Arkansas Bengal Posted October 9, 2023 Report Share Posted October 9, 2023 Kelsey Conway, Cincinnati Enquirer Sun, Oct 8, 2023, 9:29 PM CDT·7 min read GLENDALE – Guess who’s back, back again? Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals saved their season in the desert on Sunday, taking down the Arizona Cardinals 34-20 at State Farm Stadium. The Bengals are now 2-3 on the year. Exactly where they were at this point in the 2022 season. Cincinnati needed the win to keep their postseason hopes alive and Burrow made sure it happened. Burrow – who is battling through a calf strain – looked like the quarterback you’re used to seeing on Sundays. Ja’Marr Chase most notably and the entire Bengals’ roster benefited from No. 9 being able to move around the field like he typically does. It was the morale booster Cincinnati sorely needed. Jason Williams: Joe Burrow-to-Ja'Marr Chase: Behold the Cincinnati Bengals' season-saving wonder There’s still plenty of work to do for these Bengals but there will be time to discuss that in the coming days. The single most important thing to happen Sunday is that Burrow, and the Bengals, got their confidence back. “It felt good today,” Burrow said following the game. “I'm gonna continue to get healthier, so I'm excited about.” The ‘magic’ of Joe Burrow is back Cincinnati’s head coach Zac Taylor was asked to speak on the play of his quarterback following the win. Taylor’s response should give Bengals fans a feeling of optimism they haven’t been able to feel since Burrow re-tweaked his calf in the Week 2 loss to the Ravens. “The great quarterbacks, you can't just keep them in the pocket and put them in a little box,” he said of Burrow. “They're gonna extend plays sometimes when you're thinking you shouldn't. They're gonna hang on to the ball for a second longer than people feel comfortable with, and usually great things happen when that happens. That's the special magic that he's got that you don't ever want to take away from him.” It's what the Bengals’ offense has been missing with Burrow less than 100 percent. Sure, he’s one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL and is outstanding with his pre-snap reads. But what makes Burrow one of the league’s best is his ability to turn off-script plays into positive plays for the Bengals. He admitted he couldn’t do a lot of what made him the second-highest paid quarterback in the NFL. His “magic” is something the Bengals can’t manufacture. “When the quarterback can't do that, can't steal first downs, can't extend the play a little bit to, to find some guys, it's, it's tough to move the ball,” Burrow said. “So, it felt good.” One specific play early in the game showed Burrow what he needed to see to have confidence moving outside of the pocket. It also happened to be the first touchdown of the game. Up until that point, the Bengals had yet to score a touchdown in the first half of any game this season. From that point on, Burrow got his swagger back. “It was the first touchdown,” Burrow said of when things started to feel different for him. “I was able to slide right. You know, plant my leg, throw back across my body. After that I felt like I was, I was pretty good obviously.” Karras calls Burrow performance 'unbelievable' Burrow completed 36 of 46 passes for 317 yards and three touchdowns. Ted Karras, the Bengals’ center and fellow offensive team captain with Burrow, called his performance “unbelievable.” This won’t go down as Burrow’s best statistical performance, but it will be remembered as one of the most important wins so far in his career. Adversity has unfortunately followed Burrow in his NFL career with the ACL injury in his first season, having emergency appendectomy surgery the day before training camp in 2022 and missing most of the preseason and this year’s calf injury forcing him to miss all of the preseason before re-tweaking it a few weeks ago. He's been through the lowest of lows and when his team needed him most, Burrow delivered to help save the Bengals’ season that began with Super Bowl expectations. This isn’t just any other season for Cincinnati. Sure, Burrow famously said the “window” to win a Super Bowl is his entire career but there’s no denying this team is built to win a Lombardi Trophy this year. The Bengals will likely move on from Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd after this season after owning the best wide receiver trio in the NFL for the last three seasons. Defensive tackle and team captain DJ Reader is playing on the final year of his deal with the Bengals. Starting right tackle Jonah Williams and cornerback Chidobe Awuzie are also in the final year of their contracts. The Bengals also have been able to retain all three of their coordinators for a fifth consecutive year which is almost unheard of in the NFL when a team has had as much success as Cincinnati has over the last two seasons. If the Bengals make another playoff run, offensive coordinator Brian Callahan, defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo and even quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher could get plucked for jobs elsewhere. This year is supposed to be different for the Bengals and perhaps after a rocky start to the season, this win could be the spark the team desperately needed. Burrow said as much when he compared this win to Cincinnati’s Week 6 win last season over the New Orleans Saints. The Bengals were 2-3 after five weeks and went on the road to beat the New Orleans Saints after trailing 26-21 to start the fourth quarter. Cincinnati went on to win after Burrow hit Chase for a 60-yard go ahead touchdown with 2:10 to play in the game. It’s eerily similar to the Bengals’ performance in Arizona Sunday, including the longest touchdown play in each game. Burrow and Chase connected on a 63-yard touchdown play against the Cardinals. “Kind of feels like last year in New Orleans a little bit,” Burrow said. “It means nothing if we don't go out there and build on it and continue to get better.” The chemistry between Chase and Burrow is something that is hard to articulate. It’s intuition with those two. Chase was terrific in both wins, by the way. Against the Cardinals on Sunday, Chase set a franchise record for most receptions with 15 on 19 targets. He amassed 192 total yards and three touchdowns. Burrow, Chase again displaying their chemistry Take the final Chase touchdown as an example. Following the game, Taylor said he was yelling for Burrow to throw the ball away in his headset. And what did Burrow do? He found time, danced outside of the pocket and found Chase in the back of the end zone after outrunning double coverage by the Cardinals. “I can't tell you how many times on the headset we said, 'throw the ball away' on his touchdown to Ja'Marr there on the goal line,” Taylor said of the play. “We said it a lot. Those two just found a way to make a play and the line held the guys off of him.” Those plays are why this win for the Bengals means more. The main difference between this season and where the team was after the Week 6 win over the Saints is two things: Cincinnati’s defense isn’t as good and Burrow’s calf is still not 100 percent. If the Bengals can improve each week on both sides of the ball and Burrow doesn’t suffer a setback, this team is capable of playing meaningful football in January. But as mentioned above, there’s still a lot of room for growth. “Anytime you get a win, it means a lot,” Burrow said. “In this league, it's hard to win so we're gonna enjoy this one, come back tomorrow, focus on being 1-0.” https://sports.yahoo.com/analysis-why-joe-burrows-performance-022941605.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-GoBengals- Posted October 9, 2023 Report Share Posted October 9, 2023 bout to block this dumb asses articles from my life, i hate her, shes a lazy writer who hopes for clickbate headlines and write bland obvious shallow articles. its shocking some of these people get paid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IKOTA Posted October 9, 2023 Report Share Posted October 9, 2023 9 hours ago, GoBengals said: bout to block this dumb asses articles from my life, i hate her, shes a lazy writer who hopes for clickbate headlines and write bland obvious shallow articles. its shocking some of these people get paid. Reeks of a 50 year old horse woman hybrid trying to be hip and cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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