Paul Dehner Jr.

pdehnerjr@enquirer.com

The long, frustrating path back to the field for Tyler Eifert may have come to an end, at least if the choice was his.

Following his most complete participation in practice this year on Thursday, he believes he’s cleared all hurdles with both his ankle and back in order to make his 2016 debut. The Bengals haven't made an official public decision and listed Eifert as limited despite the tight end participating in team drills for the first time.

“In my mind, I’m ready,” Eifert said. “Two weeks ago, before it happened I was in really really good shape and I’ve kind of been laid up just trying to get the back right. All things considered, I don’t think there’s anything else I have to pass.”

Eifert was ready to return from offseason ankle surgery leading up to the game in Dallas on Oct. 3 when he injured his back in practice. He made his first return to practice in any capacity on Wednesday and ramped up to team drills Thursday.

He says he’d play Sunday if it were up to him, but with the full practice under his belt signs point to him playing against the Browns, especially considering the way he felt after.

“It went maybe even better than I expected it,” Eifert said. “That’s encouraging for me just getting my confidence back. Being able to run around there and cut it loose, not think about my ankle, not think about my back.”

The odd part about injuring his back is it made him forget about his ankle in practice.

“I can’t think about two things at once,” Eifert said with a laugh.

He said he had no problem cutting and running, even on a wet field as the Bengals practiced through a heavy rain on Thursday.

This marked the first time he’d spoken publicly since the back injury and admitted his own bit of embarrassment over the injuring the back two-and-a-half weeks ago.

“I didn’t want to tell anybody that I kinda hurt my back because I got the ankle right and I was ready to play,” Eifert said. “I tried to keep practicing and I couldn’t do anything else. Like I said, I had to tell someone.”

The last time he practiced in full was technically prior to the Pro Bowl where he would injure his ankle, which required offseason surgery.

He hopes to finally return to full health and better luck after a four-year career that has now seen him play in 31 of a potential 57 games. Just discussing injuries that have kept him out of games, he’s had a concussion, stinger, shoulder, elbow and now the ankle and back.

Eifert caught 13 touchdown passes last year, including 11 in the red zone on 16 targets. Meanwhile, the offense ranks 28th in red zone percentage this season without him. He doesn’t expect to be an instant cure whenever he returns, though.

“I just want to get out there and help where I can,” Eifert said. “Obviously people outside the building have pointed out that I haven’t been in and they’ve struggled but it’s tough when you get down there. I’d like to come in and help and help us score touchdowns. But I don’t know if just one guy can fix it. We’ve been working hard at and they’re actually getting better but I just want to help where I can.”

SIMMONS LOOKING FOR PRODUCTION: Thanks to a dynamic preseason, undrafted rookie Alex Erickson looked primed to add a weapon to the Bengals’ special teams attack this season.

Erickson returned six punts for 185 yards and a touchdown.

The production hasn’t carried over to the regular season. The Bengals are tied for last in the NFL at 6.1 yards per return. They rank 25th in the league in average kickoff return.

Special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons doesn’t put all the onus on Erickson, but acknowledges the need for more production in a hurry.

“It was a little rough to start with,” Simmons said of Erickson. “He made a couple questionable decisions early in the year. He hasn’t had great opportunity. We haven’t blocked it well enough and controlled field position well enough as a team to give us give us good opportunities to vice the gunners up. There’s no question it needs to be more across the board.”

Simmons points out the repeated successes Erickson enjoyed during the preseason games made keeping him over Brandon Tate a decision he doesn’t regret. To expect a direct translation from preseason to regular season would be unfair.

“There’s different circumstances when you play preseason games,” he said. “You do different things you don’t normally do during the regular season. So it’s a completely different mindset. I’m not worried as much about fakes. We take a lot more chances in the preseason so it’s a completely different set of circumstances.”

HEALTHY LOT: A chance exists for the Bengals to enter Sunday with all seven inactives as healthy scratches. Three players who didn’t practice Wednesday due to injury returned to action on Thursday. Center Russell Bodine (ankle), LB Vontaze Burfict (ankle) and defensive tackle Pat Sims (neck) all were back in full. Guard Clint Boling (shoulder) came back in a limited capacity.

Receiver James Wright didn’t participate as he rested his knee. That’s been common practice throughout the year.