The Cincinnati Bengals preseason has been chalk full of action this summer. With their second game against the Falcons in Atlanta, the Bengals looked to regain momentum from week one’s disappointing defeat to the Jordan Love led Green Bay Packers. The Bengals wanted to get off to a much better start in the Falcons preseason game and ride that wave of momentum all the way to the end. This preseason so far for the Bengals has been a little bit questionable, while some players have looked very strong, others have struggled and struggled very often. Even though some might call it too early to judge, I think it’s fair that we can at least judge some players’ performance so far.
Some players of note so far have been Tycen Anderson who picked off the Packers two times on two separate drives and broke up some passes. Anderson has looked very good in the preseason so far, so hopefully he continues to impress people and land a starting position at cornerback. His play shows that he is going to contend for the starting job at the very least. Another player of note during the Packers game was wide receiver Andre Iosivas, who picked up a decent amount of receiving yards against a tough Packers defense. Andre made a few decent catches in his preseason opener against the Packers, and even though he may only be a depth option, the Bengals look like they have solid depth at receiver this year.
One more player that stood out during the game was rookie DJ Turner. Turner picked up a decent amount of tackles in his Bengals debut against the Packers, even breaking up a few passes in the process. He looks ready to make the jump from the college level up to the NFL level already.
However, it’s not been all sunshine and rainbows for the Bengals so far. Bengals star QB Joe Burrow went down with a calf strain injury early in training camp. The reports said that it should take several weeks for Burrow to get back into being able to play on the field, which means he should be back in time for week one. But, there are conflicting reports on whether he will actually start for the Bengals week one or not. Burrow was spotted throwing on the sidelines during the preseason opener, but Coach Taylor has been very vague on his injury situation. So currently, anything is a possibility on Burrow’s injury.
Star receiver Ja’Marr Chase said that he wants Burrow to “be 100% healthy to play” and “I don’t want him rushing anything.” The silver lining behind all of this is that come September, the Bengals should be ready to face anybody and beat them in style.
