The most important thing an NFL team can do during a preseason game is to make it out without any major injuries.
These are exhibition games that are just used as tune-ups for the regular season as well as evaluating the roster. The worst thing that could happen is losing a major contributor for an extended period of time during the regular season during one of these games.
Cincinnati seems to really understand that last part as caution has been the name of the game during training camp and now into Week 1 of the preseason.
They weren't able to make it out completely unscathed, but it is still football after all.