Arguably no injury loomed larger for the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC title game loss than the absence of right guard Alex Cappa.
Cappa suffered an ankle injury late in the season and was nearing a return as his team took on the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC title game. He couldn’t go, though, and backup Max Scharping was the biggest weak point on the line as Chris Jones popped off for a big performance.
Unfortunately for the Bengals, Cappa made it clear he would have been good to go had the Bengals made the Super Bowl, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com;
“The next day after the last game is always about injuries, too. Right guard Alex Cappa (ankle), who was injured in the last minutes of the regular season, confirmed the plan was to play in the Super Bowl, which would have been sweet for a guy who had to sit out the Super Bowl his Buccaneers won in 2020. Yes, he says. He’ll be ready for the spring.”
While that stings, the silver lining is that the injury wasn’t worse and it apparently won’t have any impact on Cappa’s availability for spring work. Compared to just how bad it looked, that’s a big relief.
The sooner he’s back and on the same page as his linemates, the sooner the unit can avoid some of the early season consistency injuries from last year.
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