Bengals Headlines: A.J. Green Racking Up Awards & History, & Sunday Sellout Reached
By Joe Johnson
Guess who has more yards right now than Calvin Johnson, Mike Wallace, Victor Cruz, AND DeSean Jackson? If you guessed A.J. Green, then you are correct. His 428 yards is the second most in the league behind Miami’s Brian Hartline (only because of Hartline’s 256 yard performance against Arizona this past Sunday). His career-high 183 yard performance against the Washington Redskins and 117 yard performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars have earned him AFC Offensive Player of the Month honors for September. This is a big honor, and is a sign of what is to come this season from A.J.
CBS sports broke down the amazing season Green is having, as well as some history he’s set to make to go along with several records he may break:
"Through four games he’s second in the NFL with 428 receiving yards. At an average of 107 yards per game he would finish the season with 1,712 yards. That total would be the most in the NFL in 10 years.Marvin Harrison totaled 1,722 yards in 2002. Since then, whoever led the NFL in receiving yards only surpassed 1,600 yards twice.Chad Johnson owns the Bengals receiving yards record with the 1,440 in 2007.What Green’s accomplished through the first 20 games has only been surpassed a few players in NFL history. According to ESPN Stats and Information, only three players accumulated more yards per game in their first two NFL seasons than Green.98-99 Randy Moss: 85.210-11 Victor Cruz: 80.882-83 Charlie Brown: 79.811-12 A.J. Green: 78.285-86 Jerry Rice: 78.0"
Bengals.com noted how Sunday’s game against the Dolphins could hinge on how well Andre Smith can block Pro Bowl DE Cameron Wake:
"So this one clearly starts up front and the 6-3, 250-pound Wake sets a tone the 6-4, 335-pound Smith must blunt. Wake had no sacks this season until he strafed Cardinals rookie right tackle Bobbie Massie, but he does have 27 sacks in his last 36 games. On the surface it appears that it is Wake’s speed vs. Smith’s power but Smith says Wake has power most speed rushers don’t have. He says Wake has the speed of the speediest guy he’s ever faced, Robert Mathis of the Colts, but Wake has more power."
And last but certainly not least, the Bengals have announced that Sunday’s game will be a sellout and thus avoid the teams’ first blackout of 2012. This was arguably going to be the hardest game to sellout, so the prospects of seeing every Bengals home game in 2012 sold out look very promising now. After having 10 of 11 games blacked out from 2010- 2011, the Bengals have now sold out three straight home games. Good times are here again in the Queen City!
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