The Cincinnati Bengals kept things light on their first day back on the practice field after their second preseason game.
Coming off the Aug. 18 preseason win against the Washington Commanders, the Bengals’ Aug. 20 practice was a lighter one compared to earlier in camp. It was one of just two practices Cincinnati will stage this week ahead of finishing out their preseason slate with a game against the Indianapolis Colts at Paycor Stadium Aug. 23. (1 p.m.).
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Bengals head coach Zac Taylor addressed media members ahead of the Aug. 20 practice and discussed injuries, plans for his personnel against the Colts and his thoughts on where the team’s defense is at with one preseason contest remaining.
Here’s what we thought was most important from inside Paycor Stadium and on the practice fields Aug. 20:
Zac Taylor on Bengals’ starters playing vs. Indianapolis Colts
The Bengals plan to wind preseason game action down relatively quietly, at least when it comes to snaps for the starters.
Taylor on Aug. 20 told reporters the starters wouldn’t play in the preseason finale against Indianapolis.
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Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow had seemed to be lobbying for some more preseason playing time following the team’s Aug. 18 win against the Commanders, but that isn’t happening.
“I haven’t talked in depth with the players about this third game. I’ve talked to Joe,” Taylor said. “I haven’t specifically told these guys they’re not playing, but they’re not playing.”
That means the Colts game will be helpful in determining some battles for depth positions on the roster, but that might be about it other than trying to get out of the contest healthy.
The Bengals’ defense hasn’t fully revealed itself yet
Outside of Paycor Stadium, there’s quite a bit of concern about where the Bengals’ defense is at, but it’s a little bit of a different story inside the team facility.
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Players and coaches have acknowledged a need for improvement in some areas, but they’re confident in what they’ve done in practice and some of that hasn’t been revealed in games versus Philadelphia Eagles and Colts.
Taylor explained why the Bengals would hold some things back, and it’s about giving themselves as much of a competitive advantage as possible when the games actually matter.
“Oh yeah. What our identity is on tape, there’s no reason to put it out there right now,” Taylor said. “That will change in years going forward when it will be evidenced in a long season. But right now, there’s just no need to do that.”
Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels runs with the ball for a touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals defense.
On Aug. 18, the Bengals gave up 17.7 yards per carry on six runs when the starting defense was on the field against the Commanders. Washington ran for 59 yards on its first two running plays.
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Bengals defensive players get it. Against the Commanders, they weren’t always fundamentally sound. Tackling properly can be consistently good regardless of whether or not the team is revealing all its proverbial cards, and it wasn’t consistent on Aug. 18.
For now, the coaches and players are putting a lot of stock in what they’ve done on the practice fields this summer as opposed to actual game tape, which Taylor said he isn’t going to overreact to.
“It’s not what you want to see, but at the end of the day, if we’re not really running everything that we’re gonna be running, if we have some schemed up plays that we’re not gonna throw in and that’s just part of the nature of what we had to deal with,” linebacker Logan Wilson said. “Not making any excuses. We can always play better but it’s not necessarily something that I’m really worried.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Bengals injury updates, defensive strategy for NFL preseason finale