Bengals Training Camp Day 1 Recap: Al Golden's Defense Shines as Joe Burrow, Offense Struggle

Quote of the Day

“One thing I’ll say about Al is he lets us run the defense. It’s not pre-checks. Whatever you see out there, he lets us call what it is. And then whatever it may be, if it's not the right thing, we'll come in here and we'll talk about what we all saw and why we played it how we did and then we'll correct it. He lets us know that we have full control of the defense. That's one thing I like because we're able to go out there and play fast. Everyone's lined up right at the snap and you don't see people pointing at each other. You don't want the ball to go over your head. That's one thing we did last year, so we don't want that to happen again.” – Geno Stone

Even though it was just Day 1 of camp, Stone offered an in-depth – and telling – answer to one of the most common questions of the offseason: What is the biggest difference with Al’s Golden defense from last year.

3 Up

Al Golden

It doesn’t matter if it’s the first day of training camp or the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, if you’re calling a defense that has Burrow shaking his head and lamenting his performance, you’ve had a strong day.

Cam Taylor-Britt

Burrow would have had one more completion on the day if it weren’t an impressive effort by Cam Taylor-Britt, who knocked the ball loose from Tee Higgins near the sideline in a 7-on-7 drill.

Anyone who has watched the Bengals the last few years knows Higgins’ hands are like a vice. He has just three career fumbles and only one in the last three seasons. For Taylor-Britt to rip the ball free is worthy of a nod.

Evan McPherson

With the kicker coming off the worst season of his career and the disclosure from special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons that he suffered an ankle tweak in OTAs that set him back, McPherson went 6 for 6 on his field goals in the final drill of practice.

It was hard to gauge exact yardage from the media’s vantage point, but two of the longest kicks looked to be in the 48- to 49-yard range.

Not only were all six good, they all were dead center.

3 Down

Joe Burrow

It’s not too often you’ll see No. 9 in this section of a camp roundup. And when you do, you can pretty much guarantee he’ll come back with a vengeance the next day,

PJ Jules

It was surprisingly physical practice given that it was the first day as well as one without pads, and safety PJ Jules was a prime example on back-to-back plays.

In a 7-on-7 drill, Jules made the most forceful contact of the day, knocking rookie undrafted wide receiver Miachel Tinsley to the ground on a pass over the middle. On the next snap, Jules made contact with rookie undrafted receiver Jordan Moore.

That latter was more of a situation where both guys arrived at the spot at the same time and might have been overlooked had it not been just seconds after the previous pop.

Kole Taylor

Yeah, it’ll be a footnote by next week, and maybe sooner, but the undrafted rookie tight end had a perfectly placed pass bounce off his hands, which obviously isn’t a great way to start camp for someone trying to crack the 53.

And it wasn’t as though Jules or another defender was closing in and distracting Taylor. His drop came during a route on air.

Attendance

There were no surprise absences, with only contract-haggling defensive ends Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart not present.

Defensive tackle B.J. Hill didn’t participate, nor did the three players who are prohibited from doing so because they are on injury lists – running back Zack Moss (Non-Football Injury), rookie center Seth McLaughlin (Non-Football Injury) and tight end Erick All (Physically Unable to Perform).