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The Cincinnati Bengals liked Joe Burrow for quite a lot of reasons.
One of those? His ability to make things happen when the script breaks and most others fold.
Burrow didn’t throw 60 touchdowns, win a national title and reel in a Heisman Trophy by standing upright in a clean pocket all the time tossing dimes.
As Pro Football Focus’ Solomon Wilcots pointed out, Burrow was better than everyone under pressure:
“Burrow’s poise under pressure also helped him to lead all FBS quarterbacks with an 80.5 passing grade while under duress. His pocket awareness while under pressure also saw him produce 11 big-time throws and zero turnover-worthy plays.”
Burrow doing this in the SEC of all places is quite comforting for a Bengals team that has to deal with elite pass-rusher after elite pass-rusher in the AFC North.
Other fun PFF numbers? Burrow ranked first in PFF passing grade at 95.3. He had 33 big-time throws, ranked first. He had just four turnover-worthy plays, ranked second. He also averaged 11.3 yards per attempt, ranked third.
It’s totally reasonable to expect a rookie quarterback to have plenty of growing pains in a division like the AFC North. But given what he showed last year and some of the weapons he’ll have at his disposal in the pros, the hope is he doesn’t struggle nearly as much as other rookie passers would.
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