CINCINNATI – Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s playing time in Saturday’s preseason opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was brief.
His time at the podium for his postgame news conference was shorter.
Burrow and the Bengals have been pleased with his recovery from the wrist surgery that ended his 2023 season. But the live action he saw – and dissected – was his most significant step yet.
“It was good to be back out there with the guys,” Burrow said 268 days removed from his last chance to play with his teammates.
Joe Burrow Shines in Return From Wrist Surgery
Asked what his main objective was when he knew he likely would only get one series, Burrow said it was all about getting comfortable.
“Get the feel of getting out there again,” he said. “Get the feel of playing a game again. Getting to play against the clock. Getting to play against the defense. Getting hit again at some point.”
“I didn’t get hit today, which is a good thing,” Burrow added.
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He was the one doing the hitting, connecting with receivers on five of his seven pass attempts, including a 10-yard touchdown pass to Tee Higgins to cap the drive.
WE ARE SO BACK.
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— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) August 10, 2024
Burrow converted on third-and-5 with a 23-yard pass to Andrei Iosivas, and his third-and-17 throw to Higgins resulted in a pass interference penalty and first down two plays before the touchdown.
“I thought he looked sharp,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “We’ll watch the tape, but I thought he was in control and saw the defense well. We’re not sitting there digesting all of the tape to make sure we can attack them, but I thought he handed it real well, and those guys made plays for him.”
Taylor said the top priority was keeping Burrow clean, especially with a rookie right tackle making his NFL debut in Amarius Mims.
“Ultimately, we wanted to protect him, of course,” Taylor said. “We didn’t want to put him in harm’s way and do too much drop back. I thought we did a good job getting everybody involved, so everyone was able to kind of touch the ball on that first drive and get in the end zone and get those guys out of the game.”
One of the most interesting throws Burrow made was one of his incompletions.
On second-and-5 at the Tampa Bay 42, Burrow chucked a deep ball down the middle of the field for Higgins, who was double covered.
Asked if he thought Burrow would have taken the shot had it been a regular season game or if he was just testing his wrist with a deep ball in live action, Taylor said it was the right decision regardless.
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“I expect our guys to throw that ball 100 out of 100 times. And more times than not, our guys will make it,” he said. “That’s an opportunity that not a lot of bad can happen when you put it out there like he did. Really, how different is it from the catch [Higgins] made against the Ravens in 2021 here? We’ve seen him make that play. So when the quarterback sees one of our guys in that position, put the ball up and let them go get it, which is what he did.”
Whether we’ve seen the last of Burrow in the preseason remains to be seen.
Even if Burrow doesn’t play in another exhibition game, the Bengals have a joint practice against the Bears on Thursday and one against the Colts 10 days from now.
Burrow will have plenty more chances to work on getting all the feelings back.
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