It's hard not to play the what-if game looking back at the Cincinnati Bengals season.

Players gone due to serious injuries, among them Andy Dalton and A.J. Green, create opportunities to wonder what could have been.

But the next-man-up philosophy of the National Football League keeps guesses about the future and what could be in play, too.

That's where we sit with Jeff Driskel, the third-year quarterback entering his third career start Sunday against the Oakland Raiders in his stint as Dalton's replacement.

"He's doing everything he can," said Bengals coach Marvin Lewis. "This is great for him and his career. This is career changing for him to keep playing the way he's playing."

Has Driskel proven himself as a potential starter or solid backup? That's hard to say, considering he doesn't have Green, the offensive line is a steady shuffle and questions about Lewis' future seemingly dominate every step of the operation as the Bengals have lost seven of eight.

One thing is certain: Driskel is getting his shot with an offensive coordinator in Bill Lazor who says he's making moves and decisions to win now. Driskel isn't plugging into the role of Dalton and the Bengals offense isn't playing out the string (giving Joe Mixon 26 carries last week proves that). Driskel is getting his shot running an offense that caters to him.

"I think you're just in a world now where you're just dealing with what does Jeff do well?" Lazor said. "And how do all of our players match up and how do you put together what we feel like we do well with the current players we have. Not just at quarterback but all the positions."

Noting his efforts in the surprisingly close 26-21 loss against the Chargers last Sunday in Los Angeles, Lazor said Driskel progressed and got better. Driskel had a higher completion percentage (66.7 percent) than Chargers' MVP candidate Philip Rivers (65.5 percent), threw a touchdown and no interceptions and had a rushing touchdown wiped off the board due to an NFL rule regarding diving head first enacted before the season.

Simply put, Driskel gave the Bengals a chance to win.

"It comes with reps, and I have a decent amount of reps now under my belt," Driskel said. "It will continue to slow down, and I’m going to keep preparing and making sure I’m ready."

The troubling aspect regarding Driskel stems from what many consider the most telling stat in today's NFL: yards per pass attempt.

Since Dalton went out in the second half against the Browns three weeks ago, Driskel has averaged 6.03 yards per attempt.

His 93 attempts is a small sample size, but that ranks lower than all 32 quarterbacks in the league with at least 197 attempts this season.

"That's not just Jeff," Lazor said. "In general, maybe some of it is the play calls, maybe some of it is the protection, maybe some of it's the route running, some of it's the quarterbacking and it's been a little bit of a trend, so we've got to get that going again. If you look at one thing offensively that held us back in this game, it was not making enough plays in the passing game."

Ryan Fitzpatrick (9.62), Rivers (8.84) and Patrick Mahomes (8.80) top the list.

Joe Flacco (6.50), Josh Allen (6.30) and Josh Rosen (6.08) are at the bottom.

Dalton averaged 7.03, 24th-best in the league, in 11 starts.

"The reason why that statistic is the number one predictor of success is because you can do it any way," Lazor said. "It could be 18 attempts or 48 attempts. It could be a deep ball or a bunch of completions down the field. There's no one way to do it and teams do it differently. We've got to find a way to do that."

Deep passes have been the weakness thus far in Driskel's game.

He's 3 of 11 with an interception on all passes thrown over 20 yards in the air.

Conversely, Driskel has completed 13 of 21 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns when throwing between 10 to 20 yards in the air.

Lazor explained that Driskel hasn't been reckless with throws into crowded areas nor has he been hesitant to let it rip.

"I don't believe that's Jeff," Lazor said. "I think some of it is just a matter of timing. You have to understand how long this particular route takes to develop. If you make the decision too soon it might not look there yet, but if you're on just the right footwork and just the right timing and you have your eyes looking off the defense and turn your eyes there at just the right time now you'll get the true picture. But if you look there too soon it didn't look good and you move on. Sometimes that's part of it, too. It's just a matter of poise and playing."

Like Driskel said: He needs reps. They're important because, despite a season derailed by attrition and losses, everybody is playing for something.

For Lazor, that's where the longterm and short-term outlooks come together.

"I've got to make sure as a coaching staff we're giving them enough opportunities," Lazor said. "That's part of it, too. Every snap you say you want to hand it off is a snap that you can't throw it deep. Every snap that you say you want to throw it with a high completion percentage play short is a snap that you're not handing it off. You have to make a decision on each play."