Joe Burrow his own harshest critic following Bengals' loss to Chargers
CINCINNATI — Bengals rookie quarterback Joe Burrow was the first one to accept blame for Sunday's 16-13 loss to the Chargers.
The 23-year-old didn't make any excuses following his rookie debut. He gave himself a "D" for his performance.
The No. 1 overall pick was running for his life for most of the game, but he settled in, as did the offensive line.
Burrow led the Bengals on a 14-play, 84-yard drive that nearly ended with a game-winning touchdown pass to A.J. Green with seven seconds left. The score was nullified by a controversial offensive pass interference penalty.
"I made too many mistakes to win the game and we just didn't make enough plays to win the game," Burrow said. "Whether that call goes our way or not, a lot of calls are going to go in a lot of different ways throughout the game. I missed A.J. on a deep ball and John (Ross III) on a deep ball (in the end zone earlier) and then I threw the interception — that just can't happen."
Burrow completed 23-of-36 passes for 193 yards, one rushing touchdown and one interception.
The turnover came on an off-target shovel pass in the fourth quarter. The Bengals were in scoring range and Burrow flipped it in the direction of Giovani Bernard, but defensive end Melvin Ingram made a great play on the ball.
That wasn't the only ball the No. 1 pick wanted to have back. He also missed a streaking Green, who was wide open in the end zone in the third quarter. The Bengals settled for a field goal.
"I can't miss that throw to A.J. [in the end zone]," Burrow said. "A high schooler can make that throw. And I can't throw the ball right to Melvin Ingram when we're in scoring range, so it was a tough way to lose."
Despite the mistakes, the Bengals got the ball back trailing 16-13 with 3:08 remaining.
Burrow completed 8-of-11 passes for 70 yards and put the Bengals in position to win the game.
It looked like they were going to win, but Green was called for pass interference on what would've been the game-winning score.
"It definitely was the winning touchdown," Green said afterwards. "He was clamping me the whole time. Coming off the ball within five yards, so if you’re are gonna call that, we can call that both ways. But they made the call and we lost the game."
The seven-time Pro Bowler was frustrated by the loss, but he admits that he was encouraged by Burrow's performance. The rookie was hit early and often by Joey Bosa, Ingram and the rest of the Chargers' defensive front. He kept fighting and gave the Bengals a chance to win.
"That guy doesn't flinch," Green said. "The way he handled himself in that last drive was unbelievable. I haven't seen any rookie the way he handled it after adversity. We got a special one in Joe."
The Bengals don't have any time to dwell on their mistakes against the Chargers. They play the Browns in Cleveland on Thursday night at 8:20 p.m. ET.
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