Bengals Beat: The Harsh Reality and Curse Of How Joe Burrow Plays The Game, And The Blessing Of Jake Browning As A Backup

CINCINNATI — We’ve been down this road before. At some point, you just have to accept the fact that Joe Burrow is injury prone because of the way he plays the most demanding position in professional team sports.

A scout told me before the playoff win in Tennessee in Jan. 2022 that Burrow plays the position of NFL quarterback as well as anyone in the game because of the way he reads defenses and his elite athleticism. The Bengals have an elite, elite quarterback and the rest of the league knows he makes plays with his eyes that only 10 or 15-year veterans make, he continued.

The problem was, he told me, he just didn’t know how long he’d last in the NFL. Later that day, Burrow went out and was sacked nine times but led the Bengals to a stunning 19-16 upset of the No. 1 seed Tennessee Titans in Nashville. The ironic foreshadowing wasn’t just in that game on that day. We’ve seen it play out over and over throughout his career.

He was clobbered by Baltimore’s defense on Nov. 7, 2023, eventually taking a hit from Jadeveon Clowney that led to torn ligaments in his right wrist and hand and knocked him out for the rest of the season. He came back in 2024 and put up the best numbers of his career in terms of passing yards and touchdowns.

But the Bengals decided they needed to upgrade their guards next to center Ted Karras. They let Alex Cappa go to Vegas in free agency and demoted Cordell Volson and drafted Dylan Fairchild at left guard. Right guard was filled by free agent Lucas Patrick, who was hurt in Week 1 and Dalton Risner came to town and started in his place Sunday.

On opening day in Cleveland, he was sacked on three straight snaps in the fourth quarter, and had to miraculous juke his way out of the end zone on the third one to avoid a safety that would’ve likely cost the Bengals the game. Sunday, he looked again uncomfortable on the first series, a three-and-out before leading a more Burrow-esque drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Ja’Marr Chase.

You have to start wondering again, as Burrow himself did in 2023, about his mortality in the sport with the way he takes hits. It’s been this way since Day 1 with the Bengals in 2020. He suffered a torn ACL in November of his rookie season against Washington.

He’s been one of the most vulnerable quarterbacks in the NFL because of the number of hits he takes and the willingness to hang in until the last minute and complete a pass.

His offensive line was not good in 2020. It was not great the next season in the playoff run in 2021 when he suffered a relatively minor knee sprain in the AFC North-clinching win over the Chiefs. He was sacked nine times in the aforementioned win over the Titans. He nearly led the Bengals to their first Super Bowl title when he was done in by his offensive line that couldn’t handle Aaron Donald when it mattered most.

Then on Sunday, trying unsuccessfully to avoid veteran defensive line beast Arik Armstead, he tried dancing in the pocked and his left cleat caught in the field turf and he fell to the ground on the sack. As he sat on the turf pointing to his left foot and pronating it to show it (very fortunately) wasn’t the Achilles, he knew something was amiss again. Everyone in Paycor had that sick feeling again. Burrow limped off slowly to the blue tent, then to the locker room and then hours after the game reports surfaced that this was a serious turf toe ligament injury to his left toe that would require surgery, confirmed by ESPN’s Adam Schefter Monday morning.

The team is in good hands with Jake Browning. The team – players and coaches – trust Jake Browning based on his 4-3 mark as a starter in 2023 and based on what he did Sunday, overcoming three interceptions and using his “delusional” approach to the game to drive the team 92 yards in 15 plays in three and a half minutes for a game-winning quarterback keeper in a 31-27 win over Jacksonville.

“We stared adversity right in the eye and didn’t flinch. I have a lot of respect for Jacksonville,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “This is kind of that feeling I had going in this game. This team is really well coached. They have got a good roster. They have a lot of talent, a lot of speed, and they make life really difficult for you. It’s a team at the end of the season that’s going to be standing there with a shot. I think this is a really good win for us. Happy to be 2-0. We know what we have staring us in the face this week, and Minnesota will be a really tough test for us. We have to get ourselves ready, but again, I’m just proud of the way the guys responded.”

This team is 2-0. It has a gauntlet coming up with road games at Minnesota and Denver, home to Detroit on a short week and then at Green Bay. But Browning isn’t afraid. He has the best weapons of any backup quarterback in the NFL. He showed he could use them Sunday.

Let’s say rehab goes well, and the Bengals are without Burrow until the second week in December, that means he could return in time for the Ravens game at Paycor on Dec. 14 and the final four games of the season. That gives Browning 11 games as a starter. If he goes 6-5 in those 11, that puts the Bengals at 8-5 heading into mid-December. That’s doable.

Fans and critics can argue about the way Burrow exposes himself to injury or about an offensive line that is again grading out miserably in pass protection analytics. But the way he approaches the game isn’t likely to change – for now. The Bengals are not likely to go out and trade for a starting quarterback. They feel they have their guy in Jake Browning.

Browning isn’t the elite athlete Joe Burrow is. He can’t quite dance and elude pass rushers in the pocket. But he does have the legs to move out of the pocket like he did on the two fourth down conversions (one penalty assisted) Sunday. He’s not Joe Burrow, but that also means he’s not as likely to stay in the pocket and take the pounding that Burrow has over the last six seasons.

“The resilient group found a way. It feels like that’s what this year is turning into already,” Taylor said. “Just a group that believes in each other and never flinches even when things are difficult. Early in the season, it’s always been about finding your footing and it’s never going to be easy. You want to put yourself in a position in games five and 12 and 16 to be in a good spot. It wasn’t as clean as we wanted it to be all around. When we watch the tape, there’s going to be corrections. But I couldn’t be prouder of our group. They just looked each other in the eye in the second half and said, ‘We’re going to figure out a way to win this game.’ And that’s exactly what they did, and I’m really proud of them.”