Player of the Day
WR Andrei Iosivas
He could have been the coveted Bengals.com POD Friday, but Iosivas has had the kind of camp where you knew it wouldn't be long before he'd be a candidate again.
In his third training camp and first as the unquestioned No. 3 receiver, Iosivas has established himself as a deep threat for quarterback Joe Burrow.
Burrow already knew he has a when-the-chips-are-down option. Half of his ten career touchdowns have given the Bengals the lead.
He's been red-zone money with his longest touchdown 10 yards. His longest catch of any kind is 39 yards, but Iosivas has blown all that up this camp with long catches and scores galore.
On Saturday, in a drill where the Ones worked against the Twos for the first time in camp so they could go against requested looks, it was another 40-yard go ball where Iosivas looked into the sky while putting his 4.4-speed to use. Before cornerback Marco Wilson pushed him out-of-bounds, he outfought Wilson down the right sideline to haul it in.
"We've been completing a lot of deep balls lately," Iosivas said. "It's nice. He can really put it on the money, and I can hold my guy off until the last second."
This wasn't exactly a pure, uncut go ball. The two relied on the chemistry they've developed during these four weeks of a camp where they've spent the most time working with each other. It was a "Stem Go," that began inside and suddenly changed.
"(Wilson) cut me off, so I went out," Iosivas said. "Just in and out. Play around with it. Just being a ballplayer."
Then there was Friday, when Iosivas split a zone and Burrow drilled a dart between the outstretched arms of linebacker Logan Wilson and safety Tycen Anderson for what they would have marked down as a 50-yard touchdown.
No one has as many touchdown passes that long as Burrow in the 2020s. And Iosivas knows why: "Cover 2 and when that safety opens his hips, he knows to throw it right away."
Iosivas says there are a couple of factors that have contributed to his good camp. Certainly, time on task, as well as the extra 15 pounds or so he sculpted during the offseason has helped make him stronger in the dog days.
"But I'd say being comfortable is just as important," says Iosivas of the move to the slot and the rapport with Burrow that began to cement in last year's camp.
Iosivas put it on display the rest of Saturday. During situations simulating end-of-game drives, Iosivas came back to help a scrambling Burrow make a catch to set up a third-and-short.
And he did his usual good work in the red zone to score touchdowns in a couple of different ways: Grabbing a fade off the top of a cornerback in the corner and beating a linebacker to the goal line on a slant.
Play of the Day
LB Demetrius Knight Jr.
Take your pick.
It could have been the Iosivas Go Ball.
Or a hellacious catch by wide receiver Mitchell Tinsley on a fourth-and-20 Hail Mary at the end of the game where he somehow Harry Pottered between rookie linebacker Barrett Carter and safety Daijahn Anthony and came down with a leaping catch.
Or, it could have been rookie wide receiver Jordan Moore grabbing the ball away from cornerback Dax Hill in the end zone as they hit the ground during 7-on-7. But if they ruled Hill had it long enough, give it to Hill because he skied to take it away from Moore in the first place.
We'll stick with Knight's one-armed pick in this low red zone drill.
Knight, the rookie starter, found himself on the new veteran tight end Noah Fant running across the back of the end zone. With edge Cam Sample running untouched into quarterback Jake Browning's face, Browning had to uncork it, and he let loose with a high lob.
Knight turned his head at the right moment, saw the ball was coming, and adjusted by leaping backward to get an arm up to defend Fant. Knight corralled it with his left arm and tucked into his body as he fell to the grass.
"Just trying to make a play on the ball. No. 1 thing is, don't let them catch it," Knight said. "I'm always a stickler to try to put myself forth to be in a tough situation to make a catch. It comes down to having to make those plays in a game. Just glad I caught it."
Knight is the second-round pick in this as-advertised draft class and he looks far from out of place in the starting lineup. He says in this camp he's learned from both offense and defense.
"You have to be consistent," Knight said. "Especially in this business. And grow one percent every day. You don't have to do it all at once. Just get better every day."
Knight has a top advisor on offense. Burrow has been giving him tips, usually after practice when the plays are still fresh in the mind.
His last tip?
It came just Friday after Knight had running back Chase Brown blanketed on a wheel route down the right sideline. There are a handful of guys on earth who could have completed that ball. Burrow put it only where Knight couldn't get to it and Brown could catch it.
"He told me I was in great position," said Knight, who finished off the obvious. "It was just a great pass."
QUOTE OF THE DAY
New tight end Noah Fant, when asked if there's anything about Burrow that's surprised him now that he's been here a couple of weeks:
"No. To be honest with you, I came in with the highest expectations, and he's lived up to that and done all that. His mentality, coming to work every day, attacking the day, being detailed. All those things, it never falters. That's who he is. I've really appreciated that and enjoyed working with that."
SLANTS AND SCREENS
Fant makes his Bengals debut in Washington Monday night (8-ESPN) after three-year stints in Denver and Seattle. With the Bengals being cautious with Mike Gesicki and holding him out against the Commanders, Fant should have no problem getting some targets. He certainly looks acclimated. On Saturday, Burrow found him for back-to-back touchdowns in seven-on-seven low red zone.
Fant says the Bengals' offense is complicated, but he means it as a compliment. With 300 catches in 95 NFL games, he's got some context.
"It's very detailed to be able to scratch any itch that you need against any defense in the league," Fant said. "All those things are very necessary. You need to know a lot of things. I think this is the most detailed I've played in. That's not to say any of the offenses I've been in have been bad. But I think this one, with the amount of things you have to know, you have to be locked in on your stuff. But I'm enjoying it." …
Cornerback Dax Hill hasn't played a game in ten months since he tore his ACL, and it sounds like head coach Zac Taylor is letting him go Monday. He looked ready Saturday on a third-and-three in a simulated end-of-game drill. Hill roared down hill on a dump pass to running back Samaje Perine, and Perine was ruled short. The Bengals would have opted for the field goal, but Evan McPherson had the day off after kicking Friday …
It also looks like rookie defensive end Shemar Stewart probably gets his first NFL start Monday with Taylor saying he wants to get him in the mix with the Ones and injured starting defensive end Myles Murphy not playing against the Commanders.
Taylor didn't pull him aside to talk about Wednesday's incident, where Stewart accidentally bumped into Burrow as he was throwing a pass. He felt it was enough to address it as a team issue following the practice.
"I think it's gotten a lot more attention from the media than we've given it in our locker room," Taylor said at his pre-practice news conference Saturday.
Count him as a Stewart fan during his very impressive inaugural training camp.
"The power, the disruptiveness, there's a lot of words you can use. You feel his impact," Taylor said. "I stand back there and call all the plays, so you get an evaluation of people very quickly when you're trying to have success as an offense and drive the ball down the field in practice. You form opinions and evaluations of guys very quickly, and he's a guy that's made an impact on me, I know that." …
Usually at this point in the preseason, the Bengals have had a joint practice, or are prepping for one. Taylor ditched it this year and this long week between games (11 days) has validated his decision. They've been able to focus on their own agenda rather than game plan for another club.
"Just focusing on us, I really feel like we're prepared. Our goal all along was really to be prepared for this Washington game. And not that this is a real game for us, but real game plan, but just to get everything installed up through today," Taylor said. "We feel like they're in a really good spot in terms of everything we want to get accomplished. If we had sacrificed three days to go focus (on a) game plan for an opponent, I don't think I feel as good right now that we got everything in." …
Taylor is waiting to make a call on wide receiver Jermaine Burton's status for Monday. Burton has been on the rehab field much of the time since reeling off a big punt and kick return in the preseason opener …
Cody Ford, who played both tackles for the Ones Wednesday (left) and Friday (right), didn't work Saturday. Starting tackles Orlando Brown Jr. and Amarius Mims were back together …
