After the Cincinnati Bengals played their starters for just a series in the preseason opener, head coach Zac Taylor is planning to give them more playing time on Friday night against the Washington Football Team.
While they won’t play beyond the first quarter, running back Joe Mixon, wide receiver Tyler Boyd and the starting offensive line will likely play more than the six snaps they received against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week.
Taylor ruled out cornerbacks Eli Apple and Ricardo Allen, who have been out with injuries for most of training camp but recently started practicing more. Cornerback Donnie Lewis, defensive end Khalid Kareem, defensive end Joseph Ossai, running back Trayveon Williams, center Trey Hopkins, offensive guard D’Ante Smith and quarterback Joe Burrow are out.
Burrow had been lobbying to play and had mentioned specific plays he would like to run in the preseason. Taylor hasn’t announced a final decision on whether Burrow will play in the third preseason game.
“I always want to go out there and compete, but I don’t get paid to make those decisions,” Burrow said. “That’s ownership and Zac and I trust those guys to make the right decisions for us and our team and we’ll see about the next week.”
Ossai injured his wrist in the preseason opener, and Taylor said the team is still getting more information about the severity of his injury.
Smith impressed the coaching staff in Tampa and earned an opportunity to compete for a starting spot on the Bengals offensive line. Taylor said Smith dealt with a “dehydration issue” after practice, and Smith won’t play as a “precautionary measure.”
“You’d love to see him play in the game,” Taylor said. “It’s not his fault. We’ll just react. We have plenty of practices next week and one more game to play.”
Defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi missed the preseason opener as he recovered from a hamstring injury, but he’s expected to make his preseason debut on Friday.
Williams injured his hamstring late last week, and the third-year running back will stay in Cincinnati to rehab. Taylor had planned to get Williams a significant amount of reps against the Buccaneers as Williams competes for a roster spot, and Williams will now only get one game to make his case for a role on the team.
Taylor is also resting Hopkins, who tore his ACL at the end of the 2020 season.
“He's a veteran lineman, he has taken a lot of plays,” Taylor said. “He gets good work going against our interior defensive line in practice. You see him, he takes all those reps. We'll also talk through if he's gonna play in game three or not.”
PUNT RETURN BATTLE: The position battle at punt returner is expected to last until the end of the preseason.
Wide receiver Trent Taylor, cornerback Darius Phillips and Trenton Irwin returned punts for the Bengals against the Buccaneers, and Irwin had an impressive 13-yard run.
In training camp practices, Phillips has looked like the most explosive punt return option. Taylor has looked like the steadiest player with the most consistent hands.
“I think these games are continuing to help us,” Taylor said. “We’ll see how the opportunities shake out. There are several guys in the mix. We want them to have opportunities in the game. Certain guys react differently in the games.”
PRESEASON STANDOUT: In the Bengals first preseason game, running back Jacques Patrick led the team with 71 yards and averaged 4.7 yards per carry. It was the first time the Bengals coaching staff saw Patrick in a full-speed environment since Patrick was on the practice squad in 2020 and since there wasn’t an NFL preseason last year.
Patrick made a strong first impression as he ran out the clock in the fourth quarter.
“You're happy when a guy gets to go in finally after two years,” Taylor said. “I think his last game was an XFL game however many springs ago. So you're happy for guys like that, that go and get success. And he'll get plenty more opportunities, especially with Trayveon being out.”
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