The Cincinnati Bengals Are Already So Worried About The Eagles That Joe Burrow Will Be Playing In Preseason Week 1
Dylan Buell. Getty Images.Listen, man. I get it.
You're going up against the defending champs. The Philadelphia Eagles proved themselves to be the most dominant team in football last season. The Kansas City Chiefs were on the verge of completing something that had never been done in the history of the game, and the Eagles spanked the absolute balls off of them on the biggest stage. They won the conference championship and the Super Bowl by a combined 50 points.
The Eagles are the measuring stick, and the Bengals want to see where they stack up against the best of the best. It's a huge season for Cincinnati. It'll be the first time in a while where Joe Burrow is heading into a season not coming off of an injury. That window to get back to the Super Bowl after losing in 2021 is coming dangerously close to closing up. The Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins contract extensions have kicked in.
Most coaches would avoid playing their starters in week 1 of the preseason. There's still a long ways to go before getting to the regular season. Too many risks involved here by taking Joe Burrow out of the red jersey and having him see some live action right away. But when you're playing against the defending champs, you need to throw everything you have at them. This is the biggest game on their schedule this year.
Good news for the Eagles is that they've already proved they can win a Super Bowl in a year where the entire city wants to fire the head coach after a sluggish start. So there's no need to play the starters on Thursday unless Nick Sirianni just wants to be a prick about it and make the Bengals pay for putting Joe Burrow out there. Announce that you'll be throwing Jalen Carter, Jordan David, and Jihaad Campbell at him for a few plays just to make sure he doesn't get a chance to sleep on Wednesday night.