Joe Burrow and Cincinnati Bengals Arrive for Preseason Showdown vs Philadelphia Eagles

Joe Burrow and the Bengals have arrived. Their plane landed in Philadelphia on Wednesday evening ahead of their preseason opener against the Eagles on Thursday Night Football.

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor made it clear that Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and the rest of the healthy starters will play in Thursday night's preseason opener against the Eagles.

"Play it like a game. Play it like a game," Burrow said when asked about his mindset going into Thursday night. "I'm sure we'll have a little different philosophy on how we're gonna call it than a regular game, but we'll see when it gets here. I'm gonna go out and cheer you like a game, try to get that rhythm."

The plan is for Burrow and company to play most of, if not all of the first quarter on Thursday night in Philadelphia.

"This game. This one really, give or take. You’re really looking at… I’m going to define it for you—the first quarter," Taylor said. "But it’s give or take. It could be a long possession that eats up most of the first quarter. Do you want them to get another one? I’ve always been in these preseason situations, you’re careful to say what I just said because it could go into the second quarter because of reps that we’ve gotten. But right now, that’s about the target period that we’ve got."

The Bengals want to get off to a faster start this season—and they believe more preseason reps for their stars are going to help them get there.

"We don't have this targeted as the biggest play time for our guys. We really picked Washington to be more of that," Taylor said. "Another thing I hate to put in a stone—a couple of series, several series is what we'll give those starters."

Burrow is expected to get the most snaps of the preseason in their matchup against the Commanders in Washington on Aug. 18. Don't be surprised if Taylor opts to play the starters for the entire first half in that contest.

The Bengals have started 0-2 in each of the past three seasons. They were 0-3 and 4-8 last year, before ending the season with five-straight wins.

Cincinnati is hoping to finish with a winning season for a fifth consecutive year. They've only done that once (2011-15) in franchise history.

Check out photos of the Bengals arriving in Philadelphia below: