By GEOFF HOBSON
Bengals.com
Re-published with permission from Cincinnati Bengals
Look at it this way. By the end of the month, we’ll know if rookie Andrew Whitworth can play NFL left tackle.
The Bengals already think he can because head coach Marvin Lewis made him Levi Jones’ replacement Monday in anticipation of Jones undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee that the team fears will keep him out at least two to three games.
The hope is he’ll be back for the Nov. 12 game against San Diego, the last of a grinding stretch the Bengals are scheduled to play some of the NFL’s elite pass rushers.
This upcoming Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium, for instance, Whitworth is going to be across from the Panthers’ Mike Rucker, a defensive end that has just 1.5 sacks this season but is a two-time Pro Bowler who had double-digit sack seasons in 2003 and 2004, and is perched opposite current NFL sack leader Julius Peppers.
And then in the mantra of NFL coaches and players, “It just doesn’t get any easier.”
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