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Bengals LT Orlando Brown Jr. feels 'really confident' despite blown block vs. Lions Joe Burrow's last play of the Cincinnati Bengals’ preseason opener against the Detroit Lions last week saw the QB get crunched after left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. got beat. Despite the play and other reported struggles during camp, Brown, who signed a two-year extension in March, isn’t sweating his play entering the 2026 season. “I feel really confident,” Brown said, via Jay Morrison of SI.com. “Normally at this time I would feel a lot more rusty than I have. But at this point, I feel pretty good.” On a third-and-4 last Thursday, Lions undrafted rookie Eric O'Neill came screaming off the edge, bent around Brown’s would-be block and smoked Burrow as the QB released the ball, which fluttered incomplete to end the drive. It was the second hit Burrow took -- a sack on the first drive off a Detroit stunt. Brown noted the jump-set he used on the play isn’t part of his normal repertoire, but must be better when he does employ it. “I gotta do a better job obviously on my jump set and just being clean and making sure that there isn't any type of late leakage like that,” he said. “It's our job to protect Joe, and we take that personal. “I take it personal, and s---, that mistake's on me.” RELATED CONTENT Bengals coach Zac Taylor and Burrow each downplayed the missed block after the game. “That’s not what we wanted to happen,” Taylor said. “You get your feet wet. That’s football,” Burrow added. If it were a one-off, we probably wouldn’t be mentioning the blown block here. However, reports out of Cincy have noted that Brown has had his share of issues, particularly with the athletic Boye Mafe, during camp. If OBJ is going to struggle to keep an undrafted rookie off Burrow in a preseason game, what will happen against the T.J. Watts and Trey Hendricksons of the world? For his part, Brown is staying positive, believing he’s improved from last year and through camp. “I feel like there’s areas I’ve definitely gotten a lot better in,” he said. “I’m really confident in just where my fundamentals are…I feel like we're in a lot better place [than last year]. As the season goes, we'll continue to grow, and that continuity will only get better.” The Bengals are a popular bounce-back candidate in a wide-open AFC North after missing the playoffs the past three seasons. They’ll never prove those offseason predictions true if Burrow doesn’t make it through the entire season healthy.