Brandon Allen missed his third-straight practice on Saturday morning and Bengals head coach Zac Taylor officially ruled him out for Monday's matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers. That thrusts second-year quarterback Ryan Finley into the starting role for the Week 15 game in Cincinnati. Allen suffered a knee injury in the fourth quarter of the Bengals' Week 14 loss to the Cowboys and Finley needed to relieve him for that contest. Taylor noted that Allen's injury isn't a long-term issue, which makes it possible that he returns next week against Houston.
In the meantime, the Bengals turn to Finley, who is making his fourth career start in the NFL and first of 2020. Last year, Finley started three games for Cincinnati (Week 10 to Week 12). Over that stretch, the Bengals went 0-3 and the 2019 fourth-rounder completed 47.1% of his passes for 474 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. He was also sacked 11 times over that stretch. One of those starts (Week 12) was against the Steelers. In that 16-10 loss, Finley threw for 192 yards and a touchdown.
This season, Finley has made spot appearances and has dropped back to pass 19 times. He completed 10 of those throws for 75 yards but also threw two picks. Once he does get the start on Monday, it'll mark the first time since 2002 that the Bengals have started three different quarterbacks in the same season.
Allen was filling in for No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow, who suffered a season-ending ACL tear back in Week 11. Over his three starts, the Bengals were 0-3 while he owned a 65.4 completion percentage and 506 yards passing to go along with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
