Other Notes
– Here’s what Burrow likes about the run game:
“(It’s) matching up with our play-action, it’s matching up with all of our formations really well. The O-Line is really happy with the schemes we have in there.”
– Thursday’s other Heisman winner, Caleb Williams, is going to make his Soldier Field debut Saturday when the Bears play their starters against the Bengals’ Twos and Threes. But Williams, like Burrow, the overall No. 1 pick, is going to face two cornerbacks vying for the starting job opposite Bengals’ No. 1 cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt.
Dax Hill, who has been playing with the Ones since his three deflections in last Saturday’s preseason opener, has been getting snaps ahead of DJ Turner, the incumbent who started on Saturday.
“I thought (Hill) had a good game the other night. I think he’s making progress every single week,” Taylor said. “Way too soon to say right now where that is and everybody still has plenty of opportunity.”
– Bengals linebacker Germaine Pratt welcomed Caleb Williams rudely to practice with an interception in the first seven-on-seven drill.
“Very first play, man. Set the tone for the day,” Taylor-Britt said. “And I believe that kind of just carried on throughout the different team events in everything.”
Still, Williams got some shots in with a post touchdown to wide receiver DJ Moore and a fade touchdown to wide receiver Keenan Allen. In the move-the-ball period, the Bengals stopped Williams on four downs, which included Taylor-Britt’s leaping pass deflection on a deep ball down the sideline against wide receiver Nsimba Webster.
“I think we held up. We did our job and we went out there and competed all day,” Taylor-Britt said. “I didn’t see too many explosives, man. We played top-down through there, especially on the back end. Communication was great very noisy on the field. I believe they had more trouble than us today.”
Taylor-Britt and starting safeties Vonn Bell and Geno Stone won’t play Saturday and, like Burrow, they may have played in their last game before the opener. Taylor-Britt says the secondary is already better than last year.
“It’s night and day. With the two safeties that we got back, now is very different,” Taylor-Britt said. “Having Vonn back, that voice that we need, and Geno just fell right into place basically with the backend and we’ve all kind of come in together and helped each other out in every way.”
Taylor-Britt came away impressed with Williams.
“He’s a good passer. He extends plays. You have to stay plastered,” Taylor-Britt said. “The play is never really over with the ball in his hands. You can compare him to Pat (Mahomes) in a way just because of how elusive he gets after their regular play. It’s like a second one.”
– Burrow and Jake Browning (rib) are on the sidelines Saturday, so Logan Woodside and rookie Rocky Lombardi are going to quarterback the night. Taylor isn’t sure how long Browning is out, but indicated if it might be a different story if it was the regular season.
“It’s just better to let it settle instead of continuing to push through it, which maybe if it was a game you could. It’s just going to nag for a while, and just let it rest,” Taylor said. “It could be through next week, that’s a possibility, but I think it’s just a day-to-day thing that we kind of see how it goes. If you do it soon, too quickly, you can re-aggravate it.”
– In the last period of the day, Woodside moved the ball with passes to wide receivers Kwamie Lassiter II and Shed Jackson. It set up Evan McPherson’s 51-yard field-goal attempt that hit the right upright.