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The rookie wide receiver was coming off a good week of practice and the Bengals were planning to expand his role in the offense for the Oct. 21 game at Paul Brown Stadium.

But when the offense got the ball for first time that night, Jones wasn’t on the field. He had been blocking on a kickoff return when another player ran into his right knee and almost bent it to the ground.

“I just felt stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch right before it was going to pop,” he said. “Then I just fell.”

Fast forward to this week.

The Bengals play the Steelers on Sunday at Heinz Field. The knee has healed and Jones is excited.

“I’ve wanted to play against the Steelers, and now’s the time,” he said.

The revolving door at the second receiver spot in the Bengals’ offense turned back to Jones earlier this month after rookie Mohamed Sanu suffered a foot injury that required season-ending surgery.

Jones is the fourth receiver to hold the spot this season. Armon Binns started five games. Brandon Tate started three. Sanu started two and had taken control of the spot before he got hurt.

“Obviously we’d like to have consistent guys out there, but I think we’ve done a good job and our guys have done a good job of trying to do the right things,” Andy Dalton said. “It’s what we practice for, it’s why we go out and work on timing and that kind of stuff.”

Jones returned for the Nov. 25 game against the Raiders and has started the past three. Targeted on 13 passes, he’s caught five for 65 yards.

According to Enquirer staffer Kevin Kelly, Jones took 83 percent of the snaps on offense in last week’s victory against the Eagles, but did not have a catch on four targets.

“He had a couple head-scratching plays that we’ve got to get him corrected,” offensive coordinator Jay Gruden said the next day. “I think the more he plays the better he’ll be. He just has to play through some of the mistakes and see it on film and do it. You rep it in practice and you get in the game and everything happens so fast, sometimes it only comes with experience.”

Dalton and the offense need Jones to get up to speed quickly.

In last week's victory over the Eagles, Green was the only receiver to catch passes. In the first meeting against the Steelers, Green was held to one catch and Ryan Whalen led the team in receptions with four. A legitimate contribution from Jones would go a long way toward helping Dalton and Green get on track.