Bengals' A.J. Green says he'll skip regular-season game if baby born that day

The Cincinnati Bengals’ schedule has them playing the Miami Dolphins in Week 4 on Sept. 29. The following day, star wide receiver A.J. Green’s first baby is due.

Green says he’ll skip a game if the baby arrives on a Bengals game day, via the Cincinnati Enquirer. The baby, which is officially due Sept. 30, would be the first born for Green and his wife.

“I can’t play,” he said. “First one, definitely. I want to be there.”

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For Green, who skipped Thursday practice to attend a doctor’s appointment with his pregnant wife, it was a non-starter; he’s going to be at the birth no matter what. And for the Bengals, it’s apparently more than fine, too.

“It was good for Coach [Marvin] Lewis,” Green said. “I didn’t even ask him, he just said I could go.”

The good news is that the Thursday night Dolphins game is in Cincinnati. Four days earlier, the Bengals host the Denver Broncos on Sept. 25.

So that means the Bengals and Green should be in Cincinnati — and therefore close to the hospital — from the time they return from their Week 2 game at the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 18 to before they leave to face the Dallas Cowboys on Oct. 9. Assuming the Bengals leave, as is customary, for that Cowboys game the day prior that would put the Bengals at home for a 20-day span.

“Just not a game day,” he said. “Anything before a game day would be ideal.”

Babies, of course, arrive on their own time. But these things also seem to have a weird way of working out. Richard Sherman mulled missing Super Bowl XLIX if his baby was born on game day, but he later decided to play either way. The baby held out and was delivered after the game.

But for Green, we doubt he’d regret the decision to miss one game for such a big moment. No one else in the regular workforce would even think twice about taking time away from their jobs to watch the arrival of any of their children, not to mention their first. And yet this somehow becomes a talk-radio debate — “he should play!” or “he’s letting his teammates down!” — or manufactured outcry from the fantasy-football-obsessed universe.

Forget about all that, A.J. Stick with your decision. Go meet your new child. It’s the only call, really.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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