11 thoughts about Bengals’ loss vs. Buccaneers

A few thoughts right after the Bengals played their first preseason game.

The Cincinnati Bengals lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the new turf at Paycor Stadium on Saturday night, 17-14.

While just the preseason, the brief glimpse of the starters and then the rest of the 90-man roster provided some interesting insight into the state of things.

Some thoughts:

  1. Chase Brown got the start at running back and had some problems getting going. He also earned a flag early. But the fact he’s the starter at all over Zack Moss is interesting.
  2. Joe Burrow looked fantastic on the opening drive, capping it off with a touchdown. He looked sharp, even on the deep passes, before calling it a night.
  3. The camp hype translated — Andrei Iosivas got involved early and seemed like an important piece of the offense.
  4. Notably, rookie Kris Jenkins got the start inside next to Zach Carter. He’s got a shot to have a huge rookie season. But both looked brutal as the Bucs ran for a touchdown early.
  5. First-rounder Amarius Mims remained in on the second drive to get some developmental reps. He looked the part, to say the least.
  6. The punter battle got off to a poor start for Brad Robbins, whose first effort didn’t even go for 40 yards. He evened out, but he’s guaranteed nothing.
  7. Rookie Josh Newton, as expected, looked like the real deal as he played a big role with the second team and picked off a pass.
  8. Dax Hill looks like a natural at corner. He’s not perfect yet by any means, but he might just steal that No. 2 CB job and keep it.
  9. It looks like the hype for rookie wideout Jermaine Burton can quiet a bit. He was relegated to the third team on Saturday night. Granted, he made a huge play for a touchdown, but he’s clearly going to need to keep doing that to earn his way up the stacked depth chart.
  10. Don’t sleep on Myles Murphy. He picked up right where he left off late last season, nearly getting to the quarterback quite often.
  11. This was about what most should have expected. The offense looks good. The interior of the defensive line, especially without starters is a question mark. The rookies need time and so does Dax Hill at corner.

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