“We’ll just have to get more information,” Taylor said.
The Bengals have been hit by the injury bug on their defensive line with Sam Hubbard still working back from a knee injury that has him limited to individual drills, Cam Sample suffering a season-ending Achilles tear and rookie defensive tackle McKinnley Jackson still out with a knee injury.
Murphy, the team’s first-round draft pick in 2023, is expected to play a big role in the defensive end rotation and has been getting a lot of the first-team reps while Hubbard has been out and earlier when Trey Hendrickson had a chest bruise keeping him out of practices.
Other than Murphy’s injury Tuesday, it was a good practice for the Bengals.
The offense moved the ball well until the end of practice, and the defense showed “a lot of energy,” according to both Taylor and Bell. Bell said the Bengals got what they needed to get done “communication and situational defensewise.”
“We’re always trying to give ourself ‘juice,’” Bell said. “We’re just worried about our group bringing enthusiasm, bringing juice. We talk about that with coach Lou (Anarumo) and the back end of the defense, and that’s what we brought today.”
Players and coaches from both teams enjoyed a laugh, though, when Joe Flacco managed a big gain on a scramble. Other than that, Bell felt like the run defense was pretty solid.
“That was embarrassing,” Bell said, laughing. “I said, ‘After all these years, you’re going to start running now?’ He’s a cigar store Indian. He stands in the pocket, but he surprised today and showed he still has life.”
The Bengals’ defense had been winning recent practices against their own offense, and the offense had struggled in the joint practice at Chicago last week as well; however, that side of the ball looked much better Tuesday until the final 11-on-11 when the Colts stopped the Bengals twice in the redzone and they went four-and-out with two sacks in the two-minute drill to end practice.
Earlier in the practice, Burrow was hitting almost all of his passes, highlighted by several big catches from Mike Gesicki and Tee Higgins.
Despite the poor finish, left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. was encouraged by how the offense looked Tuesday against an opponent. He said the competition between the Bengals’ offense and defense in regular practices is always going to be a back-and-forth battle, and it was a good sign for the team that the defense was doing so well the last few days, but Tuesday felt more like what he expects to see this season.
“It felt really good to get out there as a unit again and go against another team,” Brown said. “I like a lot of the things we did today. We were able to run the ball when we needed to in certain situations. They schemed up some things on their side, but overall I think it was a pretty good day. I really like the spot we’re in offensively.”
Brown was involved in the one scuffle that occurred midway through practice when he threw a punch at Colts defensive end Isaiah Land, but it was quickly broken up and nothing more came of it.
“I was just blocking him, I saw the ball be gone, I feel like he had his hand on me, and it just got weird,” Brown said. “It’s football. I love that part of the game.”
Tuesday’s practice was the last time the starters – outside maybe one or two guys – will compete against an opponent until Sept. 8 in the opener against New England.
Taylor said he saw some good things to indicate the team is making progress, but he wasn’t ready to say if the Bengals are ready for the regular season.
“We’ve got still more work to do,” Taylor said. “We’ve got two weeks left to get some more work in, so I’m glad we’ve got that opportunity.”
About the Author