Bengals confirm what we’ve all been expecting with Joe Burrow’s opening two drives of the 2026 preseason
Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals’ starting offense got two drives Thursday night against the Detroit Lions in their preseason opener, and a common theme from the entire offseason showed itself.
Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals’ starting offense got two drives Thursday night against the Detroit Lions in their preseason opener, and a common theme from the entire offseason showed itself.
Coach Zac Taylor prioritized a clean operation from his starters, and he got that without any procedural penalties or pre-snap setbacks. The results weren’t too promising, though. The Bengals managed only a field goal out of their two possessions with their star players on the field.
The bigger takeaway was Burrow lining up under center for three of his six dropbacks, including two of his three on the opening drive. This has been a central theme of the Bengals’ offseason for the last few years; Cincinnati reps under-center calls early in the offseason and then seemingly abandons them once the regular season rolls around, sticking to the shotgun schemes that Burrow and the established members of the offense are extremely comfortable running.
This offseason has already been different with the under center work being drilled so often in training camp. Thursday night confirmed this schematic evolution is to be fulfilled.
Joe Burrow going under center against Detroit’s backups
Even with the Lions deploying their second-stringers on defense, it was clear the Bengals wanted to take what they’ve been practicing in training camp to a game setting. Two of Burrow’s four under-center dropbacks were play-action looks. One resulted in a completion to Ja’Marr Chase over the middle. Another ended with a sack attributed to a stunt from Detroit’s defensive front.
Burrow also took a hit in the gun after left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. got beat off the snap. Protecting the quarterback is always crucial, but it will be especially critical on under center drops. They are long-developing plays in which Burrow is likely to take a couple of hitches before getting the ball out. He won’t always have a checkdown or an outlet if pressure arrives in his face.
The more Cincinnati reps this, though, the more defenses will start to hesitate at the snap instead of firing off the ball. That also comes with the other side of the coin when operating under center.
The run game has to make it work
This all comes down to the Bengals running the ball well from under center, and from what I saw Thursday night, that seemed to be mostly the case. Both Chase Brown and Samaje Perine had efficient runs from this pre-snap look. Brown finished with 16 yards on five attempts. Perine amassed seven yards on his one carry from under center.
That ground-game production is just as important as getting Burrow comfortable taking dropbacks from under center. Configuring an efficient and explosive run game from these looks will force defenses to think twice about pinning their ears back whenever Burrow drops back. That will allow some of these play-action concepts to flourish because Burrow has time in the pocket to let plays develop.
“If you can get out of center and run the ball and play action, that that provides more one-on-one matchups for you guys outside,” Burrow told Kay Adams Tuesday. “And you know, we’re going to be able to play the game a lot of different ways.”
Thursday night was just another step in getting the Bengals offense ready for the real thing. It didn’t look pretty, and it’s not ideal that Brown had a couple of mishaps along the way.
This is still very much a work in progress, and that’s what the preseason is all about.
