• Joe Burrow played very well in Arizona last week.
But that’s not the best news to come out of his 317-yard, three-touchdown breakthrough in the Bengals’ 34–20 win over the Cardinals. The best news, for the coaches and Burrow’s teammates, is there was plenty of reason to believe that flourish was just the start.
“He was a different player,” one staffer said.
And that showed up on some of his biggest plays against the Cardinals, both in how he was moving the confidence with which he was moving. Adding to it was that it came after he told coaches the whole week he was good with the calf and gave them the green light to move him around more than they had over the season’s first four weeks.
The first in-game sign that a big day was on the way arrived early—on a third-and-goal from the 3-yard line about eight minutes into the game. On the play, Cardinals outside linebacker Zaven Collins bull-rushed right tackle Jonah Williams into Burrow’s lap. Burrow sidestepped right to buy time, and with Collins’s bookend, Dennis Gardeck, in his face, he fired the ball across his body to the back of the end zone, where Ja’Marr Chase had separated on the end line for a two-yard touchdown.
Another came on his second touchdown throw of the day, a first-and-10 from his own 37. Burrow took a deep drop and, upon setting his feet, Arizona’s Victor Dimukeje disengaged from Williams. Burrow sensed it, climbed the pocket and let go of a bomb that hit Chase in stride more than 55 yards downfield for a 63-yard touchdown.
Then there was the third touchdown connection between the old LSU teammates. That was on a first-and-goal from the 3 with 7:55 left. Burrow took the snap, felt pressure to his backside and shuffled right. As he did, Dimukeje shed tight end Mitchell Wilcox’s block and came free toward Burrow. But Burrow found Chase streaking down the end line for the two-yard score.
And then there was the 10-yard scramble on the final play of the third quarter, followed by another four-yard run, and it sure looks like the Bengals have their quarterback back.
As for this week, the topic of his calf hasn’t even come up much, and when it has, he’s told his coaches and teammates he feels good (same as he did last week).
Obviously, that doesn’t mean the Bengals won’t still be careful with Burrow. But he came out of the game in good shape—even after taking a few big shots—and practice this week has gone to plan, too. So Cincinnati and Burrow might be close to getting out of the woods in this one. Now if they can get a win over the Seahawks this week, and with the bye coming next week, this could again be one of the NFL’s very best operations.
