Bengals Training Camp Ends Abruptly, but Joe Burrow Keeps Working

When they did it a second time, Taylor pulled Collins. When they scuffled for a third time, this time following a running play, it seemed like all their friends joined in.

As the melee surrounded them, Taylor and his good friend, Rams head coach Sean McVay, called it off. Even as the Bengals defense worked against the Rams offense on the adjacent field blissfully unaware.

Taylor, who substituted the two joint practices for the preseason game dress rehearsal, was satisfied they still got the work in they needed.

“We got two good days of work in. Now we go play on Saturday,” Taylor said. “Probably we had three plays left. Emotions run high. We’ve been working together for two days now and some really competitive guys get into it a little bit.”

What had been a crisp, business-like exercise on Wednesday turned into steamy, grinding, intramural football on the last day of training camp for both teams.

“We just wanted to make sure everybody is healthy,” Taylor said of cutting it off at the moment the helmets popped off. “And I think everyone is healthy and we move on. It’s over. We got two day of work in and everybody is healthy.”

Which, ironically, is the idea behind using the joint practices instead of playing starters in preseason games. After practice, Taylor can still see it being the future of the preseason.

“It’s a good substitute when guys aren’t playing in the games to get work in,” Taylor said. “It’s not a game-like environment but we get to manage the situation, so I thought it was worthwhile.”

And they did manage it. They stopped it. Collins, the estimable right tackle they picked up from Dallas, has a highly-regarded rep for practicing hard, and he was going against a guy that has 21 sacks in the last two seasons.

When Taylor was asked if the passion is what he’s seeking, Taylor said, “We like guys that like ball and he’s certainly one of these guys that fits into that category. That’s good to have in the mix.”

But there’s no one more passionate or competitive than…