CINCINNATI -- Defensive tackle Domata Peko had arthroscopic knee surgery on Monday, sidelining one of the Cincinnati Bengals' best run stoppers for at least a couple of weeks.
Peko sprained his left knee during a game on Oct. 18 but didn't miss any time. He injured the right knee a few weeks ago and was inactive for a 23-13 win over the Detroit Lions. Second-year player Pat Sims started in his place and had one tackle.
Coach Marvin Lewis said Peko could be available later in the season after surgery on his right knee. Asked if Peko aggravated the injury last week, Lewis said, "Nobody knows. But sometimes the different scans show different things, and so they did another scan last week and felt like probably the thing to do was to go in and scope it, and he would recover more quickly."
Peko is the second Bengals starting defensive lineman to have surgery. End Antwan Odom is out for the season with a torn right Achilles' tendon.
Lewis said that rookie running back Bernard Scott also is likely to miss a second straight game because of turf toe. Cedric Benson and Larry Johnson are available to run in Minnesota next Sunday.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press