AP

As it turns out, the biggest impact Bengals rookie cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick’s injury may have on the team will be that his comments about it sparked a ban on Twitter.

Coach Marvin Lewis recently told WLW radio in Cincinnati that he doesn’t believe Kirkpatrick will miss the team’s first regular-season game.

“It’s really a minor injury and unfortunately too much has been made of this again,” Lewis said, before venting (again) regarding Kirkpatrick’s decision to talk about the injury on Twitter. “We’re going to fix this whole Twitter thing. I can’t wait for that. I’m sick and tired of it and our guys don’t understand how to use it and we’re going to fix it but more is made of it than anything. It’s a setback for him because he is going to have to take some time but the good thing is he’s here with our people, he’s done everything asked of him, it’s been a couple of weeks so he’s pretty far along now with it. . . . Really too much gets made of this stuff and I know there’s nothing else important and I know that’s the deal.”

Even if Kirkpatrick is ready for Week One, the question becomes whether he’ll be ready for Week One. His NFL education includes shifting from press coverage to backpedaling and running down the field with opposing receivers. If he’s not able to take reps in training camp and the preseason, he may not be as effective as he otherwise would have been once the games count.

Still, even if he doesn’t learn anything else about the NFL between now and September, he has learned to stay off Twitter.