NFL investigating Bengals keeping Joe Burrow off injury report for Week 11
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and his sprained wrist became the story of Thursday Night Football, and the story is far from over.Due to the possibility of Burrow's wrist being injured prior to the game, the NFL is investigating why the Bengals didn't include Burrow's wrist injury on the team's injury report. ESPN's Adam Schefter […]
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and his sprained wrist became the story of Thursday Night Football, and the story is far from over.
Due to the possibility of Burrow's wrist being injured prior to the game, the NFL is investigating why the Bengals didn't include Burrow's wrist injury on the team's injury report. ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that teams "can be fined or even potentially lose a draft pick" if found to be in the wrong.
Speculation stems from a deleted video showing Burrow wearing what appeared to be a wrist brace/sleeve on Wednesday when the team arrived in Baltimore. The mystery brace was not seen on Burrow during pre-game warmups, and the fourth-year quarterback appeared to be fine throughout the start of the game.
Late in the second quarter, Burrow took a hit by Ravens' edge defender Jadeveon Clowney and fell on the wrist in question. A play later, Burrow threw a touchdown pass to Joe Mixon and immediately felt pain in his wrist. It would be enough to take him out of the game entirely.
Should Burrow have been on the injury report?
Regardless if a player is a full participant in practice leading up to a game, he must be listed on the team's official injury report if he receives official treatment for any kind of injury. This is why earlier in the season, Burrow was still listed with his calf injury despite not missing any practice time.
If Burrow had received treatment for a supposed wrist injury that was bothering him prior to the game, he should've been listed on the injury report per league rules. But if no official treatment was given, then the team had no obligation to include him.
Head coach Zac Taylor corroborated with this after the game by telling reporters he had not known about the injury until it happened during the game.
"That was the first I saw anything about it," Bengals head coach Zac Taylor told reporters after the game.
The NFL's investigation will revolve around the truth in that. They've been through this before this year with Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson. The Falcons' star rookie missed most of the team's Week 7 game due to a headache he was suffering from that came up the day prior. Atlanta was not punished for their perceived lack of clarity on the situation.
We'll see if the Bengals end up with the same result.
