QUICK HITS | Back Of The Roster Rewards For Bengals Hopefuls

LANDOVER, Md. _ Earlier this week, as wide receiver Mitchell Tinsley continued to torch Bengals training camp, quarterback Jake Browning talked about the things that made him such an inviting target at a mere 6-1, 205 pounds with no NFL catches during his two seasons with the Commanders.

“His releases,” Browning said, “and 50-50 balls. He’s really good at contested catches.”

We take you to Monday night’s last minute of the first half of the Bengals’ second preseason game, and Browning putting the ball only where Tinsley could get it and make a 50-50 ball 100-0.

With 34 seconds left from 13 yards away, Browning saw Tinsley one-on-one against journeyman cornerback Bobby Price. Tinsley had to stretch-lean his body to the right to stop it with his right hand and bring it in for the touchdown, ripping it away from Price.

Twenty seconds later, Browning leered at undrafted rookie cornerback Car’lin Vigers trying to cover Tinsley on the outside. Browning and Tinsley did what they’ve done all camp and ran the fade perfectly with Tinsley leaping over Vigers and taking the ball off his helmet and hands in the back of the end zone.

“I went up and made a play. Nothing crazy about it,” said Tinsley after he pretty much wrapped up a roster spot with five catches for 73 yards against the team that brought him in as an undrafted free agent out of Penn State in 2023. “I try to focus on the things I can control. I leave that up to other people.

“For me, this is the beginning. I figure there’s a lot more I can get.”

Staying true to the sports psychology books he read this past offseason, Tinsley said he didn’t want to make a bigger deal out of Monday night than it was.

“I treat it as practice,” Tinsley said. “If I feel like if I go in with that mindset, I’ll stay relaxed.”

Tinsley said he enjoyed the interaction with old teammates after the game, but he said there had been no revenge on his mind. Only preparation.

“They were just another team out there,” Tinsley said.

But Bengals head coach Zac Taylor had no problem making Tinsley’s return to Washington a big deal when he made him and linebacker Joe Giles-Harris the game captains for their terrific camps at the back of the roster.

“(Tinsley) has become a guy that everybody really respects in the locker room. He just goes out there and works, and we respect that,” Taylor said. “He created the opportunities for himself. He’s done enough in practice to where we wanted to put him in the positions to be at the point of attack when he was in the game there. He rewarded himself with touchdowns, catches and extending drives.”

The crowning moment of his night may have come when he was trusted enough to run with quarterback Joe Burrow in the third drive of the game. Then, when Burrow was asked if he thought Tinsley made the club, No. 9 said, “I hope so.”


Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *