Cincy Jungle
The Cincinnati Bengals took on the Philadelphia Eagles for their first preseason game of 2025. The Bengals played their starters for a quarter against the Eagles’ backups. The starting offense did its job, but the rest of the team has room to improve after this loss. Most of the game, the backups and starting defense looked outmatched.
The Bengals’ offense started off the game with the ball. No surprises as they moved the ball well against the Eagles’ backup defenders. Joe Burrow was six for seven for 71 yards. He hit Ja’Marr Chase three times for 41 of those yards (not including a touchdown that was called back). Chase Brown also had a good series with four touches and 24 yards. However, it was tight end Tanner Hudson who took the touchdown pass across the goal line, carrying two guys on top of him. Very little resistance aside from a penalty in a goal-to-go situation.
Unfortunately, we saw a very similar story to how the last season played out. Cincinnati’s defense showed very little resistance against the backups for Philadelphia. That included a 38-yard run by running back Will Shipley through a hole any of us could have gained at least five yards before a defender got to us. They toughened up a bit near the goal line, but a tush push on 4th-and-goal got the job done, tying the game.
We got some more of the Brown show, as he had 21 yards between running and receiving. It was Burrow and Chase combining for a touchdown to finish the drive, like we have seen so many times. Chase took a pass toward the outside of the field and turned back inside, leaving the only defender with a shot of touching him in the dust. 36 yards on the play.
The defense started off terribly again. Defensive back Josh Newton had an interception taken away from him at the highest point for 27 yards. Then a 15-yard pass on a play where the pass rush never even sniffed the quarterback set them up in field goal range. Fortunately, they were able to hold them to a field goal at the beginning of the second quarter.
That was the last we saw of the starters out there. It appeared to be a healthy outing, which is ultimately the most important thing from tonight. Disappointing outing for the defense that seemed to be playing well in training camp. At least the offense is still fun, though.
We saw some of first round pick Shemar Stewart actually playing football. He had a tackle for loss and a few pressures overall. He looked every bit like a guy who has all the tools to be a dominant defender. It is just a matter of him figuring out how to put that together.
The rest of the first half was dominated by Philadelphia backup quarterback Tanner McKee. He simply looked dominant against the first and second team defense with just backups. He had the sneak...
