Bengals experience false alarm in first padded practice of training camp, Joe Burrow and the offense struggle in specific area
The first day of pads belongs to the defense as the Cincinnati Bengals ramp up training camp, but the mood was almost ruined when a key starter went down temporarily.
The first day of pads belongs to the defense as the Cincinnati Bengals ramp up training camp.
Quarterback Joe Burrow had his moments, but was often flustered by Cincinnati’s new defensive line that’s looking more and more formidable as camp progresses.
They were ample highlights to be had Monday morning, and one starter in the secondary had arguably his best day yet. All of this was nearly snuffed out with an injury scare.
DJ Turner comes back quickly from injury
Cornerback DJ Turner II is having a phenomenal camp leading up to his fourth year in Cincinnati, and that continued the first day of padded practice. Midway through the day Turner came up a bit lame and was seen limping off the field. He was seen grabbing his his calf and his lower right leg. The apparent injury occurred on the first play of the final 11-on-11 session.
Fortunately, Turner barely missed any reps and was seeing back out there with the starters.
Earlier in practice, Turner made a fantastic pass break up during a Redzone drill that saved a touchdown. He’s been going up against Ja’Marr Chase consistently and has had just as many wins as Chase has had.
Turner is notably practicing with contract negotiations looming over his head. The 25 year-old is eligible for a big-time payday before the regular season begins, which is when Cincinnati traditionally finalize its biggest internal contracts. He’s been completely locked in despite the potential distraction and it’s great to see him push through what appeared to be a cramp.
Jordan Battle is a clear winner from Monday
Jordan battles also eligible for a contract and he certainly practices like it when the pads came on.
Battle made play after play in coverage during 11-on-11 work. Here he is deflecting a potential touchdown away from Tee Higgins:
Chase received some of the smoke as well after Battle matched up with him following a pre-snap motion:
The Bengals have never surrounded Battle with as much talent on defense. He’s playing alongside two-time Super Bowl champion Bryan Cook, Turner and Dax Hill at CB, and a rejuvenated front-five. He’s falling in line and showing up around the ball quite often.
Bengals are pushing through with their under center work
It’s imperative the Bengals get better at operating from under center this season. Their work through the first five days of training camp prove they are pushing towards this.
Cincinnati’s offense struggled often trying to create positive plays with under center play action. Edge defender Boye Mafe was responsible for blowing up multiple naked bootlegs, causing Burrow to just kill the play before it even had any life.
Outside of a nice connection from Burrow to tight end Mike Gesicki on a deep crosser, Cincinnati’s under center work was largely disrupted by its defensive line.
This is the time to work through the kinks. Learning which concepts work best for their personnel in the first days of August is significantly more helpful than finding out during the regular season.
The Bengals don’t even need to get that creative with her play action game. But they do need to find plays they can rely on without exclusively living in the shotgun.
Cincinnati practices and pads again, Tuesday morning before taking an off day on Wednesday.
