Ja'Marr thinks that the starters need to play more in the preseason to avoid a slow start, which it's kind of hard to argue against that logic when you look at the fact that we've gone 1-11 in the first two weeks under Zac and 4-13-1 through the first three weeks, which the only year we had a winning record was the year that we went to the Super Bowl.

Last season, we lost to a bad Pats team at home in the opener, KC in another close one in week 2, and then another close one to the Redskins at home in week 3, which we make the playoffs if we win two of those games, and maybe even just one depending on how the tiebreaker scenarios played out.

The flip-side of the coin is that players can get injured, but that's every game and I think that we need to get our players more meaningful snaps in the preseason to get them used to going full speed and facing competition that's different than their teammates.

Being ready to play from the opening whistle this year will be very important because we go on the road to Cleveland, who should be pretty bad, but it's a division game and we've lost the last three against them and four of the last five.

Then we play the Jags at home, which they should be pretty bad, so we need to not take them lightly and just come out and destroy them in The Jungle.

Going to Minnesota in week 3 will be a tough game and we'll need momentum and it will be big if we can be 2-0 going into that game filing on all cylinders.

Week 4 is a Monday night game in Denver, which they won't be a pushover and they have a tough secondary, which is obviously good for them against us. We need to score early, establish the run, and keep the crowd out of it.

Week 5 is a very tough game against the Lions in The Jungle, which we'll obviously also need to be on our A game.

Hopefully starts playing in the preseason helps us get off to a fast start and gives us momentum going into the rest of the season.

Ideally, I'd love to see us 5-0, and even 4-1 would be nice, but I think we have to at least be 3-2 after the first five.

Here's pieces of the article:

Quote:The Cincinnati Bengals' perennial slow start has become a glaring issue, forcing them to burrow out of early-season holes. In the past two years, they've failed, finishing 9-8 and missing the postseason in back-to-back campaigns.

"It sounds like we need to play in the preseason, huh?" receiver Ja'Marr Chase said on Tuesday, via the Associated Press.

The Bengals have traditionally not played their key players much in the preseason under Taylor. It's something that he's admitted could change as Cincinnati attempts to avoid a seventh consecutive slow start.

"The one thing I do feel good about is playing our guys in the preseason," Taylor said last week, via ESPN. "That's always subject to change, depending on health and how things go with our team during training camp, but that's one thing that we've openly talked about with our players, and I think will help us as we do it."

The preseason is a delicate balance of getting stars reps while avoiding injuries that could completely crater a season. How many snaps for the likes of Joe Burrow, Chase and Tee Higgins are enough to jumpstart their chemistry heading into the season? There is no correct answer, but Taylor seems ready to make it a non-zero figure.

I'm pumped that the players want to play more in the preseason so they'll be ready to come out firing!

WHO-DEY!

So does everyone who's ever gone to a preseason game... In all seriousness; Ja'Marr is right, and we all see it.

I got a different vibe than this headline from reading it on PFT.

It sounds like he doesn't want to play in the preseason, and was stating that he did not think playing in the preseason would have made a difference as he was not mentally ready to start the season due to the contractual distraction.

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill?p=00000188-c129-d00b-a588-cb2920680000.2

They have two choices. Play more in pre-season and be better prepared for the real games

Or not, start slow, miss the playoffs again, and ruin more years w Burrow.

I dont even know how this is debate

This is what happens when the org is so afraid of preseason injuries, they risk impact to development/being ready for Week 1.
How many years in a row now have we seen Bengals not really get going until Oct/Nov?
At some point, you gotta take the risk of some additional preseason reps to better prepare for September.
As others have said too, it would make preseason more enjoyable for some fans that may not be as familiar with or interested in some of these back-end roster guys who are just trying to make the team.

well until they learn how to win in september they need to play all preseason games All starters need reps.

but reading the full interview it seems he was being sarcastic

Everybody knows.

It is a gamble either way, it is a gamble if we start slow again as well. We need to treat the opener like we are on the tail of last years
winning streak and try to keep that momentum going.

(05-28-2025, 12:18 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: I'm pumped that the players want to play more in the preseason so they'll be ready to come out firing!

That interpretation takes some real creative editing and ignoring of the words he directly says in the start of the video to then mean the exact opposite of what he said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/is-bengals-wr-jamarr-chase-for-or-against-playing-in-the-preseason-his-answer-is-yes/ar-AA1FDQsB

Quote:It’s safe to say Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase hasn’t put a ton of thought into the team-wide benefits of playing starters in the preseason.

He just knows he doesn’t want to do it.

“That’s not up to me,” Chase said after the team’s first OTA practice Tuesday. “If it was up to me, I wouldn’t be out there.”

Not even for a series? Not just to knock some rust off?

“Of course not,” Chase said. “You asked, ‘Do I want to play?’ Not really. Nah, man. I don’t mind like a series, but that’s literally all we do. You don't really feel mentally ready for a game like that. For me. I don't think I do. I'm not gonna speak for everybody else.”

They shouldn't sit out with 2 years remaining on their Rookie Deals either. He's quite mature now that he has been paid.

It doesn’t take Goofy to know the slow starts are a serious problem. It doesn’t take Goofy to realize there’s a risk to injury. With Joe I’m sure that was solid mindset. No Joe why bother? But I understand they’ve been much more ( or plan to) aggressive in their offensive install. Teams continue to install as the season progresses. And that’s normal. But they’re addressing it. But if somebody gets hurt the boo birds won’t be kind. Damn if you do or damn if you don’t.

Really makes me wonder how much of the “culture” is just Zac Taylor rizzing top players.

If playing our starters in the pre-season cures our early season crapfest, I'm all for it. But I'm not sure making them play a series here and there in the pre-season is going to cure whatever it is that makes the ZT era treat the first 2-3 weeks of the season like the games don't count. I get the optimism of having Burrow on the team, but it feels like there is always that ability to just shrug off any loss and say "Meh, Burrow will just win 10 in a row and we'll be fine."

(05-28-2025, 07:22 PM)Nately120 Wrote: If playing our starters in the pre-season cures our early season crapfest, I'm all for it. But I'm not sure making them play a series here and there in the pre-season is going to cure whatever it is that makes the ZT era treat the first 2-3 weeks of the season like the games don't count.  I get the optimism of having Burrow on the team, but it feels like there is always that ability to just shrug off any loss and say "Meh, Burrow will just win 10 in a row and we'll be fine."

Like I said in another thread that was already talking on this topic, the Starters need to run at least a couple of series every preseason game. The starting OL needs to play into the second quarter. Have we not seen enough of the OL showing up on opening day looking like they all just met each other in the parking lot that morning?

I'm not at all suggesting that the Starters should be "worked hard" in preseason, but getting everyone on the same page eliminates a lot of bugs on opening day. Besides, we have a team that hasn't reached the playoffs for two years straight, they could use the extra work..

Realizing all the experts on here think the answer is to play starters in the pre-season, it was very interesting to listen to Pat Kirwin and Jim Miller say the exact opposite on "Moving the Chains" yesterday. They think it's ludicrous to play players like Burrow, Chase, Higgins etc in the pre-season. According to them, and I've heard them say this many times, they get much more and much better work at practice than they do in a PS game. But what do they know about pro football, right?
The Bengals, under Taylor, have a history of starting slow, that's true. But it has more to do with Burrow's injuries than it does pre-season games. What we do NOT want to do, is become one of the many teams that comes out hot right out of the gate, then fades away in the second half of the season. Taylor's teams always seem to peak as playoff time gets nearer.

(05-29-2025, 08:52 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Realizing all the experts on here think the answer is to play starters in the pre-season, it was very interesting to listen to Pat Kirwin and Jim Miller say the exact opposite on "Moving the Chains" yesterday. They think it's ludicrous to play players like Burrow, Chase, Higgins etc in the pre-season. According to them, and I've heard them say this many times, they get much more and much better work at practice than they do in a PS game. But what do they know about pro football, right?
The Bengals, under Taylor, have a history of starting slow, that's true. But it has more to do with Burrow's injuries than it does pre-season games. What we do NOT want to do, is become one of the many teams that comes out hot right out of the gate, then fades away in the second half of the season. Taylor's teams always seem to peak as playoff time gets nearer.

being hot at the end of the year doesnt matter if your out of contention by the end of october.

(05-29-2025, 09:12 AM)XenoMorph Wrote: being hot at the end of the year doesnt matter if your out of contention by the end of october.

On the other hand, being hot at the beginning of the year means nothing if you cannot sustain it. There have been reasons for our slow starts, and Jim and Pat pointed them out. Not playing in pre-season was not one of them. They actually were laughing at that idea.

(05-28-2025, 08:53 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Like I said in another thread that was already talking on this topic, the Starters need to run at least a couple of series every preseason game. The starting OL needs to play into the second quarter. Have we not seen enough of the OL showing up on opening day looking like they all just met each other in the parking lot that morning?

I'm not at all suggesting that the Starters should be "worked hard" in preseason, but getting everyone on the same page eliminates a lot of bugs on opening day. Besides, we have a team that hasn't reached the playoffs for two years straight, they could use the extra work..

We play the browns in week 1 right?  If Flakeo gets knocked out of that game and Shitdeur Sandcastle comes in and beats us I want our entire coaching staff fired...out of a canon. 

The reason they lost to the Patriots last year - and subsequently missed the playoffs - is because Jamar Chase chose to sit out the entire pre-season in 2024, and they had to limit his snaps and his routes in week one.  They used him like he was Drew Sample, instead of Jaamar Chase.

He had 10 REC for 97 Yards and 0 TDs total in their first two games of 2024 vs KC and NE - both losses.

They need to play more in the preseason, all of them.

Anyone who says otherwise does not understand football 

(05-29-2025, 11:04 AM)c766 Wrote: The reason they lost to the Patriots last year - and subsequently missed the playoffs - is because Jamar Chase chose to sit out the entire pre-season in 2024, and they had to limit his snaps and his routes in week one.  They used him like he was Drew Sample, instead of Jaamar Chase.

He had 10 REC for 97 Yards and 0 TDs total in their first two games of 2024 vs KC and NE - both losses.

They need to play more in the preseason, all of them.

Anyone who says otherwise does not understand football 

100% these guys are paid millions of dollars to be prepared 

And they come out looking like they don't even want to be there.

Chase being more ready certainly would have helped, but again, 14 missed tackles and 2 turnovers was the real killer. It’s always been the entire team starting slow under Zac.