In proving Joe Burrow right, the Bengals look very unworthy of having him as their quarterback
By John Sheeran,
7 hours ago
Joe Burrow said this week that he needed to play damn near perfect in order to beat the Baltimore Ravens.
He wasn't kidding, and he wasn't wrong.
After his Cincinnati Bengals fell to the Ravens, 41-38 , despite him throwing for a career-high five touchdowns along with 392 yards on 30-39 passing, Burrow let everyone know that his foresight was correct.
"My statement rang true today," Burrow said to reporters after the loss. "Perfect was what was needed, and that's not what we did."
It's a reality that didn't have to be true, but it undeniably is. Burrow feeling the need to be more than what he was Sunday makes the Bengals look feeble and unworthy of having a QB like him.
Not that he would ever say such a thing, but he doesn't have to. Everyone else can see it plainly.
Near-perfect is, ironically, about as perfect of a description for how Burrow played against the Ravens. His miscues were far and few between, with the biggest on the box score being his lone interception of the day. Burrow tried to squeeze a slant to Ja'Marr Chase, and Marlon Humphrey got in front of the route to pick it off.
Chase took blame for the execution of the route he ran, but Burrow gave all the credit to the opposition.
"You know, he made a really good play," Burrow said. "I'm not sure I would have made any any other decision than that. Credit to him. Honestly.
"Marlon is a great player. You know, we made plays, they made plays, so that's a credit to him. You know, he's, he's a smart, savvy player. Knows what we're trying to do in that situation, and played it perfect."
Subpar play by Chase, superb play by Humphrey. That's what you get in rivalry matchups such as these.
They can even decide games, and there's an argument to be made that it was one of the tipping points of the afternoon.
On the other hand, if you need 40+ points to win at home, you have much larger problems on your plate than the quarterback turning in an A instead of an A+.
Cincinnati's current defense is not good in any manner of speaking. They can't generate a pass rush, they can't cover down the field, and they can't hardly tackle in the open field.
When all the pre-game fears surrounded stopping the run, containing Derrick Henry on early downs was a major success for the defense. It was soon overshadowed by the unit's inability to stop Lamar Jackson from creating explosives out of broken plays.
The guy threw a touchdown after dropping the snap. What more needs to be said?
Cincinnati has a clear identity now, and it's not sustainable to support an improbable turnaround from 1-4. Burrow actually has to be perfect and win a race against his unreliable defense every single week. For that reason alone, his current evaluation of the team is what it is.
"We're not a championship level team right now. We're not."
Time might have already ran out to prove him wrong.
....the defense is the problem, you don't score 38 points and lose a game...to me the defensive coordinators and staff all need to be fired. I see all kinds of problems the defense is having that they are not the same as 3 years ago...we have good players, but they are not playing tight man to coverage.
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