7 things we learned from Bengals' preseason opener vs Packers

The Cincinnati Bengals' preseason has begun and the Stripes are 0-1. Their first opponent was the Green Bay Packers, who played their starters (or most of them) for two series before giving way to the backups.

As for the Bengals, they did not play their starters. Well, they didn't play all but one of their projected starters. Let's start there with the takeaways from the preseason opener.

All stats courtesy of ESPN

Dax Hill the only projected starter to suit up and play

The only projected starter to take the field in pads and a helmet was Dax Hill. This isn't necessarily a surprise, as the 2022 first-round pick didn't start during his rookie season and needs as many reps as possible to get him prepared for life as a starter.

Fortunately, Hill looked good in the limited time we did get to see him. The Michigan product had a nice pass breakup in the first quarter when Jordan Love was targeting Christian Watson.

Hill's roster spot isn't in jeopardy so him starting isn't a bad thing. It gives him time to see what he can expect as a starting safety in the NFL and while this was only a preseason game, Hill looked pretty good. Let's hope that production carries over into the regular season.

Jonah Williams locks up starting RT job

With Hill being the only projected starter on either side of the ball to take the field, we can presume that Jonah Williams has officially won the starting right tackle job. The entire starting o-line in this game were made up of backups so despite Williams not playing right tackle before, he's shown the coaching staff enough to win the starting gig.

This isn't much of a surprise due to Williams' contract for the 2023 season but it wouldn't have been shocking if he had played a few reps in the opener due to the newness of the position. Clearly, Williams has done everything he needed to in training camp to lock down the job.

Tycen Anderson with a strong impression

The star of the preseason opener was easily Tycen Anderson, who had a pair of interceptions, including one that he took to the house.

Anderson's first interception was a pick-six off of Packers backup quarterback (and Cincinnati native) Sean Clifford. His second pick was also off of Clifford and while it didn't go for six points, it was still impressive work by Anderson.

Coming into this game, it felt as though Anderson would make the 53-man roster but his performance in this game all but guaranteed that he would. He definitely made the most of his limited time on the field.

Injuries occurred...

Unfortunately, just because the games don't count in the preseason doesn't mean that injuries that take place in the preseason don't count either. The Bengals weren't able to entirely avoid the injury bug, seeing Joe Bachie, Yusuf Corker, Allan George, and Tanner Hudson all suffer injuries at some point.

Bachie is the most notable name here and the likeliest out of this bunch to make the 53-man roster. Bachie had a chest injury, Corker had a hamstring issue, and Hudson landed hard after a catching a pass from Jake Browning and attempting to hurdle some defenders.

Corker is going to have a tough time making the team considering he was low on the depth chart to begin with, Anderson's big night, and now this injury. Hudson hopefully can show something in the final two preseason games if healthy because tight end is a pretty wide-open position for the Bengals.

George's injury appeared to be near the end of the game, as he was spotted in the blue tent and then headed toward the locker room.

Standouts not named Tycen Anderson

We all know that Anderson was the star of the show but who else upped their stock? I'm not going to discuss Evan McPherson and his four field goal night because we already know that he's great.

• Andrei Iosivas led the night in receiving yards with 50 off of four receptions. He was targeted a whopping 10 times.
• Chris Evans broke off a big 33-yard run that will give all of us hope for his roster chances once again.
• Jay Tufele had a really nice tackle for loss in the first half and finished the night with three total tackles. I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up making the team but the competition will be stiff.

Bad standouts

On the flip side of that, some players whose stock took a hit in this game were Jackson Carman and Sidney Jones. Carman started the game at right tackle, then was swapped out for D'Ante Smith, and then was inserted back into the o-line at right tackle in the fourth quarter. He didn't look good.

As for Jones, he got beat on a touchdown and despite being in the right spot, that's going to be something that could haunt him. He didn't have anything impressive about his night while guys like D.J. Turner and D.J. Ivey had positive moments.

Neither QB inspired much confidence

With this being the preseason, we're set to watch a lot of lesser-known names at the quarterback position and this game was no exception. For the Bengals, it was Jake Browning and Trevor Siemian who got to play quarterback in this game and neither guy played particularly well.

Browning went 10-of-17 for 95 yards and one interception while Siemian went 15-of-28 for 121 yards and one interception. It is worth noting that Browning started the game and played the entire first half so his talent was a smidge better than Siemian's, who had third-stringers protecting him and to throw to.

More than likely, if Joe Burrow has to miss an extended period of time during the regular season, the Bengals aren't winning more than a handful of those games. Still, it'd be nice to see more from the two backup options. The Bengals signed Siemian instead of re-signing Brandon Allen because they wanted to be better prepared should Burrow have to miss time and he didn't do much to put fans' minds at ease.