In his last media appearance before Saturday's preseason opener (7 p.m.-Cincinnati's FOX 19) against the Buccaneers at Paycor Stadium, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor woulld't say how long he's playing, but it looks like quarterback Joe Burrow is playing in his first NFL preseason opener.
Burrow is coming off Wednesday's flamethrower of a practice as he makes his first appearance since Nov. 16 in Baltimore and the injury to his throwing wrist.
"He's gotten such great work in practice," Taylor said. "Obviously, no one is hitting him, but he's getting great pocket work and he's had great chemistry with the guys who have been out there. I don't have any issues where he's at."
Like any preseason opener, he's not looking for the starters to split the atom.
"Practice is so different with play clocks and game clocks and people on the sidelines and people behind and no officials," Taylor said. "We want a clean operation, efficient. We want to see success, but we're not going to over react to how things go. We just want those guys to check that box of being out there in a game together."
Not so the rookies, a group by, the way, he likes how they approach the game in Taylor's 'Be-A-Bengal' mantra.
"I just want to see the overall competitiveness. I've seen a lot of competitiveness from this group in practice. Rookies specifically," Taylor said. "So now in the game, does that carry over from snap to snap? A lot of times when the fans get out there and it's a different opponent, you pull back a little bit.
"I don't want to see that. I want to see guys that are ready to unleash and prove that they deserve playing time and whatever role that they're playing. I'm excited to watch this class. I think it's a class that has real edge to them."
_Look for Taylor to play certain combos together, such as Burrow and wide receiver Tee Higgins. But it sounds like rookie right tackle Amarius Mims could play beyond the snaps of the starters.
"He's up for debate in that conversation," Taylor said. "He's going to get a lot of work this preseason in joint practices and all those things. He's up for that conversation to play a little bit longer."
_New Bengals passing game coordinator Justin Rascati is going to be in the booth next to new offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher. Pitcher, the quarterbacks coach the last four seasons, has been down on the field, but is quite used to talking to the play-caller Taylor during a game.
_The Bengals worked for the first time Thursday on the new turf at Paycpor when Taylor holds the last practice before the opener. He had to change practice a tad because they're working on one field instead of three.
Two months ago, the FieldTurf CORE system, first used here from 2004 to 2011, was rolled out to become the eighth NFL team to currently use the surface.
"I think our guys will really embrace where we're at with this turf," Taylor said. "Plenty of time and energy has been spent on what is best for the health and safety of our players. A lot of people in this organization worked tirelessly to make sure we have the best product available."
_Taylor often uses his veterans for sounding boards and gauging the room temperature of the locker room. And he relied on them during and after Wednesday's chippiest practice of camp.
We just can't afford to lose anybody," Taylor said. "It's football and it's competitive. You feel like something happened to you so I'm going to do this and then you watch the tape and everything is always a little bit different than how you remember or how you thought you saw it happen live.
"I hadn't really addressed it because it hadn't come up yet. I was waiting for it to come up. I knew it would come up at some point. It came up yesterday. I think our guys responded the right way and i expect us to move forward and practice is rolling."
_It looks like rookie defensive tackle McKinley Jackson won't play in the opener with Taylor calling him "week-to-week." The flurry of signings by defensive linemen indicate they need bodies for a stretch with end-tackle Cam Sample (Achilles) out for the season, rehabbing tackle Domenique Davis week-to-week, and end-tackle Jay Tufele seeing how his undisclosed injury is after Saturday's game.
Before Thursday's practice, the Bengals signed their third D-Linemen in two days in former Steelers tackle Carlos Davis. The 6-2, 320-pound Davis, a seventh-round pick out of Nebraska, sat out last season and played in the USFL at Birmingham earlier this year. From 2020 to 2022, he played in 12 games for Pittsburgh, including two against the Bengals, whom he recorded one of his 12 career tackles against in two games.
