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The players wore pads for the first time on Tuesday, which means everything becomes more physical. That is usually a big advantage for the defense, so it was no surprise that they dominated practice on Tuesday. It also helped the defense that the backup QBs threw a lot of errant passes. That is what happened last training camp where the defense dominated the offense without Burrow. So it was a surprise to me that yesterday's practice, which was the first one where Anarumo could gameplan, the offense outperformed the defense. The o-line held up better than they did in the previous practice, the QBs (especially Siemian) was far more accurate, many different receivers made good catches against strong coverage. There were some encouraging plays in the running game too. Like the 3rd-and-one play...the under-center QB hands the ball off to Chase Brown, a blitzing Hilton gets right into the intended running lane, Brown uses his speed to get around Hilton before driving hard into the always physical Taylor-Britt to (barely) get the first down. The defensive players did a good job, but on that play Brown was a little better. That's a play where a slower back gets tackled by Hilton for a loss. We haven't seen that kind of elusiveness from a Bengals RB in awhile.

Interesting quote from TE position coach James Casey about Irv Smith, Jr: "With our offense over the last couple of years, what we're studying as coaches with Zac (Taylor) and Brian (Callahan), is a big aspect is going be catching those underneath balls and run after the catch and he's got a chance to be really, really good at that because he's quick, he's athletic. He's got to be one of those guys who can catch underneath and the first guy who hits him doesn't bring him down. He can break tackles and turn a 2-3 yard flat route into a first down and that's critical. That will take our offense to the next level."

Will try to cover as much as possible this weekend. Also. mem...at practice tomorrow maybe you can note how many shotgun snaps there are compared to those under center. Also, how much RPO/PA are they doing out of the shotgun. The offense was finally installed 100 percent on Monday, so this is the way the offense should be set up when a healthy Burrow gets back on the field where he belongs.

Yeah, hopefully the QBs will help buy throwing the ball effectively. Some days they do, some days they don't. It is so much easier to evaluate the receivers/DBs when the passes are thrown well enough that the ball can be contested. You don't learn much about any non-QB player on plays where the passes are uncatchable.

Part of what made it a slower news day was that both QBs struggled to throw the ball effectively, which made it very difficult for the receivers/DB to contest each other. In fact, Hobson gave his Play of the Day to Charlie Jones for preventing an interception by ripping the ball out of Ivey's hands. The first practice in pads was dominated by the defense in large part because of poor QB play. It was a big contrast to the great Monday practice where the balls were thrown much better, and the receivers were making great plays against CBs who were all over them. I did listen to the James Rapien podcast where he said Chase Brown had his best practice so far. He also that Charlie Jones had stacked together two great practices back to back. So that was good to hear.

Looks like DJ Ivey is still running with the 1st string...

So far they both been very impressive. The interesting thing about Turner and Ivey is that they are different types of CBs. Turner doesn't have ideal length (if he did with his cover skills he would've been drafted in the top half of the 1st round) but he has the best speed-jumping ability on the entire team. Ivey has the length with his long arms, pretty good speed and superior strength. Taylor-Britt was the Bengals best outside CB after Awuzie went down, but he actually struggled last year as a rookie in training camp before suffering an injury. Both Turner and Ivey seem far ahead of where Taylor-Britt was at this stage of camp last year. Let's hope they can keep it up because it's fun to watch.

Clearly wasn't the case on this particular play against Morgan, but Geoff Hobson said Ivey took some first team reps with Taylor-Britt in yesterday's practice.

Sure hope the Bengals can sign Higgins to an extension before the start of the season. If Higgins hits the regular season playing like this, his price tag could go up even higher. He is in the best shape of his life, stronger and faster than at any other time in his career. He stayed in Cincinnati to work with the Bengals great S&C coach around the 4th of July when most of the players were taking a bit of a break. He has dealt with lingering injuries in past off seasons, but Higgins says he has never felt healthier in his life. Chase has had a great start to training camp, but by most accounts Higgins has been the best player on the team during these practices. Even without Burrow throwing the ball, Higgins has caught everything he can get his hands on no matter where the ball is thrown It hasn't gotten mentioned much in tweets, but Higgins has apparently been lining up in practice some in the slot the way Chase does in actual games. Chase said early in the spring that that was one of the offensive goals. To get Higgins more comfortable lining up in the slot occasionally to take advantage of certain matchups. Chase thrives in different receiver roles that showcase his versatility, and the coaches want the same for Higgins. Makes it so much more difficult for defenses to stop elite weapons when they are lining up all over the place. What was already a nightmare for opposing defenses could get even scarier with a faster, more versatile Higgins.

Some nice stuff about today's practice from Albert Breer...

More no-limp Burrow confirmation... Sorry, didn't see that Griever had already posted this...but it's so nice it deserves to be posted twice!

LOVE THIS!!!