The Bengals notched a 31-17 win against the Commanders in Monday's preseason game, a mostly meaningless victory that could have ended much worse for Cincinnati.

Quarterback Joe Burrow was on the field for three drives and left the game in the second quarter—but not before he received a few hard hits. During his second drive, Burrow held onto the ball, scrambling from pressure for roughly 11 seconds and 41 yards according to NextGen Stats, until he finally went down for a sack.

ESPN announcer Joe Buck made his feelings clear about Burrow's reckless scramble with a stern line of advice: "Go down, Joe. It's August." The network's analysts seemed to agree with Buck, too.

Here's that play:

Bengals coach Zac Taylor addressed the sack postgame and justified his decision to keep Burrow in the game, despite many fans on social media clamoring for the team to rest and protect the starting quarterback ahead of the 2025 season.

"No, it's one of those things for him. That's what preseason football is for," Taylor said of Burrow's first-quarter scramble. "Do I love seeing that, no I don't. But at the same time, he's out there learning what he can and can't do. And we've seen him get out of that stuff before, and that's why he's playing in the preseason. For a chance to feel what it's like to feel in a game.

"And there's times where he's going to get out of that and get a big play, and there's going to be times where we're in a tough spot on the two-yard line. And so he gets a chance to feel that and learn from it, and so again, I think there's good three good series that we will continue to grow from."

Last year, fans notably criticized Taylor's decision to rest his starters in preseason after the Bengals got off to a slow start and ultimately missed the playoffs. Cincinnati may have wanted to try something different this time around, and luckily Burrow was able to walk away from the game relatively unscathed.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Bengals Coach Justifies Decision to Keep Joe Burrow in Preseason Game After Bad Sack.