Bengals Beat: Ted Karras Explains Why These Bengals are a ‘Grown Man’s’ Team And Ready to Prove It, Camp Day 4 Takeaways

CINCINNATI — Ted Karras has a much better appreciation of Dexter Lawrence II after going against him in four training camp practices.

The veteran Cincinnati center knows full well the overwhelming combination of power and quickness that the defensive tackle brings to the middle of the Bengals defensive line. He felt it early in 11-on-11 reps Saturday on the rain-soaked Kettering Health practice fields.

With Joe Burrow in the gun, Lawrence completely overwhelmed Karras and got in Burrow’s face, forcing the quarterback to throw sooner than he wanted. The result? A pass behind Andrei Iosivas and into the hands of corner Ja’Sir Taylor that Taylor dropped. But still, you get the idea. The Bengals brought Lawrence to town to disrupt and destroy at the point of attack in the middle of the line and he’s already shown that ability.

Just wait until the pads come on for the first time Monday.

Karras’ reaction?

“The level of stress I feel at the line of scrimmage. I just think we have a lot of great players,” Karras said. “I think 97 (Lawrence), I mean, he gets like one a day on me, which I got to eliminate. And then if you saw that last period, I’m just fighting to the end there. It’s just me and him in the middle. So you better bring your f-ing s&*t going against Dexter Lawrence.

“I mean, he’s the best in the league. So, Our Week 1 opponent (Vita Vea) is right there with him, so that’s good practice for him. But you got to be ready to go every day. A little bit stressful in August for me, but at least I get to pass it off to our opponent center, come September. On the one hand, you’d love to dominate up front every day, but on the other hand, for what this team wants to accomplish, going against that every day in the big picture and having a hard time is good.”

In other words, Karras knows he’s not going to be perfect but he knows this month will be critical for honing his technique to be ready come Sept. 13 against Tampa Bay.

“It is. I’m still not going to be happy about it,” Karras said. “I’d like to eliminate the the one he gets on me. So we got to keep keep running. He’s a good player. So you know you can’t break my spirit. But you know I’ll take I’ll take a Sunday off. We’ll go to mass and then come back on Mondays. A couple “Hail Marys”, just for my family and my dad and his season and our season upcoming, and everyone has safety and good health. That we can do something special for the city.”

Karras also said that Saturday was another example of how this Bengals edition is a lot more mature and ready to take on a special season.

“We have good continuity in the O-line, and you better being your best every day against this D-line because this is this is about as grown-man of a team as I’ve ever been a part of. It’s very exciting,” Karras said.

Being a grown-man’s team also means running the ball when you need to and getting the one or two yards to sustain drives.

“Winning reach blocks, staying square, and Chase Brown finding a lane to use his speed,” Karras said. “Today felt like going against like the 2016 New England Patriots, and it was a lot of good players, a lot of players who’ve done a lot. A lot of grown men. They’re grown-ups and they know how to play and they’re longtime professionals and and a little bit mean. I thought it was great back and forth today. I don’t think this was our best day as an offense, especially whole line. But we get a little day off. Come back at it Monday. It’s exciting.”

Karras was a rookie on those 2016 Patriots, a team led by Tom Brady that wiped out a 28-3 hole in Super Bowl LI and won their fifth of six Super Bowl, 34-28, in overtime. Grown men, indeed.

Bengals Camp Day 4 Saturday:
* Torrential rains moved practice inside for the first 60 minutes. Then moved outside to the grass fields for the last 60
* Dexter Lawrence II returned to practice while Tee Higgins attended but did not dress for the practice outside.
* Practice started with DJ Turner breaking up a pass for Ja’Marr Chase, who had the ball but Turner stripped it before Chase came down to the ground.
* Next play, Burrow for Iosivas was incomplete. Pass a bit high but Iosivas couldn’t come down with it. Burrow completed two other passes to Iosivas later in the 11v11 set.
* Flacco had a strong day, completing a bomb on a post to Noah Thomas
* Next 11v11 series, Boye Mafe got in for a sack on Burrow. Then with Mafe leaping on the edge, Burrow underthrew Sample and was intercepted by Jalen Davis. A big day for the defense.

* In red zone 11s, Burrow was sharp, threw a perfect corner fade to Ja’Marr Chase and a scramble TD to a diving Mitch Tinsley.
* Team has Sunday off. Full pads begin Monday outside.