PLAYER OF THE DAY

QB Joe Burrow

You didn't need Joe Burrow's new telescope to sight the urgency is there when the Bengals opened training camp Wednesday morning after their most expensive offseason in history.

Cornerback DJ Turner II’s rolling helmet told you that.

But you needed a magnifying glass to see Burrow's mistakes during his near-flawless session that left tackle and captain Orlando Brown Jr. saying, "We picked up from right where we left off in the spring."

No false starts, a first-day rarity. And, of course, the first play was a play-action bullet to All-Pro wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase.

"That's who we are," Brown said.

The Bengals are also Burrow's team, and during this season he turns 30, maybe now more than ever. He double-teamed with the front office to bring home one of the biggest overhauls in franchise history and send a message that this year is next year.

"Every guy in here should have a chip on their shoulder," said Brown when asked of the edgy play.  "What did we win, six games last year? Its time."

Burrow certainly threw on time Wednesday. He just barely missed completing a bomb to Chase down the middle that slid off his fingertips, but other than that he was "Rocket Man."

Especially when he revealed Wednesday that he's been star-gazing with his telescope.

"Just gather cool things as you get older, man. Just find some cool stuff that I like," Burrow says of the telescope that he's been training on, "Galaxies. Nebula. Planets. Moons. All of the above."

He didn't have many earthly problems in Practice 1.

"Just wanted to throw it around. You can throw as many routes on air in the offseason as you want, but then you get a live rush out there, and the timing's a little different," Burrow said. "So you feel that and then you adjust in your individual drills and try to replicate that and get that muscle memory going.

"We didn't have any false starts today. That's number one, I think. Getting back into it, usually those come with the twos who haven't heard the cadence very much, (or) gone against live defenses, and we didn't have any today, so that's positive. We've got to continue that. There shouldn't be any, but we also had a couple motion errors, one by me, and a couple others by receivers. So we've got to clean that up. But overall, a productive day."

It was also a busy day out there on the Kettering Health Practice Fields. Maybe not even an hour into camp it was already Grand Central Station. There had been a scuffle between Chase and Turner that ignited some more chippy play, and a player carted off the field. As defensive end Shemar Stewart underwent scans for what looked to be an injured knee, they were hoping the hyperextension wasn't severe.

In the middle of it all, Burrow's jet fighter cool kept it together throwing his customary rockets. In the immediate aftermath of the Chase-Turner bout as they switched from a team period to 7-on-7, Burrow went to Turner's side on the first two snaps and arrowed completions on outs to Chase and wide receiver Tee Higgins.

"I guess you'll never know," said Burrow when asked if that was intentional.

Higgins says no.

"That's the look they gave us. You give Joe the look, he's going to take it," Higgins said. "He's looking really good, like he's in midseason form. The placements were really good."

Play of the Day

What gets lost in Turner's scuffle with Chase is the reason it happened. Turner has earned Chase's respect, and Chase is upping the ante, asking him to come along. Two guys among the best at what they do.

"He's one of the best players at his position in this league, and really, from Day One, Ja'Marr and I felt that way when he first got here," Burrow said, "and he's just continued to improve and evolve in his role."

Like defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II said after his long-awaited first Bengals practice. "A lot of alphas out there. And there's a lot of guys that want it."

A Super Bowl, of course. But also respect. The dustup shows Turner has Chase's respect, and it certainly rings true the other way around.

Turner got that respect with plays like this one from Wednesday. Burrow tried to hit wide receiver Andrei Iosivas down the middle deep. Not only did Turner stick with the 4.3-40 Iosivas, he had his head turned to the ball all the way before knocking it off Iosivas' helmet at the goal line.

"That's the key," Turner said. "Getting the head around. And being patient."

Burrow: "He understands his leverages. He understands what teams are trying to do from different splits. His ball skills were great last year."

And, remember the captain thing. Turner began to flash his leadership as his confidence grew with each of his 24 passes defended.

"Coming off the year he had, absolutely," said linebacker Barrett Carter of Turner's growing influence. "Going through what he's gone through and having the year he had last year, he's a leader. He stepped up in that role in a major, major fashion.  That's what we need him to do."

Just showing up says a lot as he heads into his contract year. But Turner briskly dismissed the one question about the talks.

"I lead by example. Be on my Ps and Qs every day," Turner said. "Just grinding. That's my mindset."

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Dexter Lawerence on pressuring Burrow in the pocket:

"I looked him in his eye a couple of times. I didn't say much. I let him be the quarterback today."

Slants and Screens

Burrow said the biggest difference from last camp to this one is how the size of that brand new defensive line changes the pocket, starting with Lawrence right in front of him forcing him to make some blind throws.

"We've got some big, healthy guys out there. Some big, strong, healthy guys," Lawrence said. "It's an exciting group with a lot of talent and just a lot of knowledge. I think that's the most important thing. There's a lot of knowledge and we just feed off each other communicating all practice, telling each other what we see and how we're going to attack things." …

Lawrence says he thinks his presence in the middle is going to make Burrow better, and he thinks mirroring a guy like Burrow is going to make him better against other quarterbacks …

The Bengals hope the hyperextension of Stewart's knee is just that and isn't long-term thing …

Burrow certainly noticed the guy who wasn't here at all the last camp or season. Two-way tight end Erick All Jr. (knee) looked at ease in his first practice in nearly two years.

"He had a lot going on with his knee, but you wouldn't know it by looking at him. He looks fit, fast, explosive. He'll play a big role for us this year," Burrow said …

If you bet the first fight would have been between Lawrence and center Ted Karras, join the club. Lawrence confirmed they did "bicker," and that he wasn't listening to Karras talk up the run game in between plays.

"I love him. He's probably the most competitive guy I've ever been against, for real, in practice," Lawrence said. "In practice, it's easy to lose an edge. But he helps you keep it, and that's how much of a pro he is." …

Like Lawrence said, fighting doesn't help you, but he also knows there's a fine line when it comes to edge. He said Wednesday's activities were "perfect, perfect, perfect." …

Most thought the chippy play, since no one got hurt, was OK.

"I think it's awesome. It's only going to help us," Orlando Brown Jr. said. "The more physical and competitive we make it, we're going to be better come Sundays." …

Burrow's OK with it as long as it doesn't take time away snaps.

"If you can maybe punch somebody in the face in about 15 to 20 seconds, and then get back lined up, that's probably ideal," Burrow said …

There was a mixed reaction. Cornerback Jalen Davis said he hopes to see a fight every day to quarterback Joe Flacco, in his 19^th camp, saying he wasn't paying attention: "Here we go again." …