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Optimism has its turn as Bengals training camp rolls into the month of August. Before day six of camp began, starting center Billy Price was activated off of the NFI list. The second-year lineman made his comeback today after he was sidelined with a foot issue officially diagnosed as plantar fasciitis.
Of course we were treated with a slight scare mid-practice when it appeared Price may’ve gotten hurt again.
Price just had a bad snap to Dalton and limped away #Bengals
— Mark Slaughter (@MarkVSlaughter) August 2, 2019
Thankfully, it was indeed just a slight scare (we hope).
Price seemed fine in interviews just now, there’s no limp #Bengals pic.twitter.com/KocwTuy9Xc
— Mark Slaughter (@MarkVSlaughter) August 2, 2019
Price wasn’t the only story of the day, as his fellow teammates in white jerseys had perhaps their best day of camp.
Andy Dalton and the offense pops off
After Wednesday’s practice, the first with pads, head coach Zac Taylor claimed that the defense won the day by his count of “18-3”. The offense seemed to respond well after a day off from practice and came back strong.
Another long TD pass from Dalton to Auden Tate. Offense has looked good so far.
— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) August 2, 2019
Andy Dalton to Tyler Boyd.
— Brandon Saho (@BrandonSaho) August 2, 2019
Gonna be a lot of this in 2019.#Bengals pic.twitter.com/JAP28g2Cq6
In front of Dalton was not only the return of Price but also John Jerry, whom the team planned to go with the 1s today for Price’s return per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. The battle between Jerry and Christian Westerman is still on-going and it makes sense why the coaching staff wanted Price to play next to the guy he’s used to lining up with on his first day back.
Last night during the Hall of Fame game between the Broncos and Falcons, the Broncos became the first team to challenge a pass interference in accordance with the new rule set this offseason. Apparently, the offensive coaches for the Bengals saw a good case before their eyes today.
Bengals coaching staff jokingly asks for a pass interference review after Tyler Eifert and Jessie Bates were jostling on a route.
— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) August 2, 2019
Carl Lawson is officially back
Week 8 of the 2018 regular season was about nine months ago, which makes Lawson’s recovery from his torn ACL all the more impressive. The third-year pass-rusher had his best day of camp today and appears to be 100% back from his season-ending injury.
Carl Lawson has taken a grand total of zero snaps off in this 11-on-11 session. Relentless on every single snap. #Bengals
— Jed DeMuesy (@Local12Jed) August 2, 2019
Carl Lawson is putting in some work today. He’s harassed the QB often.
— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) August 2, 2019
Training camp thought of the day:
— Jeremy Rauch (@FOX19Jeremy) August 2, 2019
Carl Lawson is a WRECKING ball. @FOX19 #Bengals
In case you were wondering, Lawson is still very much jacked.
Lawson: “if you want desert, you gotta eat your vegetables” #Bengals @WLWT pic.twitter.com/mAWS05Oeqx
— Mark Slaughter (@MarkVSlaughter) August 2, 2019
Lawson also expanded on how his recovery has benefitted his game.
More Lawson on how he feels after last years injury #Bengals pic.twitter.com/RJSBEgepuy
— Mark Slaughter (@MarkVSlaughter) August 2, 2019
Injury updates
For the past couple of practices, Darqueze Dennard (left) has joined John Ross (right) on the rehab field, but he appears to have had the day off while Ross was still working.
John Ross still “day-to-day” according to Zac Taylor. He’s doing some individual work on the rehab field. #Bengals pic.twitter.com/YwsroMWAVG
— Brandon Saho (@BrandonSaho) August 2, 2019
As of now, there’s been no setbacks for Ross, who claims he’s in a great mental state to succeed in year three.
Ross: “I’m more ready than I’ve ever been” #Bengals pic.twitter.com/OMJTFqFBoy
— Mark Slaughter (@MarkVSlaughter) August 2, 2019