After their first preseason game, the Bengals were back at it for another week of training camp. It consisted of a few regular sessions, and concluded with a joint practice with the Chicago Bears, who are in town for preseason game number 2.
Session 11 saw the return of BJ Hill, who was cleared to practice and activated off the active/PUP list. Rookie CB Tacario Davis was also back at it after missing a bit of time in the week prior. Dax Hill and Bryan Cook, meanwhile, missed this one.
Early on, we saw TE Erick All make a catch off Joe Burrow. Gesicki and Sample are all still heavily in that rotation with the first team, but it is good to see All getting involved as well, as he looks to prove himself after having been out injured for the past year and a half.
The defence line was getting to Burrow early, on one occasion, forcing him to scramble for a positive gain. Throughout the day, Myles Murphy was involved in some disruption.
WR Dohnte Meyers has been one of the camp storylines, as the former CFLer is looking to make the roster. He has certainly put himself in the mix through the first 10 sessions, and made a highlight catch from Josh Johnson in session 11.
With Hill out, DJ Ivey has been working more with the first team. He made two or three nice plays while in coverage against Tee Higgins. Of course, you’re not gonna get the best of Higgins every time, and Higgins made sure to get him back, catching a TD in the 11 on 11 drills.
Iosivas had another drop, playing with the first team, while Colbie Young had a highlight TD catch from Joe Flacco. Coming into the offseason, Young might not have been considered true competition for the WR3 spot. But now, he is breathing down the back of Iosivas, and seems to have turned this into a legitimate competition. Flacco, meanwhile, also tossed a TD to Charlie Jones, who is fighting for his roster spot.
On day 11, Myles Murphy was carted off with what they later deemed to be cramps. He returned on day 12. Chase and Higgins got the day off.
Another day, another highlight catch from Colbie Young. This one was from Burrow.
A Burrow pass to Tanner Hudson caught some attention as Hudson took a big hit from Kyle Dugger, but hung onto the ball and seemed fired up afterwards. Hudson got a decent bit of work in this session.
Dan Hoard noted the use of cadence in this session, as Burrow got the defence to jump on two straight drives.
Another thing that caught some attention from session 12 was a one on one drill where Dexter Lawrence completely walked back Dalton Risner. Risner isn’t a small guy, but you could see how big Lawrence is next to him. They are excited about what he can do for the defensive line.
Day 13 saw DJ Turner make a few plays, including almost picking off Joe Burrow. He was in coverage against Ja’Marr Chase, but ended up out of bounds.
We saw some good work from the run defence too. Boye Mafe made a couple of plays in this area.
The passing attack became more potent as things went on, after some blips early in the session. The connection between Burrow and Chase was especially clicking, including on one play where the pair connected for a TD.
Later, Burrow nearly found Mike Gesicki for a TD, but the ref called him out at the 1 yard line. Gesicki thought he was in.
Near the end of day 13, they simulated a game sealing drive, with a stop. The defence stuffed Chase Brown on two straight runs, and then blitzed on 3rd down to force an incompletion. Jalen Davis in coverage against Ja’Marr Chase.
They did the same with the second team, and Flacco was able to lead a field goal drive. McPherson’s field goal was a 51 yarder through narrower than normal uprights.
Some other notes – the blitz was worked on quite a bit. Jordan Battle had some good moments in this area. As well, a couple of good plays, including a pick, by Josh Newton. Finally, the use of rookie DT Landon Robinson at FB. It will be interesting to see if that continues, like we saw with Domata Peko about a decade back.
Leading up to session 14, Zac Taylor announced that the starters won’t play in preseason week 2. But they did get some action in the joint session with the Bears. This one was closed off, so there were only reporter accounts of what happened to go by.
Laurel Pfahler noted Tee Higgins making a couple of big plays in the 7 on 7 drills. Noelle Blumel noted a big catch from Colbie Young, also in 7 on 7’s.
When 11 on 11’s started, the Bengals had some early success, by Yanni Tragellis’s account. He noted a deep pass to Higgins, with a couple good under centre play action completions right after.
On the defensive side, Gabi Sorrentino observed that Myles Murphy was involved quite a bit in pressuring Caleb Williams. The Bengals defence seemed to start out quite well, with various reports stating that the Bears were able to get going towards the later portion.
As for the offence, multiple reports had Burrow and Flacco both leading successful drives, before the Bears defence was able to get some wins of their own. But the defensive line was consistently getting to Williams. The Bears defensive line also had a pretty good day, it should be pointed out.
Jaremy Rauch highlighted multiple contested catches by Iosivas. These plays are much needed for him at this point, as he is looking to fend off Young, who is trying to steal away snaps. Rauch also noted an interception by Barrett Carter in the 7 on 7 portion of practice.
The offense made a lot of big plays, but one of the defensive highlights for the Bears was when they picked off Joe Burrow. Per Tragellis, it was a shot down the seam that was intended for Gesicki.
Ben Baby, meanwhile, had good things to say about 2nd round rookie Cashius Howell, who was able to use his speed to get around the edge for a sack. Rauch had similar praise for Howell.
Later on, the Bengals continued to work from under centre, after a stretch that was more shotgun heavy. But Rauch observed that there are still some struggles for them in this area.
But the defence heated up towards the end, with Dexter Lawrence tipping a pass that he then caught for an interception. The big NT also had a would-be sack. This was in a late game simulation on 2nd down. On 3rd, DJ Ivey was tight in coverage, forcing an incompletion.
With the Bengals offence now out there in this scenario, they ran an under centre jet sweep to Chase, which went for 5 yards, according to Yanni Tragellis. After Iosivas made a catch for a 1st down, the Bengals turned it over on downs on the next sequence.
Towards the end, Myles Murphy was able to string together two sacks in a row. The session then ended with a Jalen Davis interception.
The Bengals and Bears will now both look to Saturday, when the two sides will go to battle in week 2 of the preseason.
