Before Sunday night’s AFC playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens, former Alabama All-American Jonah Williams had played all but six of the Cincinnati Bengals’ offensive snaps at left tackle in the 2022 season.

Williams missed the final six snaps in the first half of Cincinnati’s 19-17 loss to the Ravens on Oct. 9 because he had dislocated a kneecap.

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Williams returned to play in the second half in October against Baltimore. But after going off the field with 2:38 left in the first half on Sunday night, Williams did not return this time, although the injury turned out to be the same.

On Monday, Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor said Williams again had a dislocated kneecap and described his status as “week-to-week.”

By beating Baltimore 24-17 in their Super Wild-Card Weekend meeting, the Bengals advanced to the AFC Divisional Round. Cincinnati will face the Buffalo Bills at 2 p.m. CST Sunday with the opportunity to return to the conference championship game for the second year in a row.

“We’ll see. Hard to tell,” Taylor said about the prospects of Williams being ready to play against Buffalo.

Williams became the third Cincinnati starting offensive lineman to go down in the past four games. Right tackle La’el Collins sustained a knee injury on Dec. 24, and right guard Alex Cappa suffered an ankle injury on Jan. 8, and neither played on Sunday.

Collins won’t play again this season, but Taylor described Cappa’s status the same way he did Williams’ – week-to-week.

Against Baltimore, the Bengals started Max Scharping at right guard and Hakeem Adeniji at right tackle. Jackson Carman finished the game at left tackle in place of Williams. Carman started six games at right guard last season, but in 2022 he had played four offensive snaps – all in the regular-season finale – before Sunday’s game.

“I really think (offensive-line coach) Frank (Pollack) and (assistant offensive-line coach) Derek (Frazier) have done a great job of getting us ready for these situations, where he’s stressed the reps aren’t going to be plentiful for anybody,” Taylor said. “You’re going to get in that moment, and you’re going to have to know what to do and how to communicate, so you’ve got to put yourself in those situations mentally.

“And our guys have really done that. That’s why Max Scharping is here. He’s a veteran that understands these situations and that when his number’s called, he probably won’t have accumulated a ton of reps with the guy next to him on either side. And so, he’s got to be ready for that, and he’s done a good job. Same with Jackson and D’Ante (Smith) and Isaiah Prince and all these other guys – Hakeem. All these other guys have had to step up. He’s got them mentally ready for those moments.”

The Ravens sacked Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow four times on Sunday. Taylor said Burrow’s ability to get the football out of his hand quickly was “critical” to keeping the Bengals’ offense moving as backups are plugged into the offensive line.

“We have trust there that he can diagnose the looks quickly and get the ball out,” Taylor said. “… He does a great job of understanding the coverages and where the ball needs to go very quickly.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.