The Cincinnati Bengals lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the new turf at Paycor Stadium on Saturday night, 17-14.
While just the preseason, the brief glimpse of the starters and then the rest of the 90-man roster provided some interesting insight into the state of things.
Some thoughts:
- Chase Brown got the start at running back and had some problems getting going. He also earned a flag early. But the fact he’s the starter at all over Zack Moss is interesting.
- Joe Burrow looked fantastic on the opening drive, capping it off with a touchdown. He looked sharp, even on the deep passes, before calling it a night.
- The camp hype translated — Andrei Iosivas got involved early and seemed like an important piece of the offense.
- Notably, rookie Kris Jenkins got the start inside next to Zach Carter. He’s got a shot to have a huge rookie season. But both looked brutal as the Bucs ran for a touchdown early.
- First-rounder Amarius Mims remained in on the second drive to get some developmental reps. He looked the part, to say the least.
- The punter battle got off to a poor start for Brad Robbins, whose first effort didn’t even go for 40 yards. He evened out, but he’s guaranteed nothing.
- Rookie Josh Newton, as expected, looked like the real deal as he played a big role with the second team and picked off a pass.
- Dax Hill looks like a natural at corner. He’s not perfect yet by any means, but he might just steal that No. 2 CB job and keep it.
- It looks like the hype for rookie wideout Jermaine Burton can quiet a bit. He was relegated to the third team on Saturday night. Granted, he made a huge play for a touchdown, but he’s clearly going to need to keep doing that to earn his way up the stacked depth chart.
- Don’t sleep on Myles Murphy. He picked up right where he left off late last season, nearly getting to the quarterback quite often.
- This was about what most should have expected. The offense looks good. The interior of the defensive line, especially without starters is a question mark. The rookies need time and so does Dax Hill at corner.
