What Is Cincinnati Bengals Quarterback Joe Burrow’s Status for Next Week’s Game?

It’s been 24 hours since Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow limped off the field after throwing a touchdown pass, and the team is still looking for clarity on whether he will be available to play next Monday night against the Los Angeles Rams.

Bengals Head Coach Zac Taylor Provides Latest on Joe Burrow Injury

Head coach Zac Taylor didn’t want to say too much during his Monday news conference until the team had more information on Burrow’s health, other than his quarterback is still sore and his status for Week 3 is up in the air.

“It’s hard for me to say right now,” Taylor said.

After Sunday’s game, Burrow said he tweaked his calf injury on his second-to-last play of the game while throwing an incompletion to Ja’Marr Chase on second-and-goal at the Baltimore 4-yard line. On the next play, Burrow hit Tee Higgins for a touchdown that cut the deficit to 27-24 with 3:32 remaining.

Burrow headed to the sideline with an obvious hitch in his gait that was somewhere between a limp and a hop. After talking with trainers on the bench, he grabbed the Theragun and began using it on his calf.

In Taylor’s postgame press conference, he said the plan was for Burrow to go back in the game had the Bengals defense made a stop to get the ball back to the offense. But that never happened, and the Bengals fell to 0-2, triggering some panic among the fanbase.

Asked if he would consider sitting Burrow for a week or two to give the calf more time to recover, Taylor said that decision would be made after consulting with medical professionals.

Zac says they will wait to hear from the doctors before making any decisions on resting/playing Burrow.

— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) September 18, 2023

“First of all, we have to hear what the doctors have to say before we start to assume anything,” he said. “Once we get that information, we have those (conversations), figure out what we’re gonna do.”

The type of calf strain Burrow suffered on July 27 is known for a high rate of recurrence. His return to practice came on Aug. 30, one day shy of five weeks.

Burrow said his calf was sore after the season-opening loss at Cleveland when he threw for a career-low 82 yards. But he appeared to have turned the corner midway through Sunday’s loss, completing 19 of 30 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns with one interception in the second half against the Ravens.

Taylor said Burrow looked as though he was back to full strength.

“I felt really good about him,” he said. “I felt like he had a great week of practice last week. He’s the only one that can answer on how he truly feels, but you got the sense that it was really good.”

Bengals players will be off Tuesday and Wednesday before holding their first practice in preparation for the Rams game on Thursday afternoon. Taylor said he can’t pinpoint the sort of things he will be looking for from Burrow this week to decide whether to play him Monday night.

“That’s hard to say right now. He did it really on one of the last three plays of the game, probably,” Taylor said. “So just sore. We haven’t done anything on the field yet.”

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Asked if he would go back and do anything differently since Burrow injured the calf, Taylor said he wouldn’t.

“I thought we handled it well.”