Dalton in coat, stands around during practice _ a step back

CINCINNATI — Andy Dalton walked around the field in a stocking cap, coat and gloves on Wednesday, a step back from a day earlier when he did conditioning drills and threw a pass left-handed.

The Bengals quarterback had hoped that his broken right thumb would be well enough to let him be at least a backup for Cincinnati's home playoff game on Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He'd been doing conditioning drills for the past week and got his cast off on Monday.

He wore a sweatshirt and sweatpants to practice on Tuesday, took a couple of snaps and made his left-handed lob — a bit of fun. Then he resumed his conditioning work.

There was none of that Wednesday, when he stood around.

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