Cincinnati Bengals fans hoping to see the team's starters out on the field for the preseason finale against the Indianapolis Colt on Thursday, Aug. 22 are going to be disappointed. Bengals head coach Zac Taylor revealed that the starters won't play in the game against the Colts. Just to repeat that, the starters will not play.
"I don't," Taylor replied when asked if anticipated playing any first-teamers against Indianapolis.
Zac Taylor says starters will not play Thursday night against the Colts, too early to tell what happened with Myles Murphy. pic.twitter.com/HYCHI4YGNl
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) August 20, 2024
While the news might be slightly disappointing, it's really not surprising at all. After all, the main point of the preseason is to get some of the younger and more inexperienced players increased on-field opportunity. Plus, Cincinnati's starters played some in the team's first preseason game of 2024 -- a 17-14 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team is scheduled to open up the regular season against the New England Patriots on Sunday, Sept. 8.
Bengals' first unit won't play, but starters for the Colts will
While the Bengals don't expect to play any starters in the preseason finale -- probably to avoid any injury risk -- the Colts plan to take the opposite approach, as their starters -- including quarterback Anthony Richardson -- will be out there for a period of time, according to Colts coach Shane Steichen.
"Some guys might play less, some guys might play more, but want to get those guys out there and run around on Thursday night," Steichen said. "... Obviously you want to be smart with these guys in the preseason because we got a long season ahead of us, but we're excited to get those guys out there on Thursday.
"After this Thursday night we got 17 days until we kick off against Houston, so this is a big day," he added. "We gotta get the players ready to roll and go out there and play and get that game-like experience before Week 1 gets here."
This is the second straight exhibition that Cincinnati has opted to sit its starters while the opposing team has gone in a different direction. Last weekend, the Bengals' starters sat against Chicago while the Bears played their first unit throughout the first half. The result of that game was a 27-3 victory in favor of Chicago.
At the end of the day, you can debate the merit of playing starters in the preseason vs. resting them, and an argument can be made both ways. Sure, it's nice to get some additional reps in for the starters and given them an added opportunity to develop chemistry, but it also makes sense to avoid potential injury issues in a game that is ultimately meaningless.
There's not necessarily a right or wrong answer, and in the preseason contest between the Bengals and Colts, we'll see those two opposite approaches clash.