Iron is sharpening iron. The Bengals’ defense has been making the offense work for everything throughout training camp. This Bengals’ secondary is light years ahead of last year’s, and the defensive line has been making a heavy impact.
That trend continued on Day 6, the second day of full pads. Here are the best Twitter reactions from Day 6.
Evan Washburn does a terrific job covering the NFL for CBS. He’s always been effusive in his praise for Joe Burrow and the Bengals’ gameday experience. Everything Joe Burrow says here is encouraging. Hearing Burrow talk about the sense of urgency from the players is motivating going into the season, and it’s what you want to hear going into a crucial season; Burrow is speaking with confidence.
It’s confidence we saw in 2021 and 2022, and we all know what happened in those seasons.
First of all, this is so close to being perfectly executed. On the play, notice T.J. Slaton bursting through the offensive line to pressure Joe Burrow. It looks like, from the clip, that Dylan Fairchild was trying to hold him back, practically wrapping his arm around him. Perhaps Burrow had to rush the throw and put just slightly too much on it to Chase, but you can see the development of the play as promising as training camp continues to unfold.
This is a good thing. Obviously, Joe Burrow throwing an interception isn’t a good thing. But considering how bad the defense has been the last three years, seeing them make plays throughout this training camp has been awesome. Bryan Cook’s impact and leadership are both already being felt. DJ Turner has been outstanding in training camp so far.
It’s better to throw picks in training camp than in the regular season.
This is vintage Joe Burrow. Watch him step in the pocket to avoid the rush, and then create separation to throw the ball. Not only that, but the throw was a perfect spiral, line-drive dart to Tee Higgins. Good pressure from Myles Murphy, with Drew Sample blocking on the right side of the line. Remember prior to 2021 when we heard Burrow got stronger with better arm strength while rehabbing his left knee? There’s a reason he did that. This was an absolute rocket throw.
Again, playmakers making plays. This Bengals’ defense has playmakers for the first time in multiple years.
This is an encouraging sign from Andrei Iosivas. Working against DJ Ivey, Iosivas was able to locate the ball and keep his body in bounds on a tough catch. Iosivas is having a really good training camp, and hopefully this time he can translate that into the regular season.
If anything, Young is providing competition for Andrei Iosivas at WR3. Young has had a really good training camp, and you can tell his mind is in the right place. Impressive stuff from the Bengals’ fourth-round draft pick out of Georgia.
Ivey gets lost in the shuffle in the Bengals’ secondary, particularly at cornerback. But if he keeps making plays like this, the Bengals’ secondary is going to be deep with reliable playmakers and game-changers. It will keep players fresh, which is always a good thing.
This is really great to read. Dylan Fairchild had a rock-solid rookie season, and the fact that he’s already standing out going into his second season is crucial for the Bengals’ offensive line. It kind of feels like Fairchild is the least-talked about among the Bengals’ starting five up front, but that can be a good thing.
I’ve been really impressed with Charlie Jones in training camp. He’s been making plays at wide receiver, which gives me hope that maybe the Bengals have some plays they can call during games where Jones can pop open over the middle or haul in a deep pass. Jones has been a really good kick and punt returner through his first three years, and he’ll look to continue that in his fourth season.
I wonder if we could see Turner cover opposing teams’ tight ends during the season. That could be an interesting wrinkle from Al Golden’s defense.
