Joe Burrow says Bengals’ offense must be better despite 2 TDs on 2 drives for starters

The Bengals’ first-string offense played two series in Thursday night’s preseason opener, and both series ended with Joe Burrow touchdown passes. But Burrow wasn’t satisfied afterward.

“It’s good to play football again,” Burrow said. “I could’ve been better, I missed the first throw. I threw all the other ones where I wanted to put them but I could have spun it a little better. . . . We got to be better. Too many procedural penalties, too many errors. Things like that are gonna happen, but I think it just wasn’t clean enough, across the board.”

After an incomplete pass to Tee Higgins on his first throw of the night, Burrow went 9-for-9 for 123 yards the rest of the way. In addition to his two touchdown passes, Burrow had another touchdown pass negated by a chop block penalty.

Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase picked up right where he left off last season, catching four passes for 77 yards and a touchdown. Tanner Hudson caught a touchdown pass from Burrow and later caught another from backup quarterback Desmond Ridder.

It’s hard to judge much when the Bengals played all their starters on offense and the Eagles did not play all their starters on defense, but Burrow and Chase looked sharp. If Burrow is right that the Bengals’ offense will get better, that’s a scary thought for the Bengals’ opponents.