Hall of Famer Kurt Warner backs Joe Burrow playing through injury
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow playing through his calf injury is admirable, but is it smart for him and the team? Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner understands it.Warner told the What the Football podcast that if he were in Burrow's shoes, he'd be doing the same thing. "If I was Joe and I could […]
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow playing through his calf injury is admirable, but is it smart for him and the team? Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner understands it.
Warner told the What the Football podcast that if he were in Burrow's shoes, he'd be doing the same thing.
"If I was Joe and I could get out there and play, I'd be out there playing," Warner said. "That's the nature of what we do. It's one of those things that we always say to ourselves or we hear people say 'Well, he should play if he gives the team they best chance to win, but if there's somebody else that gives them the best chance to win, then he should sit down or the coaches should sit him down.' I can tell you that I never felt there was somebody [else] that gave our team a better chance to win." – Warner on Burrow
The Bengals are of the same thought process. When asked if Burrow would start again this week, head coach Zac Taylor gave a definitive yes and added it was a strange question to ask.
It's not so strange anymore considering the results.
Burrow is currently conducting a bottom-tier NFL offense. Cincinnati is the fifth-worst team in terms of Expected Points Added per drop back and drop back success rate. He became the only QB in NFL history to average fewer than five yards per attempt following four starts and 150 passes thrown.
There's a definite conversation about trying someone else at the position while he heals back to his normal self, but Warner knows how short the NFL season is, and that every opportunity counts.
"A couple weeks ago when he played that Monday night game and he wasn't himself, but he said, Yeah, I understood the risks if I went out there and played, but I also understood the risks of being 0-3. And so there's a whole other side to this and especially in our game, because there's only 17 of these things. Every one is huge. It's not like we're playing 162 or we're playing 82 games, we've got 17 of them. And so I just think it's one of those things you always have to leave it up to the athletes, especially those superstar athletes that if they believe they can be out there and be effective, you put them out there and you let them give it a whirl." – Warner on Burrow
The other side, of course, is what happens when things get worse instead of better. Burrow playing a limited brand of football puts him at risk of further injury and the Bengals still have to work around him in order to win. There will eventually come a point when the coaches or ownership have to make a stand if the season is lost and he fails to recover in time.
We'll at least see Burrow out there for another week this Sunday against Warner's former team in the Arizona Cardinals.
Joe Burrow, Zac Taylor made the wrong decision at the end of latest loss
An unnecessary risk was taken, and it deserves criticism.
