Bengals head coach Zac Taylor is coming from a Rams' organization that barely plays its regulars, if at all, in the preseason. Quarterback Jared Goff took one series last year and running back Todd Gurley has already been iced for this August.
Not so in Kansas City next week when the Bengals open the preseason. He says the starters are going to play (four snaps or 15, he says, that is to be determined) because he wants them to get the feel of being with each other playing on the road "in isolation," without the coaches on the field. He also says Rams head coach Sean McVay played people in his first preseason as the head coach and Taylor indicated he plans to do the same.
Center Billy Price planned to work Friday in the full-padded session (they're also going full Saturday) after sitting out the first few days of training camp with an unknown injury. He'll get John Jerry as his left guard. Jerry worked the first two days there with the first group and Christian Westerman took the next two days. Now they're back to Jerry. Price says the different nuances of each player in the rotation doesn't throw him off.
"I was drafted here to make sure I am proficient and a damn good football player," Price said before practice. "So if you put in you, I have to play with you. It doesn't matter who it is, plug and play, let's go do it. And we are going to make the system work."
Usually the third pre-season game (at Paul Brown Stadium vs. the Giants on Aug. 22) is the dress rehearsal game, but Taylor said it's unfair to put any kind of timetable on settling on a starting left guard.
