First Bengals depth chart of Preseason Week 1 Eagles

Mims refused to talk about what happened to his hand and the extent of the injury, but it sounds like something he will be dealing with the rest of the year. Hand injuries to linemen on either side of the ball are a big deal. That's what they do the infighting with, their arms and hands. He did say he would be available to play Thursday night in Philadelphia if called upon though.

5 minutes ago, dex said:

Mims refused to talk about what happened to his hand and the extent of the injury, but it sounds like something he will be dealing with the rest of the year. Hand injuries to linemen on either side of the ball are a big deal. That's what they do the infighting with, their arms and hands. He did say he would be available to play Thursday night in Philadelphia if called upon though.

Jeez...not good

10 hours ago, dex said:

Speaks to the "Tasmanian Devil" comparison lol

Reminder: Bengals off Monday, practice Tuesday, travel Wednesday. Game Thursday in Philadelphia.

Go Bengals!

Let's go out there and stay healthy.

1 hour ago, Griever said:

Speaks to the "Tasmanian Devil" comparison lol

I don't even know what to make of that statement coming from Mims, who has seen many "unnatural" physical freaks in college and his one year in the NFL. Here is a short list of some defensive linemen and pass rushing LBS Mims practiced against or played against in college at Georgia - Jalen Carter/Nolan Smith/Mykell Williams/Jalen Walker/Will Anderson/Jahaad Campbell. Then in his one year in the NFL - Myles Garrett/TJ Watt/Micah Parsons/Chris Jones/Cam Heyward.

Sounds like the Bengals plan to move Higgins around the field more than ever before...

It sounds like the Bengals plan on using Higgins a bit differently this season—expanding his game and moving him around more.

"That's what they are trying to get out of me, put me in different places and different spots on the field," Higgins told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. "Sometimes I'm in the slot, running routes I haven't run." Higgins believes he can take advantage of that as "a big guy in the slot, usually having a nickel on me, a smaller guy."

Higgins had 73 catches for 911 yards and a career-high 10 touchdowns last season, despite missing five games due to injuries.

If he stays healthy, there's no reason why those numbers can't go way up—especially if he moves into the slot.

Probably already been posted, but damn

10 minutes ago, Griever said:

Probably already been posted, but damn

Why Howard Cross III won't be here next Monday.

2 hours ago, dex said:

Sounds like the Bengals plan to move Higgins around the field more than ever before...

It sounds like the Bengals plan on using Higgins a bit differently this season—expanding his game and moving him around more.

"That's what they are trying to get out of me, put me in different places and different spots on the field," Higgins told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. "Sometimes I'm in the slot, running routes I haven't run." Higgins believes he can take advantage of that as "a big guy in the slot, usually having a nickel on me, a smaller guy."

Higgins had 73 catches for 911 yards and a career-high 10 touchdowns last season, despite missing five games due to injuries.

If he stays healthy, there's no reason why those numbers can't go way up—especially if he moves into the slot.

To your point..

2 hours ago, High School Harry said:

Why Howard Cross III won't be here next Monday.

He tripped over the other guys feet.. Not sure what the other guy was doing there, but it looks like 1v1 drills and the other guy's feet tripped him.

Dan Pitcher talking to Geoff Hobson about the exhibition game:

GH: Zac has alluded to this. On Thursday against the Eagles, it appears the first team is going to play the most in a preseason game in the six seasons of the Joe Burrow Era. What are you looking for?

DP: I think it all just falls in line with the main message to the team throughout the offseason and training camp. Putting ourselves in the best position possible to play really good football from the time we kick off Week 1. This is just another step to try and accomplish that. I expect us to be crisp. I expect the operation to be really good. I expect the execution to be good. I think our guys are eager about the opportunity. Everybody feels the urgency of starting the season the right way. I think guys understand this is a chance for us to do that. I think we'll play well.

GH: I like what Joe said. Even to get the feel of going on the road as the starter.

DP: Sure, we're going into a stadium where this is the first time they've snapped the football since they hoisted the Lombardi Trophy. Yeah, it's a preseason game. But there are going to be fans and they're going be excited, and there's going to be energy in there. So yeah, I think it's good to feel that. Wake up and go through a day. Feel what your body feels like when you wait around all day to play a night game. It's a good chance to get yourself ready.

GH: You're probably going to be pretty vanilla.

DP: We always try to win the football game. There's always a balance there. We don't game-plan this game and scheme this game like we do a regular-season game. But, by the same token, we want to put our guys in position to have success.

GH: Great veteran battle at right guard between Cody Ford and Lucas Patrick. Ford started the first half of camp. Patrick now. Looks pretty even.

DP: Two competitive veterans who know what real NFL football looks like, have had varying levels of success in different roles. Both of them have had to kind of scratch and claw to get to where they are in their careers right now. To me, that's an admirable quality to do that. I think it develops a toughness and a sense of resilience that is good to have. It's good to have guys like that and bring those qualities to the table. We're going to continue to evaluate both those guys as training camp goes on and as the preseason goes on. When the time is right for the team, we'll make a decision and go from there.

Dan Pitcher talking to Geoff Hobson about the run game:

GH: Name me one thing that has stood out from July 23 where you'd say, 'That's pretty good. I wasn't expecting that.'

DP: There's a handful of things as we sit here on Aug. 4. Happy with where we're at. It's not a finished product by any stretch of the imagination. I think our guys have responded well to what we've asked them to do in the run game.

I think we've had some consistency there with being targeted, getting hats on hats. Runners are doing a nice job as we've talked about wanting to be a very efficient rushing attack. So when opportunity presents itself to turn an efficient run into an explosive run, taking advantage of those times. Not always searching those out. And then in the process, you become inefficient because you're trying to hit the home run on every play.

It's a little bit of take-what's-there. Understand what we're trying to accomplish. And then when they're out of a gap, or something unexpected happens, then we're in position to take advantage. And I think our guys up front are doing a good job. We've got a good variety of scheme in and they've adopted it and I think they're executing it, and I think the running backs are doing a really good. That's what I'm pleased with, but

we know that we've got a long way to go there.

GH: You looked like you had pretty good matches with the run and pass game in what was an excellent Move The Ball drill on Sunday. There just seems to be a few more options offensively than there was this time last year even though it's pretty much the same cast.

DP: Where I would agree with you on that statement is that I can't remember a time since I've been here where we've had as many legitimate play-making options as what we have right now. I do think that's true. I think we sit here today with more guys that can impact the game that are a part of our offense than we've ever had before. Naturally, that affords you a lot more opportunity. You also have to incorporate enough, but stay disciplined and not try to be everything all the time. So that's what we're working on.

GH: Chase Brown said everyone involved in the offseason run game tweaks did a good job. He calls some of it "Thick with double teams."

DP: I think every offseason, you just try to find little emphasis points and get better in areas that you know are going to be part of what you do. And then think critically. Take a hard look at, are there things that we want to discontinue? Are there new things that really do fit us that we need to re-emphasize? I do think we did a good job in that process. I think it's ongoing. I think it takes great communication from everybody. Players included. Hopefully, they believe in the plan. I think they do. That's showing in how they execute.GH: I haven't seen many stretch runs. It's a downhill deal right?

DP: I think that's the core of it. It doesn't mean that we're not going to try to get the ball on the perimeter. We have a variety of ways to do that, and I think we've done that during training camp. But I've said this publicly several times that we understand what the engine of this offense and on this football team is. It's our quarterback, it's our playmakers, so it's our job as coaches and their jobs as players to make sure we can do all the complementary things that we're able to do based on our opponents' response to that.

They know that about us, too. I mean, it's no secret. Everybody knows what makes us go and that's going to continue to be the case. To take the next step as an offense, we've got to be able to take advantage of that.

GH: What were your overall takeaways from Sunday's Move the Ball Drill in team?

DP: I was pleased with how our guys competed. That's always the first time in camp where it feels like real football in the sense that you're not snapping every play in a 16-play team period from the same yard line. There's a psychological element of that. When you actually get to move the football down the field. Just like there's a psychological element to the defense, when they get a sack or a TFL, we have to move the ball backwards. That's real football.

I always welcome this time because when you make big plays in team situations, and then you just walk the ball right back down to where you just snapped the last play from. That doesn't feel real. There's a momentum that comes from being able to move down the field. And I think our guys felt that (Sunday). We were able to make a number of big plays. It's good work for our guys. We ran a lot of plays from a conditioning standpoint. I thought it was a really good day. It's going to replicate what we're going to ask them to do here in a couple of days.

GH: Pretty good tempo.

DP: I think we were able to that. Guys understand our system. They understand what we're asking of them. That's a fringe benefit of having spent so much time together. We feel like we're operating at a pretty high level right now.