When Joe Burrow set high expectations with his words this week, it wasn't much of a surprise.
Burrow has reason to feel confident in his team thanks in part to the Cincinnati Bengals' offseason investment in its defense.
After a joint practice with the Bears, it's making some sense to the opposition, too. Chicago quarterback Caleb Williams came away from the practice-field battle with a positive review of Cincinnati's defense and a focus on the Bengals' biggest offseason acquisition, defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence.
"He's an All-Pro guy," Williams said of Lawrence, via The Cincinnati Enquirer. "One of the best, if not the best, D-tackles, with Chris Jones and all of them up there. He's a force to be reckoned with, and that's something that you go into a game week that you plan for him, that you plan to execute against him and doing things that aren't necessarily in his favor and maybe his body type, his style of play, the scheme and things like that and where they have him."
"It's definitely a test for us," Williams added. "It's different styles out there, different body types. They do things differently over there. It's always a good challenge to be able to go against somebody else and get a test from somebody else, and they were a great test for us. They invested pretty heavily in their defense from last year, and it showed up today with them being able to cause some negative plays."
Lawrence made headlines in Thursday's session by tipping a Williams pass and intercepting it, showing off his dexterity while giving the Bengals' defense a win in a late-game scenario drill that would have been mighty useful amid Chicago's comeback win over the Bengals in Cincinnati last season. By most accounts, Lawrence dominated the day, justifying the first-round pick the Bengals sent to the Giants in exchange for the All-Pro defender back in April -- at least for one day.
Training camp tends to be an incubator for extreme optimism regarding a unit or a handful of standout players, but the true test arrives when joint practices occur. On these days, coaching staffs gain more information about specific players and their team's preparedness than even a preseason game, functioning as a litmus test for where each aspect of their team stands as the regular season approaches.
It sounds as if Cincinnati's defense passed those tests, thanks in large part to Lawrence.
"They look like how they've looked all training camp," Burrow said, via the team's official site. "I'm excited to go and watch that tape. We'll watch that. They look great in the small part that I saw."
The pressure is on in Cincinnati this season. The Bengals have missed the playoffs in each of the last three seasons and understand their contention window won't be open forever, especially as frustrations mount with each disappointing finish.
It's what drove Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin to aggressively address the defense in the spring. So far, it's paying off and making headlines in the process.