QUOTE OF THE DAY
New tight end Noah Fant, when asked if there's anything about Burrow that's surprised him now that he's been here a couple of weeks:
"No. To be honest with you, I came in with the highest expectations, and he's lived up to that and done all that. His mentality, coming to work every day, attacking the day, being detailed. All those things, it never falters. That's who he is. I've really appreciated that and enjoyed working with that."
SLANTS AND SCREENS
Fant makes his Bengals debut in Washington Monday night (8-ESPN) after three-year stints in Denver and Seattle. With the Bengals being cautious with Mike Gesicki and holding him out against the Commanders, Fant should have no problem getting some targets. He certainly looks acclimated. On Saturday, Burrow found him for back-to-back touchdowns in seven-on-seven low red zone.
Fant says the Bengals' offense is complicated, but he means it as a compliment. With 300 catches in 95 NFL games, he's got some context.
"It's very detailed to be able to scratch any itch that you need against any defense in the league," Fant said. "All those things are very necessary. You need to know a lot of things. I think this is the most detailed I've played in. That's not to say any of the offenses I've been in have been bad. But I think this one, with the amount of things you have to know, you have to be locked in on your stuff. But I'm enjoying it." …
Cornerback Dax Hill hasn't played a game in ten months since he tore his ACL, and it sounds like head coach Zac Taylor is letting him go Monday. He looked ready Saturday on a third-and-three in a simulated end-of-game drill. Hill roared down hill on a dump pass to running back Samaje Perine, and Perine was ruled short. The Bengals would have opted for the field goal, but Evan McPherson had the day off after kicking Friday …
It also looks like rookie defensive end Shemar Stewart probably gets his first NFL start Monday with Taylor saying he wants to get him in the mix with the Ones and injured starting defensive end Myles Murphy not playing against the Commanders.
Taylor didn't pull him aside to talk about Wednesday's incident, where Stewart accidentally bumped into Burrow as he was throwing a pass. He felt it was enough to address it as a team issue following the practice.
"I think it's gotten a lot more attention from the media than we've given it in our locker room," Taylor said at his pre-practice news conference Saturday.
Count him as a Stewart fan during his very impressive inaugural training camp.
"The power, the disruptiveness, there's a lot of words you can use. You feel his impact," Taylor said. "I stand back there and call all the plays, so you get an evaluation of people very quickly when you're trying to have success as an offense and drive the ball down the field in practice. You form opinions and evaluations of guys very quickly, and he's a guy that's made an impact on me, I know that." …
Usually at this point in the preseason, the Bengals have had a joint practice, or are prepping for one. Taylor ditched it this year and this long week between games (11 days) has validated his decision. They've been able to focus on their own agenda rather than game plan for another club.
"Just focusing on us, I really feel like we're prepared. Our goal all along was really to be prepared for this Washington game. And not that this is a real game for us, but real game plan, but just to get everything installed up through today," Taylor said. "We feel like they're in a really good spot in terms of everything we want to get accomplished. If we had sacrificed three days to go focus (on a) game plan for an opponent, I don't think I feel as good right now that we got everything in." …
Taylor is waiting to make a call on wide receiver Jermaine Burton's status for Monday. Burton has been on the rehab field much of the time since reeling off a big punt and kick return in the preseason opener …
Cody Ford, who played both tackles for the Ones Wednesday (left) and Friday (right), didn't work Saturday. Starting tackles Orlando Brown Jr. and Amarius Mims were back together …