The Cincinnati Bengals already had some adversity thrown their way when starting right guard Lucas Patrick went down with an injury just 16 snaps into the season. According to Jordan Schultz, Patrick suffered an injury to his right calf and will be out for a few weeks.
Injuries are obviously unfortunate and no one is rooting for them by any means. That being said, the Bengals lucked out as far as their replacement option went, as the recently-signed Dalton Risner stepped into the right guard role in Patrick's place and played phenomenally.
While, yes, the Bengals o-line gave up three sacks on Joe Burrow (and we're not going to talk about that drive), the unit mostly played pretty well and Risner went above and beyond during his time on the field. Risner allowed just one pressure on 24 pass-blocking sets, according to Pro Football Focus. Pretty dang good!
Bengals already have the perfect Lucas Patrick replacement ready to step up
Not only were Bengals fans impressed with Risner after he stepped in for the injured Patrick, but his own teammates saw how hard he was working too. Center Ted Karras spoke about Risner having to fill in for his injured teammate and called it the best display of professionalism he's ever seen in the NFL.
Considering all of the Bengals' offensive line woes during the Joe Burrow era, it was nice to see something like this go their way for once rather than the alternative option. Yes, Burrow was sacked three times but pass-rushers are as good as they've ever been and guys are going to get home to the quarterback.
If the Bengals o-line can play the way they mostly played on Sunday, this team should be in good shape moving forward. Hopefully Patrick has a speedy recovery but Bengals fans shouldn't be worried about Risner having to step in the meantime.