Looking at the storylines for week two of the NFL preseason, eyes turn towards Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
Burrow was held out of the opening preseason game and the Bengals went with backup Brandon Allen as the starter. Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield ponders where we are at with Burrow?
Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor already stated that Burrow will not play on Friday night against the Washington Football Team, after sitting out the Bengals’ first game of the preseason last week.
Joe Burrow is awaiting his first live-action of the year following the horrific knee injury that sidelined him after 10 games last year. While playing the Washington Football Team in late November he suffered an injury that would require surgery and ending his rookie campaign.
One report suggests that Burrow has indicated his desire to play prior to the season opener against the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 12. As Schofield points out in his storylines to watch, the Burrow situation has multiple layers.
The team watched their No. 1 overall pick go down with an injury due to the lack of protection in front of him. They responded by drafting his former teammate Ja’Marr Chase with the No. 5 overall selection instead of top offensive tackle Penei Sewell, who was taken just two picks later.
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The recovery of the former Heisman Trophy winner is the other part of this equation.
As for the recovery, I do think it is fair to caution a bit of patience. If you look at the history of quarterbacks returning from ACL injuries (Carson Wentz, Jimmy Garoppolo, Deshaun Watson, Tom Brady and others) you’ll see that it takes time for the quarterback to feel completely confident in his lower body. So reports of Burrow “struggling” or feeling “uncomfortable” during training camp should be viewed with that context.
Too often we have seen top players go down to an injury for a meaningless game. While Burrow would like to see live-action ahead of the season opener, the risk isn’t worth losing the Bengals’ franchise quarterback ahead of the season. Especially given that he is coming off major knee surgery.
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