The Cincinnati Bengals came out of their first preseason game with a win and no injuries to their stars. That’s pretty good.
The final score was 16-14, but the team was up 10-0 when Joe Flacco exited the game, which is a nice sign.
Here’s what we learned:
The offense is going to be more conservative
Yes, preseason offenses tend to be vanilla. But even by those standards, the Bengals looked significantly different.
Joe Burrow was playing under center more, handing it off more than we’re used to seeing, and checking it down quite a bit.
This approach aligns with what we’ve seen in camp and gathered about what Dan Pitcher wants to do on offense.
And that’s a good thing, as it should help protect Burrow better.
The defense has more confidence but isn’t shutdown
From the start of the game, we saw Bengals defenders swarming to the ball, getting in the faces of ball carriers, and generally playing as more of a cohesive unit than we’ve seen in the past couple of years.
However, there were a lot of long gains along the sideline and runs down the middle. Hopefully, by mid-season, their communication will catch up with their talent, and they’ll be able to reduce the number of big plays they give up.
Only two QBs will make the roster
Burrow looked tentative, but that’s to be expected, considering his injuries and slow starts.
Flacco’s arm looked just as lively as it did last year (even though his legs are very clearly those of a 41-year-old player).
But Josh Johnson did not really give Cincinnati a good reason he should make the roster. He was strip sacked on third down in the red zone and did not show he can complete difficult throws.
Johnson is 40 years old, so his ability and ceiling are clear to the Bengals’ front office. And it doesn’t seem like Sean Clifford or a younger QB is going to catch anyone off guard this preseason, so it’ll probably be just Burrow and Flacco that make the team.