Bengals having Joe Burrow play in garbage time vs. Titans was an unnecessary risk
Down three scores in the fourth quarter, the Cincinnati Bengals had a choice to make with their most important player. Do they put Joe Burrow, dealing with a bad calf, back out on the field behind an offensive line that was beaten all throughout the day, or do they sit him and move on to […]
Down three scores in the fourth quarter, the Cincinnati Bengals had a choice to make with their most important player. Do they put Joe Burrow, dealing with a bad calf, back out on the field behind an offensive line that was beaten all throughout the day, or do they sit him and move on to next week?
According to Burrow, there were no conversations about taking him out of the game.
"I always feel like we're in it," Burrow said. "It was a three-score game midway through the third [quarter], so we were still in [the game] up until a quarter the way through the fourth quarter."
25% of the way through the fourth quarter puts you right when the Bengals got the ball back for the final time, and Burrow was still trotting back onto the field. In his own words, Burrow was playing through what we deem to be garbage time.
Burrow played both drives down three touchdowns in the final 15 minutes and put up zero points in their comeback effort. Did going back out on the field have anything to do with pride?
"I would say so," Burrow answered.
Burrow's willingness to push through adversity is admirable and known at this point in his career. Questioning the decision to put him in harm's way in an obvious losing situation? That deserves a discussion.
"We were trying to go down and score, get the two-point [conversion] and make it a two-score game and try to find a way to get a win," Zac Taylor said in defense of keeping Burrow on the field.
Man, that would sound so much better if the game was going any differently than it was.
The Bengals' offense has now laid two eggs in four weeks. This time, there wasn't a drop of rain to bother Burrow unlike the Week 1 debacle. The Bengals have to swallow eight-consecutive drives in the Nashville sun without a score to end the game. The result wouldn't have changed regardless of who was taking the snap. Their typical offensive issues were only compounded by the worst game the offensive line has played this year. It was that kind of day.
No one would've blinked an eye if Jake Browning was the one trotting onto the field in the middle of the fourth quarter. Any and all hope for the offense to find its footing was evaporated by the end of the third quarter. Only bad things could've happened if the most important player was out there to finish the game.
Taylor's fight to the end mentality being in lockstep with his quarterback is great on the surface. It's been backed up by past comeback efforts they've been engineer as the focal points of the franchise.
This week was not like the others. It was pretty much over by the third quarter. Had each of them understood the situation, they would've been led to a different decision.
Burrow is out there to win games when they are indeed winnable. Live another day, while there are still days not eliminated from playoff contention.
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