CINCINNATI — Al Golden promised that the defense Bengals fans saw in the preseason would not be the defense fans would see once the season began.
And he was right for one game. The Bengals held the Browns to two yards per carry and got off the field five times in the second half. Yes, they got a big break from Browns kicker Andre Szmyt but they were able to keep the Browns out of the end zone four times in the fourth quarter and held Cleveland scoreless in the final 15 minutes on their home turf.
Two interceptions from defense backs certainly aided their cause, with Jordan Battle picking off Joe Flacco in the third quarter and DJ Turner sealing the game late in the fourth.
“It’s great for them,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “I don’t look at them as young. I feel like these guys when guys have three, four years of experience that’s not young anymore. For me, young is first- and second-year. Not a lot of games under the belt. This is becoming a veteran group for us, where these guys Dax (Hill) and Cam (Taylor-Britt) and DJ, Jordan, Geno, those guys have played a lot of games, and so we have really high expectations for them. Fig (Newton) hasn’t played as much, but we still have high expectations for him. He’s come in and acted like a veteran, so I don’t look at it as a young group. And so my expectation is that they’re going to make plays for us, and they did that.”
The real impact might be in the front seven, with rookie edge Shemar Stewart showing very well and rookie linebackers Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter stepping up and making plays as well.
“Barrett came in, too, and was pressed into action and did a nice job. I’m pleased with all those,” Golden said. “The big thing as a staff, especially Shemar, because he missed so much time, I kept reminding everyone of something Coach Paterno used to always say, ‘You’re better off being one game late than two games early.’ We tried to not put too much on those guys and we had some guys that could sub out so we can slow it down for them, and if there were any corrections they could see it a little bit. I was really pleased with all three of those guys and how they impacted the game.”
Golden hinted that he will probably stick with a policy of starting players on defense that earn it during practice in the week and finish the game with those playing the best during the game. Pretty simple approach but yet important to consider going forward with this Bengal defense.
“I’ve always believed the guys that practice the best or show the most consistency start the game and the guys who play the best finish the game. I think there’s a reward in both cases,” Golden said. “I’m not saying that’s particular to this instance, because DJ and Myles Murphy is another guy that they got injured and their timing wasn’t good. You’re leading up to the Monday of game week and a lot of the plan was done (the previous) week. That was unfortunate for them, but man did those two guys bring energy when they came into the game, so excited about that.”
Cam Taylor-Britt makes promise to Golden to improve upon his struggles from Week 1:
“He was one of the first guys that came to me right prior to the defensive unit meeting,” Golden said. “He said, ‘I’ve got to do a couple things better, and I got you this week,’ and that kind of thing. And so his self awareness is good. Cam, you can coach him hard. And there’s a couple things that I think he wishes he had back. So I’m not sharing with you anything that he hasn’t already said or believes. But first games are like that. First games are tough, and you’re seeing looks that you didn’t prepare for. And this goes on for about a month until you get a bead on what everybody settled into. So this month is tricky. And like I said, you have to control your variables. And I thought our coaches and players did a good job with doing that. We had very limited mental errors.”
Trey Hendrickson exceeds expectations, playing 57 of 76 snaps:
“Not that much, he gave us way more than I thought, and that’s an amazing human being, to be able to do that,” Golden said of Hendrickson’s eight pressures, one sack and three tackles But his play count, he kept wanting more, and he did a great job when he was in there. He impacted the game, impacted the quarterback. I thought he was really rugged in the run game, and he missed a lot of reps. So again, the first time we had the depth (chart), as it appeared in the game, was (last) Monday. That’s the reality of that. So, I think Trey was, you know, five, four or five practices. And I think BJ was six or seven practices with us, and then DJ (Turner) and Myles joined us on Monday. So I think we’re healthy right now, and we’ll settle into little bit more of a routine with everybody and identify the roles early in the week and then let them go do their thing.”
Demetrius Knight on Bengals defense stepping up in Week 1:
“It is more than what we hoped,” Knight told me. “It was exactly what we knew we were going to be. Of course, in preseason, everything’s plain and white and your original vanilla flavoring, but people got to see a different taste, a little Neapolitan ice cream, if you will, a little little mix of everything so, and that’s what we knew we were building from from the start. So it’s just about being patient during the preseason, and it’s only going to continue to get better as we go from here. And we’re not going to continue to stay the same. We’re going to continue to not going to be the same team we were yesterday. We’re going to be even better come week two, week three, so that when we get to the Super Bowl, be even different team, where they still don’t know where we’re coming from, what we’re hiding, and things like that.”
Knight on facing Jacksonville’s Travis Etienne Jr. this week, coming off his 143 yard effort against Carolina, Knight knows the run defense has to be there again this week:
“That’s our number one key on our goal board, going into all the meetings, and going into the week, going into each and every teams have to have a good run game, or to open up their offense,” Knight said. “If you take that run game where you make teams one-dimensional. So being able to stop the run was crucial. It’s important to us, and we live and die by as all defense, a great defense should. So (Sunday) was just a great, great display of us stopping what they do best, a big Browns team like that, knowing they’re gonna rely on a heavy run game, getting into very heavy personnel to get a lot more push.”
Dalton Risner will be the starting right guard for the Bengals going forward after Lucas Patrick was placed on injured reserve Tuesday with an injured right calf. He said Monday he appreciates Joe Burrow’s competitiveness and fire, something he hasn’t seen in his time in the NFL:
“My external impression was, I didn’t quite know, you know what Joe burrow was all about. I knew that he was a dog. I knew Joe Burrow was out here going to Super Bowls and leading the Bengals to winning seasons. But being here now, being able to see the way he goes about his business, the type of leader that he is, how he carries the Cincinnati Bengals and the guys around him, is pretty special. And for me, it was a special moment to be able to share the field with him, not only share the field, but be able to protect him, and that’s something I’m gonna take a lot of pride in for the rest of this season.
“Just being around a short amount of time, I’ll just say how dialed he is, how dialed he is. The focus is always there. I mean, I don’t think one time I’ve seen him joking around, laughing during a walk through or relax on the sideline. I mean, this dude is always dialed. And you kind of watch him and you wonder, you know, see dialed like this all the time. Is this his demeanor or what? And I’m still trying to figure him out, and he’s trying to, I’m sure, figure me out, but I got a lot of respect for him, and I take a lot of pride in protecting him. I can tell you that even his sense for how competitive he is, yeah, extremely competitive. For me, being an older player in this league, I’ve been around a lot of quarterbacks, been on a lot of football teams, and he’s one of the most dialed guys that I’ve seen. He seems like one of the most competitive guys. He wants to win. You can tell when he walks in this building and then when he leaves this building that he eats, breathes and sleeps football, and what he wants to do is win championships. And for me, blocking form you wouldn’t want anything else as your quarterback.”
Bengals Roster Moves Tuesday:
*Signed DT Mike Pennel off the practice squad to the active roster. Pennel, an 11th-year player, signed to the Bengals’ practice squad on Sept. 1. He was elevated from the practice squad to the active roster for Sunday’s game at Cleveland, then reverted to the practice squad yesterday.
*Placed G Lucas Patrick on the Reserve/Injured list. Patrick, a ninth-year player, suffered a calf injury in Sunday’s game at Cleveland.
*Signed DE Myles Cole to the practice squad. Cole (6-6, 280), a second-year player out of Texas Tech University, originally was a seventh-round draft pick of Jacksonville in 2024. He played in eight games as a rookie for the Jaguars last season and recorded eight tackles with one TFL. He was waived by Jacksonville on Aug. 26.
*Signed DE Isaiah Foskey to the practice squad. Foskey (6-5, 280), a third-year player out of the University of Notre Dame, originally was a second-round draft pick of New Orleans in 2023. He played in 27 games over two seasons (2023-24) with the Saints, totaling 17 tackles, a half-sack and one PD. He was waived by New Orleans on Aug. 26.
*Released DE Isaiah Thomas from the practice squad. Thomas, a third-year player, signed to the practice squad on Aug. 27.
