PLAY OF THE DAY: Edge Joseph Ossai's safety.
Defensive tackle B.J. Hill set the tone for the play even before Monday's practice began, and linebackers Logan Wilson and Germaine Pratt helped make it happen with relentless downhill play that has marked their urgent training camp.
"B.J. gathered some of the guys together and said, 'Let's start fast,' and I wrote it down in my book," Ossai said.
The Bengals offense went through the backed-up drill, as it attempted to get two first downs while starting at its own 2-yard line. The first defense suffocated the first offense's running game with snap-crackle-pop snaps and pretty much everything else in a string of plays highlighted by Ossai's safety of running back Zack Moss on what looked to Wilson to be a counter.
With Ossai lined up at right end, he read the duo down blocks of the tackle and tight end and crashed through the motion man coming at him with Wilson filling fast.
"It's a regular, routine play. Your eyes go down the line on the down blocks," Ossai said. "It only bounced to me because the interior guys had such a good push and they had nowhere to go."
At various times, the interior guys were Hill, Zach Carter and rookie Kris Jenkins Jr. Rookie McKinnley Jackson had some stout snaps before getting carted off with what appeared to be a leg injury.
"We just feel like there's a lot of disrespect out there," said Hill, a playoff hero and Bengals' staple in his fourth Cincinnati season. "Talking crazy, overlooking us as a defense. We're used to it, but we have a chip on the shoulder to show people what we're about. Starting practice fast, doing your job fast, it takes care of everything else."
The mindset came to life in the backed-up drill.
The Bengals finished 26th against the run last season and next to last in total defense, largely because of their lack of communication on big pass plays. Pratt and Wilson are attacking both in a camp where they've been all over the place.
Pratt: "I just feel like we have to be stouter against the run."
"You can see we're communicating better out there as a defense," Wilson said. "I feel as G and I go, the defense goes. That's been our mindset. We just know with the experience we have, we have to play at a high level if we want to be successful on defense. That's the standard we hold ourselves to. We talked about it last year. The games we didn't play great, we didn't do great as a defense. We want to be known as some of the top two linebackers in the league and get the respect we deserve. We're kind of on a mission to get that."
PLAYER OF THE DAY: Edge Joseph Ossai
Ossai not only had the safety, he had a terrific rush that forced quarterback Joe Burrow to move out of the pocket and hurry a pass that cornerback DJ Tuner nearly intercepted over the middle.
He didn't write it down, but Ossai remembered what Hill also told the group before practice Monday. He bounded out to Turner and praised him but also told him he had to get that pick, the defense needed that pick. Then Ossai and Turner did some sort of a handshake.
"B.J. said when we make a big play, we have to be excited about it," Ossai said. "We have to bring the energy. He talked about it today before we got on the field. When we make big plays, we have to be excited because they're hard to come by. So you have to have that energy."
Ossai has never lacked for energy, only health. Nagged by injuries each of his three previous seasons, Ossai has been the healthy one this camp. It is his good friend, mentor and Pro Bowl sack ace Trey Hendrickson who has been hurt, and Ossai has been getting his snaps. It would stand to reason he'll get them in Saturday's preseason opener (7 p.m.-Cincinnati's FOX 19) at Paycor Stadium against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Asked what thoughts are running through his mind facing Tampa Bay in a preseason opener, he smiles wide.
In Ossai's first game as a Bengal in the 2021 preseason opener, he sacked GOAT Tom Brady in the first series of the game in Tampa Bay and went on to have one of the greatest Bengal debuts in recent memory, tallying seven pressures in 23 snaps. His debut was cut short after he broke his wrist, injured his knee and, just like that, was done for the year, starting an almost supernatural string of bad luck he hopes has ended in this camp.
"Whatever happened, happened. The good, the bad, the ugly," Ossai said. "I'm just excited to be back on the field again."
As usual, he looks sleek, athletic and smoldering with talent. Ossai spent this offseason at Paycor with Hendrickson, who took him to a weekly ministry during the season, and strength and conditioning coach Joey Boese's staff.
"It took a little bit of convincing from Trey, who did it the year before, and it worked out great for him," Ossai said. "He felt strong about being here. Being dedicated, being locked in, being focused. I said, 'Why not?' Seventeen and a half sacks, he must be doing something right."
So far for Ossai, with a rap of wood, it's been all right.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Bengals edge Joseph Ossai on his close relationship with Trey Hendrickson:
"He doesn't like to get into that touchy-feely stuff, but that's a big brother, for sure."
SLANTS AND SCREENS: Right tackle Trent Brown, the free-agent pickup from New England projected to start when he signed back in March, practiced for the first time in camp Monday when he did individual drills. Head coach Zac Taylor, who said Brown had been experiencing tightness, realizes he's a 10-year vet with 100 games and a Super Bowl ring.
"I've got enough game tape to know what type of player he is," Taylor said. "If he doesn't end up playing in a preseason game, that's not the end of the world for me. It's too early to say all that stuff."
What isn't too early to say is that first-round pick Amarius Mims has been extremely impressive getting Brown's first-team reps, and it certainly appears as if Mims is getting the nod Saturday.
"I've got to get some reps under my belt and work with the guys around me," Brown said, "I've got a lot of reps under my belt already. It'll be fine as long as I get the terminology down. Just like riding a horse or riding a bike."
Brown doesn't think he needs a preseason game in the competition with Mims.
"It will play itself out. I'm not worried," Brown said. "I don't think it really makes a difference to go out there for a series and then you don't play a game for like, a month or three weeks, two weeks whatever. So, it is what it is. I think I'll be just fine." …
Taylor looks forward to Burrow playing in his first preseason opener in his fifth year in the league.
"We want to see efficiency on offense. That's certainly what we want to see. But it is more just about getting coaches and players off the field," Taylor said. "There are fans around, just the 11 guys, you and the other guys in the huddle, communicating and going through it together to try to simulate a game environment." …
Monday's practice mostly belonged to special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons, but much of it was spent on punt and punt return instead of the new kickoff rule.
Former Bengals running back Cedric Peerman, a Pro Bowl special teamer in 2015, finished up his Bill Walsh Minority coaching internship program Monday by helping Simmons run through the same drills he once did.
Simmons, working out of the end zone, deployed cones at the 10- and 20-yard lines and made an alley where the returners have to hit the holes quickly between two tacklers and stay in the lane. In another drill, the hold-up drill, he uses the alley to have one cover man and one blocker lined up over each other and running 30 yards downfield.
"I've done that hold-up drill with Darrin one or two times and it's such a physical drill you have to be careful you don't get guys hurt," Peerman said. "It's what we do for punt cover and punt return, but people are saying the kickoff is closer to a punt now with close quarters and hand-to-hand combat.
"On the kickoffs, some of the bigger guys benefit because they're really strong. Little guys like me have to use their hands."
Simmons said after practice it was more of a punt and punt return workout, but some elements can be used for the kickoff. He said Monday was a big evaluation day for him, but not an elimination game.
"It shows the guy who can play with the technique I want them to play with and the guys who can't," Simmons said. "That became pretty apparent for some guys both ways today. But it's just one day of evaluation.
"Come back after the first game," said Simmons, when asked about any impressive rookies. "When the bullets are flying and the lights are on, that's really the only way you can judge."
Linebacker Joe Bachie, one of Simmons's stalwarts, says they're attacking the kickoff more in 11-on-11 work and sticking with one-on-one for the punts.
"I think we're going to use the joint practices to feel that out a little more," Bachie said of the kickoff. "It's a learning curve for us and hard to drill those. We've learned it's a very quick play. The return team is right on you." …
Simmons has three punters, but he's not sure if all three are going to punt Saturday. One thing is for sure, whoever the Opening Day punter is will have to be adept at holding for kicker Evan McPherson.
Ryan Rehkow hit some nice boomers Monday, but he also struggled with a field-goal snap. McPherson still put the 37-yarder through, but after practice Rehkow was practicing holds on tosses from Simmons …
The media made McPherson aware of Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker signing a four-year, $25.6 million extension, making him the NFL's highest-paid kicker.
"He's just fun to watch. Super consistent with ball-striking. He does well under pressure," McPherson said. "I mean, they wouldn't have won the game last year against us (if not for his) six field goals. And that was last year. They would not have won that game without him and those conditions that we played in last year in Kansas City. I mean, nobody really understands how hard those kicks were that he made. And so whatever he got, I don't know what he got... but I think he deserves it."
McPherson's people are talking to the Bengals about an extension, and he's hopeful.
"No, it's not frustrating. If it happens now, great," McPherson said. "I'm just going to go out there and perform the same, either way." …
