CINCINNATI -- A.J. Green, who left last weekend's game early with a toe injury, has not ruled out the possibility of playing Sunday when the Cincinnati Bengals host the Tennessee Titans.
The Bengals' three-time Pro Bowl receiver told reporters that if his toe responds favorably to treatment and practice the rest of this week, he'll play.
"If it's feeling good, then I'm going to go," said Green, who did not practice Wednesday. "If it's not, then we'll go from there."
Green, speaking for the first time since playing just six plays in last Sunday's 24-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons, said he hurt the toe during the season opener at Baltimore. He isn't sure what he did to suffer the injury but remembered it happened at some point in the first quarter of that 23-16 victory. He played all the way through that contest, even catching an 80-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter that proved to be the winning score.
"I got past it," Green said of fighting through the original injury.
Green didn't have a name for the injury but said it was "something like turf toe, but not as bad."
He felt it all last week when the Bengals practiced, even sitting out last Thursday's workout to allow the injury more time to heal. The time off apparently had a positive effect because he practiced in full the next day and went through the Saturday walk-through.
During pregame warmups Sunday, though, he said he could tell he wasn't able to get full extension whenever his foot landed as he ran. Still, he believed it was something he would be able to fight through one more week. He dressed and appeared on the Bengals' opening drive.
But six plays into the game, he came off the field and never returned.
"I knew it was still a little tender, but I thought I could make it through," Green said. "I didn't want to go out there and hurt myself any more."
With a bye next week, some have questioned whether the Bengals should just shelve their star wideout and get him healthy for the Week 5 game at New England, when fellow receiver Marvin Jones will be returning from his own foot injury. Green, though, said he isn't thinking about taking a week off just to rest and repeated that if he's ready to play Sunday morning, he'll play.
Coach Marvin Lewis echoed those sentiments during his news conference Wednesday.
"If a guy's ready to play, he's ready to play," Lewis said. "That doesn't change."
Green caught a team-high six passes for 131 yards and a touchdown in the win at Baltimore. Against the Falcons last week, he was held catchless for the first time in his three-year career in a game that he started.
As he was last Sunday, Green likely will be replaced by Mohamed Sanu at the No. 1 receiver position. Sanu caught three passes for 84 yards and a touchdown in that game and completed a 50-yard pass himself.