Notes and quotes from Sunday's training camp practice.
Player of the Day
QB Joe Burrow
Fitting that the dog days of August are upon us and the biggest dog of all took over an 84-dergree practice with the iciness of a December wind.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor rolled out a situational practice Sunday with the offense backed up for two series and then the two-minute drill. Even with wide receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins on rest days, the crafty Burrow used his cadence and big throws to rookie wide receiver Colbie Young to get out of the holes.
Take a bow, Troy Walters, the Bengals wide receivers coach.
Then in the two-minute drill he went to tight ends Mike Gesicki (who won a contested ball) and Tanner Hudson (who survived a collision with safety Kyle Duggar over the middle), found wide receiver Andrei Iosivas over the middle, and then killed it for Evan McPherson's 32-yard field goal.
Execution?
Check.
"We were well protected, we were in sync," said left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. "When our offense is clicking, the timing is there, the rhythm is there and then you saw we had other guys step up."
With tempers matching the rising mercury, Burrow's famous cool breeze washed over the offense and defense. A sign of a mature team ready to contend is how the leaders saw it.
"It was intense out there," said center and captain Ted Karras, who should know because he was in the middle of it with a very big and fired-up defensive tackle by the name of Dexter Lawrence in another one of their slugfests. "Historically, this would have been a fight day … It would have (ruined) a good win for the offense."
On the second backed-up series, things got quite interesting after Burrow got the D-Line fired up by drawing them offsides. Again. But Zac Taylor called the O-line for holding, and they were really backed up when linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. filled the hole on a Chase Brown run.
On second down, Burrow went to Young again, this time when he outfought rookie cornerback Tacario Davis for a 20-yard gain on the right sideline to get them out of Dodge. On the first series, Burrow converted a third-and-six to Young to get them out of it. It was a nice win for Young working on cornerback D.J. Ivey, one of the best players in camp.
If there's any play that showed just how settled in Young is with the first group, this is it. A stop route. And he got his 6-4, 215 pounds into position on Ivey on a route that needs to be done in sync with the other,
"As soon as I get out of my break, the ball is there. Like I've said, you can't guard a perfect ball," Young said. "Just me and Joe trusting each other on that timing route. He makes it easy. All that pressure in his face, he has to read all the checks, and he still threw a perfect ball out there."
Thanks to Karras and Lawrence for keeping their Joe Cool.
Play (s) of the Day
QB Joe Burrow
Burrow bellowed his deadly cadence on the 2-yard line in a backed-up drill, and he got an offsides by the interior on each drive. Which is huge when you're starting from the 2. But that's the whole idea.
"Dummy play. Smart coaching. Smart football," said right guard Dalton Risner. "If they don't jump, you take the penalty and just move a foot back. We had two dummy plays that worked on two completely different things today. That's good execution."
Burrow has a growing reputation for luring teams into offsides.
"It's a weapon," Karras said. "Especially backed up."
Offensive lineman Cody Ford says Burrow's strength is he keeps everything the same. Not just his voice.
"If you put up a real play vs. one of the fake cadence plays with no audio, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference," Ford said. "We sell it as much as he does. The receivers, too. That's the thing. It looks like a real play."
Brown: "It just feels real. The communication is similar to what's live."
Quote of the Day
"I would put him up there. Maybe not with Aaron Rodgers because Rodgers is the best I've ever seen. But pretty dang close."
Defensive tackle Jonathan Allen on Burrow creating havoc with his cadence.
Allen, in his 10th season, had a rest day Sunday, but he's been dealing with Burrow's cadence all camp and has come away impressed.
"The good ones are where it's consistent, and they all have a little extra emphasis in their hard count that sounds really believable," Allen said. "It's hard to explain … He's really good at it .. You can tell with a young quarterback they're trying to draw you off. The best quarterbacks, their real cadence and fake cadence all sound the same."
Slants and Screens
Old friend Jeff Blake, who threw the NFL's prettiest deep ball in the last decade of the 20th century and was at the center of a Bengals rebirth known as "Blakemania," stopped by Sunday, and made sure he talked to his predecessors Joe Burrow and Joe Flacco. He has been Ruler of the Jungle at a game, but he had yet to see a practice.
"It's beautiful here," Blake said. "To be right next to the stadium and the people able to get downtown to watch, that's beautiful for the players."
Blake, 55, was in the NFL for 14 seasons, but, no, he never ran across Flacco. His last year was with the Bears in 2005, three years before the Ravens drafted Flacco.
"I told him to keep going as long as they give you a paycheck," Blake said.
As for Burrow, Blake said, "He looks great. He puts up great numbers. He's taken his team to a Super Bowl, and that's very hard to do. It's very hard to take any team to a Super Bowl, and he's young enough to be able to do it again."
Zac Taylor pointed to the field and graciously offered him to throw one, but Blake had to decline. He has neuropathy in his pinky finger and can no longer grip a ball.
But he's on the lookout for the next Burrow at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where he's in charge of the quarterbacks. He's loving life. He can walk to the beach, he's 15 minutes from the school, and he can fish all he wants.
He started 100 games for four teams, but it was in Cincinnati where in a span of a season he went from the waiver wire to Waikiki and a Pro Bowl berth. After 66 starts, Blake considers himself a Bengal.
"I think people say my name and they link me with the Bengals," Blake said. "I had fun on the field being with my guys (Carl) Pickens and Darnay (Scott) and having a really god time with them and how the people enjoyed the atmosphere we started while we were here." …
The backup offensive line has been re-shuffled in the quest to find a swing tackle. Jalen Rivers and Cody Ford have basically switched spots with Rivers going to left tackle and Ford to right guard. Both have played those spots here, so it's not crazy, and they both don't mind moving around.
It will be recalled when Rivers arrived in last year's draft in the fifth pick round, he was a left tackle all the way through the first preseason game. At the University of Miami, he had 29 starts at left tackle in his final two years after playing left guard his first two years.
"I have a history of playing both," Rivers said. "It's wonderful for me to be able to show I can play both if they put me in at any given moment." …
Also visiting Sunday were former running backs coach Jim Anderson, the longest serving Bengals coach of all-time with 29 seasons, former defensive tackle John Thornton, and former safety Robert Jackson …
