The Bengals have already announced that starting quarterback Joe Burrow‘s season is over after he suffered a thumb ligament tear. The only information left to report on Burrow’s situation is that he is set to undergo wrist surgery tomorrow, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. The expectation is that Burrow will be able to make a full recovery in time for the 2024 season.
On the administrative side of things, Rapoport also reports that the league is “investigating if Cincinnati should have listed Burrow on its injury report prior to” the game in which he seemingly suffered the season-ending injury. The night before the team’s matchup in Baltimore, Burrow was shown on a team social media post with an apparatus on his right wrist before the post was taken down. That same wrist is the one receiving surgery tomorrow. Rapoport says that the Bengals have “turned in hours of footage to the NFL showing that Burrow was healthy prior to the game.” The team’s doctors claim that the injury was acute and not one that happened over time.
The team opted to run Burrow’s offense and playbook in Jake Browning‘s first career start. The Bengals coaches had full confidence in Browning running the offense but still planned to run the ball a bit more than usual to take some pressure off his shoulders. Browning and the Bengals would lose to Pittsburgh, but Browning would complete 19 of 26 pass attempts for 227 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. The plan to run the ball a bit more fell through as limited possession time and offensive success led to only 11 carries.
Here are a few other rumors from around the AFC North, staying in Cincinnati for a beat:
- Another position for the Bengals experienced a change in starter as defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo announced rookie third-round pick Jordan Battle as the team’s starting strong safety over Nick Scott earlier this week, per Kelsey Conway of USA Today. Scott still had a role in today’s game but played a clear second fiddle to Battle. Asked what about Battle made him the choice at starter, Anarumo claimed it was his tackling ability.
- Another AFC North starting quarterback underwent surgery for their season-ending injury as the Browns‘ Deshaun Watson had a procedure done on his shoulder earlier this week, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network. Watson is expected to be healed in time to start the 2024 season.
- A big story in the struggles of the Steelers’ offense this year has been the frustration of wide receiver Diontae Johnson. Those frustrations reportedly boiled over after last week’s loss to the Browns, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, leading to a heated argument with star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick that needed to be broken up by teammates Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt. Johnson only had two catches on the day and was visibly upset on the sideline as he engaged in an animated conversation with head coach Mike Tomlin. Johnson’s annoyance would continue as he was later seen “chirping” at the coaches all the way to the locker room after the game before being confronted by Fitzpatrick. Perhaps the firing of former offensive coordinator Matt Canada helped to cool Johnson down, as Johnson received eight targets today.
Yeah 8 targets with a dropped TD although it still should have counted but still doesn’t matter hold onto the ball
Ran backwards after a catch
Didn’t even attempt to tackle a guy on a fumble recovery by the Bengals
For someone that acts up as much as he does you would think he wouldn’t make as many mental errors as he does
I will say that I thought that the touchdown was good. Looked to me like he took two steps and then took another and then went out. Tomlin’s booth guy should have radio’d him to challenge that, but the officials should have gotten that right. Seemed pretty obvious to me.
D. Johnson is ANOTHER in a line of team “cancers” in Pittsburgh.
Does D. Johnson have pictures or something that he uses to stay on the team? Fights with Mitch, Mitch gets benched. Throws a fit, Canada fired. Although the second one was a long time coming. Alot of drops and not just yesterday. He seems like a less talented Antonio Brown.
Is Johnson becoming an Antonio Brown clone?
I think he’s close. Except not as good at receiving and not as far gone attitude wise. But he is a determent to the team and needs to be treated as such.
I don’t think that he’s there yet. Brown, and Bell before him, got pretty demanding and/or problematic. But he definitely has lost his temper a few times. That’s not what they need from a guy who’s supposed to be a veteran leader on an otherwise fairly young offense. Hopefully for Pittsburgh, the offense will improve and he’ll calm down after seeing the results. We’ll see.
One thing is encouraging for Pittsburgh-the new offensive playcallers seem more focused on featuring the playmakers. Johnson did have a beautiful vertical catch downfield along the sideline. Freiermuth had a few big plays that were missing previously. They could build on that-hopefully for the Steelers, Johnson’s attitude will improve as the offense does.