With quarterback Joe Burrow apparently recovered from the wrist injury he suffered last season, the Cincinnati Bengals are approaching training camp thinking Super Bowl once again.
While former Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon is now with the Houston Texans, the Bengals still have the talent on both sides of the football to compete for the sport’s grand prize. Burrow remains one of the three to five best quarterbacks in the game, and he still has star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase by his side.
Burrow recently received a five-year, $275 million contract extension, and Chase will be due for an extension of his own soon. Many feel it may necessitate getting rid of WR2 Tee Higgins, who is a major part of Cincinnati’s offensive attack.
It led former NFL player Chris Canty to say that Burrow is under lots of pressure for this coming season, especially because his contract has given his team less breathing room under the salary cap.
Canty also pointed out Burrow’s injury history and the fact that he has ended just two of his four pro seasons healthy.
Injuries have played an unfortunate role in Joe Burrow’s career
The signal-caller sustained a strained calf early in training camp last year. It was likely a big factor in him playing poorly to start the 2023 season. In the first four games of the season, he completed just 57.6 percent of his pass attempts and threw just two touchdown passes while posting a 69.1 passer rating.
Afterward, he started to find his mojo again, as he threw three touchdown passes in two of his next three games. But his wrist injury in Week 11 derailed everything.
As a rookie in 2020, Burrow tore both the MCL and ACL in his left knee and also sustained damage to his PCL and meniscus. He returned for Week 1 of the following season and showed no ill effects from his injury, as he finished the year throwing for 4,611 yards and 34 touchdown passes while completing a league-high 70.4 percent of his pass attempts.
That was the season in which Burrow’s Bengals became the only AFC team to defeat the dynastic Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs over the last five years.
While the Chiefs remain the favorite to reach the Super Bowl, if not win it all, the Bengals certainly have a real shot at doing so instead thanks to Joe Burrow’s cool and steady hand. But being an elite quarterback comes with an immense amount of pressure.
That pressure is only heightened when that quarterback has the horses around him to win big.
