3 winners (and 2 losers) for Bengals in preseason Week 1 win over Lions

The Cincinnati Bengals hit the field at Paycor Stadium for Week 1 of the preseason against the Detroit Lions on Thursday night, and they were clearly ready for prime time. Superstars like Joe Burrow and Dexter Lawrence were in action for the hosts, but the home team's 16-14 victory was more attributable to some of their less heralded players.

Not everything was sunshine and rainbows in the Queen City. Literally. It was dark and raining at times. No but really, there were plenty of quality performers to spot, a couple weak links inevitably surfaced.

Above all else, though, football is back! So we won't dwell or overreact too much to any so-called losers amongst the Bengals winners from this win in a matchup that could have Super Bowl preview vibes.

In case you missed our 53-man roster predictions, and want to cross-reference what you saw tonight with our projected outlook, check it out at the link above.

Winner: Bengals rookie class (and scouting department)

Take a bow, gridiron youngins and personnel old heads who brought the latest wave of draft picks onto the roster.

Where do we even begin? Clean pass rush wins for Cashius Howell (who also recovered a fumble) and Landon Robinson. Two catches, 28 yards for Colbie Young, including a 20-yard grab on a 3rd-and-16 pass from Joe Flacco. Tight end Jack Endries caught a 4-yard TD from Flacco to put the Bengals up 10-0.

Roll the tape! Inject the first proper touchdown of this exciting new era of Cincinnati football into my veins!!

This was impressive, y'all. Duke Tobin is somewhere grinning at all the haters who doubted that he and his minions had the resources to competently scout collegiate talent.

I mean, take a victory lap Duke. You've earned it my guy. Well not really. Bill Clinton was in the White House when you first took your current job post. You might have the most secure high-paying job on the face of the Earth.

Those haters I mentioned? I was loudly one of them. Let's just celebrate the fact that so many rookies showed out tonight.

Loser: The under center offensive adjustment

Big ups to Sleeper's Bengals X/Twitter account, which documented the snap counts for under center versus shotgun on Burrow's two offensive possessions:

• First drive: 4 plays under center, 1 in shotgun
• Second drive: 3 plays under center, 5 in shotgun

Guess which one ended with points? The greater number of plays on the latter series probably gives it away, eh?

But yeah. Further confirmation that this is a wrinkle the Bengals are still ironing out to phase into their playbook, rather than some overhaul of their core offensive architecture. And that's OK. We know Burrow should be back there in the gun picking defenses apart.

The bigger loser here is more, I suppose, the narrative that Cincinnati's system is undergoing a meaningful change. My only ask is for Chase Brown (five carries, 16 yards) to have a little more creativity to play designs that feature him toting the rock. Prior to the time when the Bengals are hopefully killing the clock in the fourth quarter to protect leads. Please, Zac Taylor?

Winner: Evan McPherson

Money Mac, baby. Evan McPherson drilled a 56-yard field goal to open the scoring. He split the uprights from 33 yards out in the third quarter, and from 41 yards in the fourth. By doing so, McPherson extended his perfect training camp stat line.

That first, long-range kick was a thing of beauty. Plenty of leg. It backed up the 65-yarder McPherson drilled last Friday during the Bengals' stadium practice.

FanSided's fresh NFL kicker rankings placed McPherson 13th. I have a feeling he'll be climbing the ladder before long. McPherson kicked the Bengals into Super Bowl LVI and was solid during their run to the next AFC Championship Game. He lacked consistency until last year's career-best field goal proficiency when he nailed 25 of 28 attempts.

McPherson has been in midseason form since late July. If the Bengals do indeed improve a lot on defense, and that offense keeps humming, and they have a clutch kicker to back them up, we can start thinking Super Bowl even more, Who Dey Heads.

Loser: Orlando Brown Jr.

Everyone, I had to pick a loser and as harsh as it was, Orlando Brown Jr. gets the nod here. I love me some OBJ. He's a steady anchor at left tackle for the most part. Solid if not spectacular.

But somebody's gotta lose — and did Brown ever lose on Thursday night in one big moment that, thank goodness, didn't prove too costly.

Brown let an undrafted rookie who had 2.5 sacks at Rutgers last year, Eric O'Neill, absolutely smoke him around the edge on a key third down. Burrow unloaded an incompletion/half throwaway to Tight End in Name Only Mike Gesicki just before O'Neill blew up Joe Shiesty's upper body/shoulder area and sent him to the canvas.

Not great! O'Neill doesn't even have a Wikipedia page. Trust me, I checked. To paraphrase Matthew McConaughey's immortal Wooderson, it'd be a lot cooler if he did.

Uncool thing: Seeing Burrow get popped like that in preseason Week 1.

I'm sure Brown will get it dialed back in. What a scary moment that was, though. Rich Eisen and the NFL Network crew had big reactions to that play. They were exclaiming things like, "WHY IS JOE IN THE GAME!?"

Rich and Co., have you seen how the Bengals' offense has started darn near every year under Zac Taylor? It's bad. They need reps, even if all 11 starters are back and it should look better than this.

Winner: Jordan Battle's contract stock

There's something to be said about being in the right place at the right time. Jordan Battle was the beneficiary of a rogue ricochet when Lions wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa let Luke Altmyer's pass deflect off his hands, and right into Battle's arms for an interception.

That opening-drive takeaway set a good tone for the evening. It also was an early signal that Battle is poised to pick up right where he left off when he had four interceptions in 2025. Same goes for DJ Turner, really, who had tight coverage on TeSlaa to help force the takeaway.

Like Turner, Battle is in the final year of his rookie contract. Unlike Turner, Battle isn't virtually guaranteed to stay in Cincinnati for the long haul. But if he keeps performing like this, it'll be hard to deny him.

Speaking of the stadium practice last week when McPherson boomed that 65-yard kick, Bengals.com's Dan Hoard shared a rave review for Battle from defensive coordinator Al Golden form that very setting:

"Jordan's having a great camp...I love where he's at mentally. He's prepared and he's in great condition."

No faux hype from Al. Battle was ready to hit the battlefield. Nice to see the Bengals kick off the exhibition phase 1-0. Good vibes heading into next week's matchup against Daaaa Bears.

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