Bengals Rookie Jordan Battle Wasn’t Happy With One Aspect of His Otherwise Strong Debut

On a day when most of the Cincinnati Bengals rookies were thrilled to be getting their biggest taste of NFL action yet, third-round safety Jordan Battle was kicking himself over a play he failed to make during the joint practice against Green Bay Packers.

The Green Bay offense didn’t have a lot of success during the session, but on one of them, receiver Samori Toure got wide open against Battle for an easy touchdown.

How Jordan Battle Fixed the Play He Wanted Back

“Obviously, it’s a play I want back,” Battle said after the practice. “But you don’t get plays back in practice or in a game, so all you can do is move on and have that next-play mentality.”

Battle said the Bengals were in quarters coverage, and he anticipated Toure would run a seam route and got caught guessing, allowing the receiver to get wide open when he broke off for the corner.

Two nights later in the preseason opener, Battle saw a similar formation, but instead of going to instant recall and anticipating another corner route, he stayed in the moment and played the play as it was happening.

This time Toure ran the seam route, and Battle got his hands on the ball at the goal line for his first NFL pass defense.

“That felt great,” Battle said. “In the game, it’s 90 percent mental and 10 percent instinct. You have to know what’s coming, know what you practiced, know what you looked at on film. It wasn’t quite the same formation. It was three by two in the practice, they were empty, but it was three by one in the game.”

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Battle suffered a leg injury in the first practice of camp and missed more than a week, but he never fell behind mentally. In addition to the PBU at the goal line, Battle’s first tackle went for a three-yard loss.

Battle blitzed off the left edge, and the Packers ran a toss sweep the other way. Battle never stopped, coming all the way across the formation, and when Joseph Ossai set the edge and forced running back Patrick Taylor to cut back inside, Battle was waiting to drop him.

“Extra effort play,” Battle said after the game.

He finished with two tackles on defense and one on special teams, as his 65 combined snaps were the most of any defensive player.

Still, he was disappointed about one aspect of his debut.

“The goal is to get a win,” Battle said. “It doesn’t feel good that in my first game as a Bengal that I lost, even though it’s a preseason game. It’s just a standard you hold yourself to.”