CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor confirmed one of his team's biggest stars has a significant hip injury. Taylor said Ja'Marr Chase could land on injured reserve in the next two days. However, the team expects Chase to make a full recovery.
Out of sight before, during and after practice, Chase, his hip and his team's fate for the next month or more grabbed attention.
"(I'm) just praying for him to get better," said Stanley Morgan, a fellow wide receiver and one of the team's top special teams players.
"It's tough, man," La'el Collins, the Bengals starting right tackle who attended the same university (LSU) as Chase and quarterback Joe Burrow, said in the locker room Friday. "(Chase) is a big part of what we do."
Two weeks ago, Chase hurt his hip during a win over the Saints in his hometown of New Orleans. Then, after Chase ran around the Atlanta Falcons Sunday, what Taylor called "soreness" turned out to be an injury that could keep No. 1 off the field for more than four weeks.
"We're feeling for him," said Ted Karras, the team's starting center. "It's an unfortunate thing that happened but this is a team and we have a job to do. We're thinking about him but we have so many great playmakers that we're going to have to pick up the slack and execute at a high level to get a win Monday night."
Cincinnati native Sam Hubbard said "nobody" wants to be out on the field more than Chase Monday night. Winless in Cleveland since 2017, the Bengals are now hoping to beat the Browns without last season's NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
When asked if the team had any inkling that the injury was something more serious during last Sunday's game, Taylor told WCPO 9 News, "I think when we knew it was an issue we made the decision we made this week."
"(Chase is) obviously an elite playmaker," fellow wide receiver and punt returner Trent Taylor said. "Us as receivers, we're not sitting there like what are we going to do now-type of mindset. All of us in the room know that we can make plays."
Dr. Andrew Razzano, an orthopedic surgeon who treats high school and pro athletes with Beacon Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, is not involved with the Bengals or Chase's injury. However, Razzano said the player's recovery will be tricky because he needs "active rest" — especially if his hip injury involves a fracture.
"With this type of hip flexor injury where the tendon attaches to the hip, that "fracture" they may have seen on x-ray or MRI is most likely that tendon pulling a small piece of bone off. It's more an avulsion fracture, we call it, where it actually pulls a small piece of bone off. That's just going to take time. Overall, allowing that to heal is one thing, but then rehabbing that athlete, getting him back to the number one level of physical ability he had before, getting his endurance back, those are all challenges."
While teammates wished him well before practice, they want to win for him too.
"(Our challenge is) just going and doing our assignments, doing our job, making sure we uplift him, win this game and bring it home back to him," said Morgan.
