It's now been three seasons since the Cincinnati Bengals made the playoffs. During that time, they've finished 9-8 twice before slipping to 6-11 a season ago. It's a long way from winning the AFC North twice in a row, and even making it to a Super Bowl under head coach Zac Taylor.
In response to that, the Bengals made a major investment in their roster during the offseason, especially on the defensive side of the ball. That, in turn, has added pressure to win now for the Bengals. That means finally getting back to the playoffs.
One Bengals player who is certainly sick of missing out on the playoffs is offensive lineman Dalton Risner. Now in his second season with the Bengals, Risner tasted the playoffs when he was with the Minnesota Vikings and knows what it takes to at least get there.
So, ahead of the season, Risner appeared on the Bengals Booth Podcast . There, he broke down what he sees as the keys to getting there.
"It excites me," Risner said . "I'm trying not to be too excited about it, though, because the work that we put in now is what matters. The first game, the second game, the third game, we got to take it one day at a time, and we got to just be looking at training camp… And if we can approach it that way with this roster, who knows? But if we get ahead of ourselves, and we think we're hot, and we forget that we went 6-11 last year, and we think that we got it all figured out, you'll get punched in the mouth."
You can't make the playoffs in Week 1. However, getting caught looking ahead can put you in a bad place down the line. So, Risner believes the Bengals need to focus on what they're doing in the moment.
"So for me personally, and I know Zac Taylor's been kind of reciprocating this, let's take it one day at a time. Let's stay humble, let's put the work in now so that we can actually go and earn that respect," Risner said.
Nothing could derail the season quicker for the Bengals than another injury to quarterback Joe Burrow. So the offensive line is going to need to protect him.
That didn't necessarily happen in the Bengals' first preseason game, though. Burrow got to play a little bit, but was pressured on 28.6% of his dropbacks. He also took a sack, which is a hit that Bengals head coach Zac Taylor doesn't want to see .
"It's never fun — that's not what we wanted to happen," Taylor said. "But again, we'll continue to improve."
Despite that bad game against the Detroit Lions , Taylor remains confident in his offensive line. They've looked good in practice, and while there's room to improve, there is also still time to get there.
"I think they've been good. They've been tested every single day from our defensive line," Taylor said. "And, again, I think the competition is making everybody better on both sides of the ball… You get your feet wet. That's football. Obviously there are places that we can be better."
The Bengals have two more preseason games, with their next one on August 22nd against the Chicago Bears . The regular season itself won't start up until September 13th, with a home game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers .
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