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The Cincinnati Bengals didn’t blink at paying up on a franchise tag for A.J. Green.
Green’s work over the years when healthy explains quite a bit of it. But understanding Joe Burrow was on the way via the No. 1 pick sure didn’t hurt matters either.
Considering one of Burrow’s many strengths is deep accuracy, he projects incredibly well in a tandem with Green. And a new deep-dive looking at defining statistics of each first-round pick from Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar opens the eyes when it comes to Burrow:
“26 is the number of touchdown passes Burrow threw on passes of 20 or more air yards last season for LSU. He completed 47 of 83 such passes for 1,711 deep passing yards, the most in the NCAA in 2019. Burrow also threw just two interceptions on those deep passes, making him uniquely efficient as a downfield shot-caller.”
We hear a lot about how Burrow avoids pressure so well and doesn’t falter when things break down. We hear about his leadership and maturity.
But his ability to push the ball far downfield in an efficient manner is one of Burrow’s best outright traits.
How many times have Bengals fans watched a game over the years and seen an off-target deep lob to Green? A pass that caused Green to slow down after he beat his coverage instead of catching a ball in stride?
The Bengals hope — and with good reason — Burrow doesn’t suffer from these same hiccups when taking shots down the field. There were plenty of rumblings about his arm strength but it’s moot when the decision making and scheme compensate for it.
Rest assured Cincinnati’s opponents know all about this trait of Burrow’s too. It’ll be something they test him on early. If he proves game and the Green connection is dangerous, it’ll make life easier on the entire unit.
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