I think he missed on his first throw of the season against the Chargers and then was basically perfect the rest of the way. He threw the highest rate of perfect passes by PFF’s count of any rookie.īurrow's throws to the sideline are stunning. Quarterback stats from a clean pocket are generally considered more stable from year to year than stats under pressure.
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In a clean pocket, Burrow’s throws within 20 yards were the best by any rookie in the 15 years that Pro Football Focus has been tracking the metric he was fifth best in the league overall. Before his injury last year, there were some encouraging signs: He was historically good by some metrics when throwing under 20 yards downfield. There are two separate questions for the Bengals: The first is what Burrow’s “old self” means for the franchise the second is whether the franchise has the team to support that version. And now I’m playing well again, back to my old self.” Then, at the end of last week, it just kind of clicked for me. “I couldn’t really feel who was who, where the pressure was coming from. And at the beginning of camp, it was kind of just a wall of people,” Burrow said. I’ve always been pretty good at feeling the space in the pocket and going where I need to and feeling where the defenders are. “It was more so just getting the feeling back in the pocket. Cincinnati’s offense was slow to develop early in training camp, something Burrow and Bengals coaches were open about but certainly not panicking over in early August. But some problems extended beyond his own recovery.
He trusts his knee and trusts the work he’s put in, he said, to know whether it’s stable. But I think it’ll make me a better person and player.”īurrow’s rebuilding continued in practice on a recent hot day in downtown Cincinnati. “Lying in bed, not being able to move without someone coming to pick my leg up and go to the bathroom. “I kind of had to figure out who I was without football for a little bit,” Burrow told me last week. But then the Bengals lost Burrow, and Burrow lost football.
His injury occurred last November, in the midst of a miserable Bengals season that was buoyed only by the optimism around the team’s rookie quarterback. And I want it to show up on the field.”īurrow, who 19 months ago completed the coolest and most efficient season in the history of college football at LSU, spent the past nine months rebuilding himself. If you don’t get the work done, it’s not going to show up on the field. Knee hurts, body hurts, mind not up to it-you’ve got to get the work done. “Go in there, no matter what you’re feeling. “Every workout to me was life or death,” Burrow said. He brought his trainer with him on vacation.
It has been nine months since he tore his ACL and MCL, ending his Bengals rookie season. Part of that was by design part of that wasn’t. The rest of his offseason was not particularly packed with fun. He probably doesn’t know what he’s talking about either.’”
It’s funny, he said, “I see those talking heads on football and I go, ‘Ahhh, this guy doesn’t really know what he’s talking about.’ Then I watch all these MMA talking heads and I’m like, ‘Oh, this guy is giving me some great insight.’ And then it’s like, ‘Wow, it’s probably the same thing. He attended a Stipe Miocic–Francis Ngannou UFC fight with some friends in March that was otherwise closed to the public.