LANDOVER, Md. — Zac Taylor called his starting right guard position a “work in progress” on Saturday. After what he saw from his first-team defense, the Bengals head coach might want to consider a total rebuild.
Of course, that’s not practical with the opener set for Sept. 7 in Cleveland. What he might want to do is light a fire under his entire defense after the lackadaisical effort they put on the Northwest Stadium field here before a national audience. The Bengals beat the Commanders, 31-17, in the wrapup of preseason Week 2. They finish the preseason this Saturday at home against Indianapolis at 1 p.m.
And the last image of the Bengals starting defense doesn’t exactly give WhoDey nation a feeling of confidence heading into the season. Can’t imagine new defensive coordinator Al Golden is feeling any better.
Deebo Samuel broke to the outside for a 19-yard run on the first play from scrimmage after Chase Brown’s touchdown put the Bengals up, 7-0.
And then, like in Philadelphia, the Bengals got gashed for a huge run, this time 40 yards by Chris Rodriguez. Logan Wilson slipped over his blocker, Demetrius Knight Jr. was sealed to the outside and Jordan Battle playing outside, didn’t get to Rodriguez until his was 10 yards deep in the Bengals secondary. Jordan Battle was caught in a foot race and lost.
“There’s things we’re going to continue to build on,” Taylor said. “We’re not pushing the envelope with what we’re asking them to do right now, playing as close to the vest as possible. Obviously, we shouldn’t have given up big runs like that. So those are things that we have to clean up, I think there’s been about three of them so far in these two games. So those are things that we don’t want and we can avoid, and whatever the call is, we should do a better job with that. But at the same time, I know what I see every day in practice. I’m excited about the direction (of our defense).
“We’ve had some days where it’s been difficult days (for the offense) and the defense has definitely won a day. I like where guys are at, from a health perspective, we’re in a good spot all things considering where we’re at training camp. So we just gotta have one more great week, and then we kind of get that bonus week.”
Rookie Shemar Stewart acknowledged after the game that he had two blown assignments that led to big runs. Defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery told Stewart to not worry about it during the game, knowing it’s fixable at practice.
“There were two plays I messed up on,” Stewart said. “Those were really bothering me. Coach said just forget about it. Just turn the page.”
Plays of execution are going to happen. Lack of effort can’t.
The Bengals first-team defense looked like a group that simply didn’t want to be on the field. Defense in the trenches is all about beating the man in front of you. Sometimes scheme matters but not in the preseason. There was not an ounce of urgency from the Bengals starters on defense. And if the Bengals try to insist the effort was there, then there’s a bigger problem than what the world saw on the first two drives Monday.
Taylor, who has seen his defense meet the challenge against a high-powered offense in camp practices, didn’t see the same production and execution Monday night.
“It’s preseason, so I feel really excited about where our defense is at,” Taylor insisted postgame. “We go against them every day. It’s tough. We’ll continue to fix the things we can fix for the preseason game (Saturday). We’ll look at the tape and assess where it’s at. But again, I’m practicing against them every single day. I love where our defense is at. There’s a lot of things that give the offense really hard time right now, so we’ll just continue to build off that.”
The Commanders scored in four plays, going 74 yards, all on runs. Jayden Daniels’ only series ended with a 14-yard scramble as no one was home at the Bengals second level. There were missed tackles but the real issue all night with the first team defense was getting manhandled at the point of attack.
Commanders first 2 plays:
Deebo Samuel 19-yard rush
Chris Rodriguez 40-yard rushpic.twitter.com/a1bE7vG0J7— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) August 19, 2025
This getting fixed, whether through effort or execution or both, is a non-negotiable going forward. It was a gross embarrassment before a national TV audience not because it was a preseason game but because it was a starting unit that showed no resistance.
In all on the first two Washington touchdown drives, the Commanders ran seven plays, six runs, 106 yards rushing for an average pop of 17.7 yards per carry.
There were bright spots.
Joe Burrow played three series, led two touchdown drives and, despite taking two massive hits – one each on his last two drives – came through the game standing and laughing with Andrei Iosivas late in the first half on the sideline. Burrow finished 9-of-14 for 62 yards and a touchdown to Charlie Jones.
Lucas Patrick, the starting right guard, was beaten on the Burrow sack at the Cincinnati 1 and came out for rookie Jalen Rivers, which is notable with Burrow still in the game. It wasn’t immediately clear if it was an injury but Patrick was shown grabbing for his chest and shoulder area. In a bizarre play, when Burrow was scrambling and eventually sacked at the one, Patrick held up both arms as Burrow was scrambling.
Charlie Jones returned the game’s opening kick 30 yards to set up Chase Brown’s 4th-and-goal TD run from one yard out. He also caught four passes on seven targets for 32 yards and a TD.
Mitchell Tinsley might have won a roster spot with two leaping spinning touchdowns in the final two minutes of the first half from Jake Browning. Tinsley finished with five catches on six targets for 73 yards.
MITCHELL TINSLEY IS PUTTING ON A SHOW 🔥
TD grabs on back-to-back drives for the @Bengals❗️ pic.twitter.com/GV3BsnHXYZ
— ESPN (@espn) August 19, 2025
Speaking of Browning, the back-up more than solidified his role behind Burrow, moving with great dexterity, scrambling and throwing a nice 9-yard dart for a first down and perfectly managing the two-minute drill and then capitalizing after a turnover and striking again to Tinsley.
Ryan Rehkow had another coffin corner punt to the Washington 6 that set up a turnover and put Cincinnati in position for the first two touchdowns in the final two minutes of the first half.
The special teams covered well, also an improvement from Philadelphia and the starters on that unit are likely a tell of which players might be making the team, names like Marco Wilson, Shaka Heyward, Joe Giles-Harris, Oren Burks, DJ Ivey, Barrett Carter and Josh Newton, Tahj Brooks and Tycen Anderson.
Tycen Anderson, who started at safety with Geno Stone out, picked off Josh Johnson at the Cincinnati 3. Rookie Barrett Carter intercepted Sam Hartman at the Washington 34 to set up Cincinnati’s fourth touchdown of the first half.
Among those not spotted in uniform were Cody Ford, Jermaine Burton, Myles Murphy, BJ Hill, Trey Hendrickson, DJ Turner, Cordell Volson and Matt Lee.
