CINCINNATI (WKRC) – Bengals head coach Zac Taylor on Saturday laid out a plan for how much the starters will play in Monday’s second preseason game at Washington, discussed who won’t play and then there was a surprise player on the rehab field that perhaps signals a position battle is over.
Taylor’s starters played two series in the first preseason game at Philadelphia on Aug. 7 and said the plan for the Washington game is “similar.”
Projected starting cornerbacks Cam Taylor-Britt and Dax Hill are expected to play against the Commanders after neither played at Philadelphia as Taylor-Britt was dealing with a soft tissue injury and Hill is being maintained as he returns from knee surgery after suffering a season-ending injury early last season.
“I would like to see them play, so right now where they’re at they would play,” said Taylor. “Just get them out there with the guys and get a chance to play in a game. Those guys have played a lot of football for us. Not much of a true evaluation that I need to see out of them.”
Among those who won’t play are due to injuries are: defensive end Myles Murphy, tight end Mike Gesicki, guard Cordell Volson and offensive tackle Devin Cochran.
Murphy is battling for a starting spot, and Taylor said he doesn’t believe his injury is long term. “He’s one of those guys who probably is in the weekish range,” said Taylor.” We’ll see where it ends up. Preseason you want to be cautious. We’re not going to throw him out there for a preseason game. It’s nothing long term significant.”
Gesicki hasn’t practiced since tweaking his hamstring on Aug. 2.
Volson suffered what appeared to be a shoulder injury in practice on Friday and could be out for awhile. “I thought he was having a good camp,” Taylor said of Volson, who has been running with the second team. “He was being consistent for us. He works his tail off, man. He’s one of those guys that you just appreciate, embracing whatever role you put him in. Goes out there and just works and has tremendous attitude. Again, we’ll see how it shakes out with him.”
Others who probably won’t play are cornerback DJ Turner, who missed practice on Saturday with a left calf issue, wide receiver Jermaine Burton, who returned to practice on Saturday after missing the previous four practices due to an undisclosed injury, cornerback Jalen Davis, who didn’t practice on Saturday, and offensive lineman Cody Ford, who was surprisingly on the rehab field on Saturday.
Ford entered camp battling Lucas Patrick for the starting right guard spot, but Patrick started the Philadelphia game at the position and Ford took first team reps at left tackle and right tackle this week in what appeared to be preparation for the backup swing tackle role.
“We’ll see how it all plays out,” said Taylor. “Yeah, haven’t made all those decisions yet.”
If Ford is in line for the backup swing tackle role and with Volson injured it has suddenly exposed depth at guard. Currently rookie Jalen Rivers would probably be in line for the top backup guard spot, although Ford can obviously play there as well.
“I think that’s still a work in progress, to see how it all shakes out, who ends up where,” said Taylor. “A lot of guys have battled through injuries, so you’re missing guys for a couple of days. You’re missing a guy for a game. So I think we have to continue to work through that and see how it shakes out.”
Taylor said he has a specific goal for what he wants to see from his team in the second preseason game.
“Better attention to detail.,” said Taylor “There’s so many foolish things we did, pre-snap primarily, a little bit of post snap, that had nothing to do with Philadelphia. It felt like we did not give ourselves the best chance to win that game. Who cares, preseason game, regular season game, it should all feel the same for us, postgame locker room and all that stuff. That part was really disappointing that there we’re overall so much better at, we’ve done a good job at practice of that did not carry over to the game, and I expect to see us much cleaner in this game operationally.”