When the Cincinnati Bengals took the field for Monday Night Football against the Washington Commanders, sporting an 0-2 record, the pressure only continued to mount.
Joe Burrow and company quickly went down by a score of 21-10 to Jayden Daniels and a suddenly-hot Commanders offense early in the game, but a deficit wasn't the only worry the Bengals had on their minds.
Not only was this defense being dominated by a rookie quarterback in prime time, and at home, but with just over six minutes to go in the second quarter, starting right tackle Trent Brown fell to the ground grabbing his knee and writhing in pain.
Moments later, Brown was carted off the field after suffering what initially looked like a knee injury.
It didn't take long before the Bengals announced Brown was out for the rest of the game, with fans only being able to hypothesize over how bad the injury actually was.
At the moment, it's purely speculation. But, it looked bad. Some social media doctors even tossed around the possibility of it being a torn ACL, but the Bengals won't know until Brown undergoes further testing.
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What we do know is, Brown was ruled out for the night, and in a hurry.
Rookie Amarius Mims looks to get a real opportunity going forward
Stepping in for the former Pro Bowl tackle was rookie first-round pick Amarius Mims, out of Georgia. The plan for Mims was for the Georgia product to take a seat, right away, being able to further develop as a raw talent before he is called upon in a more permanent fashion.
Of course, Mims could now get his chance a whole lot sooner than originally expected. This might not just be a case of Mims filling in for an injured Brown on one single night. If Brown's injury is as bad as it looked, the first rounder could be put in a position where he will be asked to develop on the fly.
For what it's worth, Mims played a total of almost 400 pass blocking snaps in college and was credited with giving up zero sacks, per Pro Football Focus.
The NFL is a totally different beast, but the physical skills and athletic traits are there with Mims. He didn't get selected in the first round for nothing, and now he might just have an opportunity to prove it while protecting Burrow's right side in the coming weeks.