Joe Burrow thrived in spite of, not because of, his offensive line in 2021. One year after having his right knee imploded thanks to leaky blocking, Burrow returned to the lineup, developed a beautiful bond with former LSU teammate Ja’Marr Chase and led the Cincinnati Bengals to Super Bowl 56. He did this despite an offensive line that allowed him to be sacked 70 times in 20 games — or 9.6 percent of his dropbacks.
Cincinnati understood this problem. Buoyed by bargain rookie contracts for its star quarterback and wideout, general manager Duke Tobin paid up in free agency. He signed Ted Karras, La’el Collins and Alex Cappa to rebuild that offensive line. Burrow, the team hoped, would have the protection he needed to push the Bengals to their first Super Bowl victory.
This hasn’t been the case. In two games, Burrow has been sacked 13 times — a 12.7 percent sack rate.
It could be explained away in Week 1 by a tenacious Pittsburgh Steeler defense and an offense that didn’t play a single snap together in the preseason. Cincinnati got stronger as that game progressed and looked to put its early mistakes behind it.
It was undeniable in Week 2 against the Dallas Cowboys. Burrow dealt with static in the pocket all afternoon but particularly on obvious passing downs. He rarely had the chance to set his feet and throw as the Cowboys were able to force his hand with four-man rushes that put that reconstructed line to the test and asked them to do the bare minimum in protection
The blame doesn’t solely belong to the blocking up front. Burrow’s penchant for holding onto the ball in hopes of allowing his routes to develop and magic to unfold downfield requires a ton of time in the pocket. Sometimes he’s capable of creating that on his own. Other times he’s better off checking down and hoping for the best.
Here, he dances into a Dorance Armstrong sack when Dallas’s coverage holds downfield. He could dump the ball off to his tight end or tailback in the flat, but also knows the odds of that resulting in a first down aren’t great. So he hopes for the best, winds up getting caught and, boop, end of drive:
Here, he’s got nothing doing against the Cowboys’ two-high safety coverage. He knows throwing an interception this close to the red zone would be wildly damaging. He attempts to run and gets dragged down by two defenders instead.
These aren’t necessarily bad sacks to take! The first example was a play where his best option probably doesn’t result in a first down. The second was one where a mistake takes points off the board.
Of course, there were other times where he’d take a five-step drop against a four-man rush, step up in the pocket, then get mashed into a fine paste on first down.
No matter what the cause, the result is the same. These issues add up, especially for a team that’s been forced to play from behind for basically all of 2022 so far. Asking Burrow to constantly make plays under duress is a problem, especially if he starts to get jittery behind an offensive line that, you know, allows him to get hit 20 times a game!
Even when Burrow didn’t get knocked to the turf, the Bengals’ blocking created problems. This is a fourth quarter third-and-four where Dallas only rushed four, giving Cincinnati a man advantage up front. The pocket closed up thanks to Micah Parsons’ edge rush and Burrow stepped up to avoid it, only to launch a pass directly into Dante Fowler’s outstretched arm:
Not great! The Bengals scored on three drives in which Burrow was sacked. All three resulted in field goals. That’s a big deal in a game you lose 20-17 to drop to 0-2 on the season.
There’s still time to work this out. Burrow’s taking a ton of sacks, but the third down sacks he absorbed in Dallas weren’t as damaging as the box score would have you believe.
Even so, this is a problem. Unless Cincinnati can figure out a way to keep its star quarterback upright, the team’s AFC title defense may not last into the playoffs.
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