'm going to play and then I don't play and then y'all I'm milking it."

Green, the Bengals' 2011 first-round pick, is in the final season of a four-year contract. He has repeatedly said he doesn't want to rush back from the ankle injury and risk missing further games, which happened in 2018. Green has missed 20 games dating back to the start of the 2016 season.