After having the day off on Sunday, the Bengals were back at it on Monday and Tuesday, with Tuesday being the team’s first padded practice.
Recap
OL Update
Quinton Spain and Xavier Su’a-Filo got the first team reps at LG and RG, respectively, to start camp. On both Monday and Tuesday, Michael Jordan and Jackson Carman each started out with the first team. Tuesday’s padded practice included a lot of rotation along the OL. Rookie D’Ante Smith even got some first team reps at RT.
Defence getting the best of the offence
Over the last two days, it has been the defence with the upper hand. Joe Burrow and other members of the offense were said to have been visibly frustrated at times, as they struggled to move the ball. The DL did well to put up pressure, while the secondary was locking onto the receivers.
Germaine Pratt has been looking great, with a couple of interceptions. Awuzie has continued his good play, and Eli Apple has reportedly looked good as well.
Sam Hubbard has also been having a good camp, and was able to beat D’Ante Smith relatively easily on a couple of occasions.
Trey Hendrickson was able to secure an interception off Burrow during Tuesday’s practice, and Ricardo Allen got one of his own off a batted Brandon Allen pass. Winston Rose later got into the action, picking off a Brandon Allen overthrow.
Offence needs to clean up mistakes
In addition to getting outplayed by the defence, the offence shot themselves in the foot a few times.
There were some false starts by the OL. That should hopefully improve, however, as they shake off the rust and get back into things.
As well, there were a few drops by the WR’s, including one by Boyd, who was being covered by Hilton. Ja’Marr Chase also had the ball stripped out of his hands by Jessie Bates.
Some of the bright spots for the offence
While the offence does need to improve, there were some bright spots.
Auden Tate made a spectacular catch from Brandon Allen. He went up over Darius Phillips, and the coverage was reportedly good on that play. Just a great catch by Tate.
Burrow was also able to connect with Chase on a deep ball, as he beat Awuzie in coverage. The Awuzie-Chase battle has been a good one to watch.
After Trayveon Williams stood out in the first few practices, it was Chris Evan’s turn. In particular, a TD catch from Brandon Allen caught people’s attention.
Injury Updates
Fred Johnson and Trae Waynes and Fred Johnson both missed practice on Monday and Tuesday. Johnson has a quad injury, while Waynes is dealing with a hamstring issue. On Tuesday, Waynes was seen working on the rehab field. Neither injury is thought to be serious.
Riley Reiff was on the stationary bike on Tuesday, but didn’t do much else. He was dinged up during Monday’s practice while chasing down Germaine Pratt after an interception. His injury is also minor.
Kicking battle
McPherson was the only one to attempt kicks on Monday. He went 5/6, with his miss going wide right from 46 yards. McPherson is 19/21 thus far, missing from 60 and 46.
Seibert, as of Monday, was 13/15. Like McPherson, he also missed wide from 60 yards out. However, his attempt was also short.
Special Teams
Trent Taylor was seen getting work as a kickoff returner. What stood out to me in that clip, however, was that Stanley Morgan was first to him and would have made the tackle had it been a real game. As I mentioned in my WR Overview, special teams is a big part of Morgan’s game. It will be critical for him to continue to show off in that aspect, especially with Trent Irwin now emerging as a potential roster threat.