PLAYER OF THE DAY
S Jordan Battle
It turned out to be unlucky Day 13 for quarterback Joe Burrow's streak of practices in his torrid training camp without an interception against the defense in team drills.
"Insane. Insane," said Battle of The Streak after he finally got him on Tuesday for the first time in camp. "He's been putting the ball outside. Putting the ball on the back shoulder. He's making it hard for the corners to judge whether it's going back shoulder or over the top. He's working our corners very well. That's getting them better. That helps them in the game because they're seeing nothing like that in the game.
"That's what I said. When you get those opportunities, you've got to catch it. Got to catch it."
Battle caught it just inside the red zone in a Move-the-Ball Drill that Burrow has owned this camp. Not this one. Not when Battle read Burrow's eyes scanning the middle for wide receiver Mitchell Tinsley coming out the back side. These eyes took Battle there out of the box.
"First, I had a match, but that match was a little too low. The route was a little too low. I was too low," Battle said. " The linebackers can help lift it for us. Most of the time we just key off the quarterback. I read the route being too low. The ball was right there. You have to capitalize. You don't get a lot of them."
Not off Burrow in this training camp, that's for sure. Not until the 6-1, 215-pound Battle came up with the kind of play that shows why they value him and didn't pick off a safety in free agency or the draft.
"Things are starting to click for him," said safeties coach Jordan Kovacs. "He's doing a really good job. He's a guy that we're going to count on to be a leader. He knows all the positions on the back end. He helps guys. He's a great communicator.
"He's an all-around good player. He has the size. He's physical. He's tough. He's just getting better and better."
Kovacs has been here since Battle was drafted in the third round in 2023, after the Bengals were immediately sold on his football IQ during a memorable 18-minute interview at the NFL scouting combine. He had been in and out of the lineup with Vonn Bell in his first two seasons, and now that Bell's not here and new defensive coordinator Al Golden is, there's a new chapter.
"I think he flashed his rookie year. You knew he had some talent then," Kovacs said. "You want to talk about energy, enthusiasm. He loves being out there and he's fun to be around."
Not if you play offense. Battle's Miami swag has been on full display when the defense makes a play, and that has elicited responses from a diverse range of characters, starting with the salty wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase and diplomatic captain Orlando Brown Jr.
"Just being loud, being happy," Battle said. "Just trying to get guys to match our energy. You see Uno (Chase) talking more. OB getting loud. Making sure being competitive at a high level."
Battle, a coach's son, figured that Fred Battle, his brother Jaylen, and his mother Theresa, knew of his pick of Burrow in a matter of moments.
"It's probably already in the group chat," Jordan Battle said right after practice.
Fred Battle, a former overseas pro basketball player and long-time Miami-area high school basketball coach who coached Jordan for about eight years on the AAU basketball team he ran, isn't expected to get sentimental about it.
"He'll probably say, 'You need to get more,'" his son predicted.
Although Jordan says Fred can be more negative than positive, he wasn't when he spoke to Bengals.com a few weeks after the 2023 draft:
"If I had 15 Jordan Battles, I wouldn't lose a game because they do it just the way you want them to do it and when you told him to do it he would try to be the best he could be doing it. He's always had that."
PLAY OF THE DAY
WR Andrei Iosivas
Yes, Iosivas, the nationally ranked heptathlete from Princeton, can still rip off a fast 40. At least a fast 50 when Burrow hit him in stride in the two-minute drill on a gorgeous go route down the right sideline with cornerback Josh Newton barely behind him.
Not only can he still burn, but Iosivas is doing it at a 220ish pounds after playing last year at about 209.
He told Bengals.com back in the spring that he decided to keep the extra weight when he started his offseason workouts and found he could move as well at 220 as he could at 205. So he kept it for YAC purposes. On Tuesday he showed he can still YAC and go as the Bengals' dangerous No. 3 with Chase and wide receiver Tee Higgins.
Down by four points in the last minute, Iosivas lined up split wide to Burrow's right. When Newton pressed him, that converted the route from a short go to a long one. A sail route, Iosivas called it.
"I'm praying for those. I love it when I can run under it," Iosivas said. "Especially when I get a clear release and I can just open up. Nobody can get ahead of me. I was going to say DJ Turner. "I don't think he would either, to be honest."
Footnote: Turner, it will be recalled, is the Bengals cornerback who had the fastest 40-yard dash at the '23 combine with 4.26 seconds. Iosivas ran 4.43 that same week.
But Iosivas is playing with extreme confidence now that he's ensconced as one of Burrow's Big Three and is getting more and more acclimated to the inside now that he's in his second year in the slot.
"Overall, I'm pleased with my game," Iosivas said. "I'm winning everywhere."
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Safeties coach Jordan Kovacs on why he likes working with Jordan Battle:
"He's fun to coach … A guy who has the right attitude, the right energy, is very coachable, loves football. A guy who has those things, you can make a good player out of."
SLANTS AND SCREENS
Head coach Zac Taylor felt the heat creeping early Tuesday morning and did a Ja'Marr. He went outside to inside and put the workout out in the IEL Indoor Facility despite sunny skies. They were too sunny as he opted to make sure he had all hands on deck for Wednesday's heavy practice.
Taylor has 11 days to play with in between the Aug. 7 preseason opener and Monday night's second game (8-ESPN) in Washington.
"This week's a long stretch for us," Taylor said. "Tomorrow is a big work day for us. I want to get great work outside. Today is some two-minute stuff, so we'll be clean, great energy inside, and then tomorrow we'll move back out there." …
Burrow easily could have been the Player of the Day again for his work in the two-minute. The sweet third-down throw to Iosivas overcame some adversity on the two previous plays, when edge Joseph Ossai wrapped up running back Samaje Perine for a loss on a shovel pass and cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt stalemated Chase on the sidelines for an incomplete out route …
Then, with the clock ticking in the second two-minute set, Burrow sizzled a zone of linebacker Logan Wilson and safety Tycen Anderson for a big chunk to tight end Tanner Hudson.
And, by the way, Taylor-Britt was immense in this practice, particularly in the two-minute. After the ball to Hudson, Taylor-Britt was all over a quick out to wide receiver Charlie Jones for an incompletion that left Burrow just four seconds and about 10 yards out of field goal range. He got it back on about a 20-yard out route to Tinsley, although there was some debate if the clock ran out.
With a second left, Evan McPherson won the fantasy game with a 52-yard field goal …
Tinsley is doing everything he can to try and make the club. Burrow certainly has faith in him. On fourth and five in a Move-the-Ball Drill, Burrow gunned a 30-yard go ball to Tinsley down the left sideline, and a play later he flipped an 11-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Perine …
Monday night in Washington is certainly going to be interesting. Tinsley signed with Commanders after the 2023 draft and had no catches in two games as a rookie before spending all last season on the Washington practice squad …
Undrafted rookie center Seth McLaughlin, coming back from the Achilles' injury at Ohio State that cost him a spot in the draft, enjoyed his most work of the summer on Tuesday. After taking four snaps each last Saturday and Sunday, he got in about a dozen and that included a Move-the-Ball Drill with the No. 2s.
"Getting in that drill was good because we were emptying out the playbook," McLaughlin said. "Right now, it feels pretty good. It's just a matter of getting used to playing football again. " …
A note from Iosivas' Play of the Day. Making sure Burrow was clean was vet tight end Drew Sample, lined up in the backfield. As if on cue from Taylor's pre-practice observation:
"I think Drew Sample is arguably the top point of attack blocker and protector in football. I wouldn't trade him out for anybody in that regard." …
Wide receiver Jermaine Burton missed his third straight practice and went outside to the rehab field. Taylor is hoping to get him back Friday.
"It might have been during the game. Some swelling and so it will be day-to-day," Taylor said. "We'll see if can get him into this next tranche of practices we've got." …
He's not concerned about tight end Mike Gesicki (unknown) or defensive tackle B.J. Hill (foot). Hill did individual work Tuesday.
"Another pro that I'm not concerned about the timeline," Taylor said …
