Jermaine Gresham and Tyler Eifert both out for the Cincinnati Bengals

In a game that matters for both teams, the Cincinnati Bengals will be without both of their tight ends when they take the field on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens.

Bob Holtzman of ESPN reports that Jermaine Gresham and Tyler Eifert are both out for Sunday’s regular season finale (relayed via Adam Schefter):

According to Football Outsiders, the Ravens are ranked 18th in the NFL against opposing tight ends. Andy Dalton and his offense have been filling up the stat sheet this season, to the point that people are getting more and more comfortable hopping on the bandwagon. They will have to do it Sunday without a potential match-up advantage over their divisional foe.

The Bengals were without Gresham for their overtime loss to the Ravens in November. In that game Dalton targeted Eifert a season-high nine times. We can’t assume that they were going to enter this contest with the same game plan, but it is reasonable to think that the Bengals would ideally have liked to get the ball to their big tight ends (or at least one of them).

Now they will have to find a different way to move the ball and try to move up in the AFC playoff picture.