Jim Owczarski

jowczarski@enquirer.com

As soon as he jumped, A.J. Green felt the pull in his right leg.

He thought it was a cramp, even as he rolled onto his back in obvious pain on the turf at Paul Brown Stadium.

But this wasn't going away.

On the second play of scrimmage against the Buffalo Bills on Nov. 20, the Cincinnati Bengals' star wide receiver began to leap for a pass along the Bengals' sideline, but the muscle pulled him back down. As soon as he got up, though, he knew it wasn't a cramp.

"I'm just happy it was not anything more serious than what it was," Green said Friday in his first comments since the injury.

It was serious, however.

Green said he was told it was a grade two strain, or a 50 percent tear of the muscle. He shrugs that off.

"But, it's not bad," he said. "It's not tore off the bone or nothing like that. No surgery needed."

Reports of his season being over were premature in his mind, but there is no timeline for a return. Being able to get outside on the rehab field this week was an important step however, as Green thought it would take two full weeks before he could resume any activity, which now includes some light jogging.

"It feels great," he said. "It's getting better every day."

He said he's going to play it safe, though, in an effort to play again in 2016.

"I want to get back," he said. "No matter what type of season we have, I'm not the type of guy to cash it in. So, whenever it's ready, I'll be ready to go. But, I'm not going to rush it because I'm not going to have this be a continuing issue."

As for whether the Bengals' record or however many games remain will affect whether he returns or not, Green said that is not the case.

"That's not the type of guy I am," he said. "I'm not going to bail out on my team because we're not having the season we want to have. That's not the type of guy I am. When I'm healthy, then I'm going to go play, no matter what week it is. If it's the last game I come back, if I'm feeling good, then I'm going to play the last game."

Prior to the injury, Green was on pace for a career year with 66 catches for 964 yards in nine complete games. But the numbers, or reaching the 1,000-yard mark for the sixth straight year to join Randy Moss as the lone receivers in that class, mean little.

"That's cool," Green said of that record. "I'm not going to put my whole career and jeopardize (it) because of a record. I've got a lot of football left to be played. I'm not going to push it just to try and get that and have to miss more time next year or have surgery because I went out too early and tore it even more."

Sitting quietly at his locker, taking playful jabs from staff wondering if he still works for the team, Green refuses to call the injury a disappointment.

"Something I can't control," he said. "So, I'm not going to get down on myself. I was playing very well. But, things like that happen. So, I wouldn't say I'm disappointed. I'm just like, things happen. That's the type of guy I am. I don't look at an injury being disappointing.

"Things happen. I'll just be back whenever I'm ready to get back. I'll be back and finish off where I left."

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