Should A.J. Green Be On A Snap Count?

Nov 2, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green (18) makes a catch for a touchdown over Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Dwayne Gratz (27) during the second half at Paul Brown Stadium. The Bengals won 33-23. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

A.J. Green’s 2014 campaign hasn’t gone the way he’s likely planned. We are now halfway through the Bengals’ schedule and Green has played only one full game. Despite his limited time, Green has managed to look good when actually playing. He’s accounted for 20 receptions, 358 yards, and three touchdowns in essentially just four games; he also had the game-winning 77-yard touchdown catch that beat the Baltimore Ravens in Week One.

Despite A.J. Green’s inconsistent presence, the Bengals have managed a 5-2-1 record and currently sit atop the highly competitive AFC North. Their offense has been largely impressive on the year and only stands to get better with the return of Tyler Eifert and as the run blocking improves.

Mohamed Sanu has flourished this year regardless of whether A.J. Green is on the field or not. He’s been the team’s offensive MVP through eight games amassing 39 catches for 628 yards and four touchdowns.

Along with Sanu’s phenomenal year, Giovani Bernard has been his usual self making big plays when given space and helping bail the offense out when faced with a difficult situation.

The Bengals’ running game looked better last week, albeit against Jacksonville. Nonetheless, Jeremy Hill had an extraordinarily impressive first career start rushing for 154 yards and two touchdowns. It vaulted his yards/carry average to 4.7, which now stands firmly ahead of the team’s overall average of 4.2.

One of the strengths of Hue Jackson’s past offensive game planning has been his ability to spark the run game. The Bengals have struggled to block effectively overall this year (when running the football), but hopefully they can use their Week Nine success as a building block for the remainder of the year.

The Bengals’ offense has been solid this year without a healthy A.J. Green, but the mere presence of the Bengals’ best player cannot be understated. His presence can bring this offense to record heights and enables others to flourish. But unfortunately, according to the star himself, Green’s toe may never be at full strength this year.

"“It’s probably not gonna be 100 percent, but I hope it’s just manageable. I can get through the season and play at a high level.”"

This kind of prognosis is worthy of the coaching staff’s concern going forward. It may be the reason why Green played in only 40 of the offense’s 69 snaps (58%, per ESPN) on Sunday despite Green’s assertion that he would play without limits. One could also point to the team’s quick turnaround this week when playing the Cleveland Browns in tomorrow night’s primetime game. They could also point to it being A.J. Green’s first game since Week Five. But is this decision a sign of things to come?

Since Green injured his toe during the Falcons game in Week Two, he’s been in-and-out of the lineup. His admission that the toe may not be healthy this year more than justifies the team’s limitation of his snaps. It’s obvious that it’ll be a nagging injury as Green has aggravated it on such occasions as “going in motion” (during the Falcons game) and warming up during practice, which led to the team holding him out for three weeks.

The Bengals are clearly better when Green is providing his field-stretching presence. It opens up the field for other receivers and, maybe more importantly, the running game. So isn’t it better to have Green suited up and as an option for the team at all times? Defenses would never be able to totally discount his presence and so, would have to prepare at all times as if Green will be playing his usual snap count.

More from Bengals News

At the same time, football is a game that can’t be played half-in, half-out. Following the Jaguars game, A.J. Green admitted that his absence left him rusty, which in-turn effected his timing with Andy Dalton. If Green and Dalton aren’t totally in sync, the opposition will inevitably realize this at some point and will adjust accordingly. This would limit Green’s impact on other parts of the Bengals’ offense making the team less diverse and easier to deal with.

Nagging injuries are some of the toughest to deal with. A coach obviously wants to play his guy and rely upon him in the usual fashion. But what if the usual workload leaves the player injured and the team entirely without his presence? Is that necessarily better than having him 75% of the time (assuming Green can ramp-up his snap count moderately from Sunday). Or is the better decision to slowly get the player back to his usual playing time and to hope that his body holds up while doing so. It allows the team to proceed as normal while things like “timing” and “rhythm” aren’t impacted by the relentless in-and-out presence.

Marvin Lewis, Hue Jackson, and the Bengals have a tough decision ahead of them. Naturally, the competitive side of A.J. Green expects to be making a more significant impact on tomorrow night’s game.

"“I’ll play much more snaps Thursday, and we’ll see how it goes."

But his thoughts are clearly to be taken with a “grain of salt” considering Green said he’d play all the snaps if he was playing, which did not happen on Sunday. Green’s presence on this offense is paramount to its long-term success especially heading into the second half of the season which sees the Bengals play four divisional games and five of the last eight on the road. Hopefully his toe will hold up for the duration, but some prudence regarding A.J. Green’s health may be necessary during this time.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Schedule