Quarterback Position Preview: Joe Burrow Gives Bengals Hope in Quest to Win Super Bowl

Everything starts with the quarterback position in today's NFL. For the reigning AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals, that guy is former No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow.

The 25-year-old has exceeded any expectations that were placed upon him during the 2020 NFL Draft.

A playoff run wasn't supposed to happen until maybe the third year of his career. Instead, he led the Bengals to the Super Bowl in year two.

He's a special player and special players accomplish amazing milestones in record time. He's already a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback. Burrow was able to pull the Bengals within inches of coming away with their first ever Lombardi trophy in his first full season. Fans are rightfully ecstatic about the future of this player and the franchise.

To look at the 2021 season specifically, Burrow accomplished a rare feat when he achieved the highest completion percentage (71.4%) and the highest average yards per attempt (8.9) in the entire National Football League. Not only was he deadly accurate, but he was also throwing for significant gains every time he dropped back.

Pro Football Focus graded the Bengals signal caller as the best quarterback in the league as well as the most accurate quarterback this past season. He also earned the Comeback Player of the Year. Despite the multitude of fantastic attributes that Burrow possesses from deadly accuracy to fearlessness in the face of danger, the one trait that stands out the most to me is his ability to make defenders miss.

Let's end the narrative that Joe Burrow can't move within the pocket or that he has bad pocket presence.

He took 51 sacks last year because his OL played like garbage cans and he tried to extend plays.

Burrow is actually a wizard at moving within the pocket and escaping. pic.twitter.com/AmOC5eXz1Y
— mike (@bengals_sans) May 15, 2022

What Makes Him Special

He can make micro-movements within the pocket to buy just a little bit more time like Tom Brady, but I think of him more like a Tony Romo when it comes to maneuvering the pocket.

Burrow likes to escape the pocket to improvise and create explosive plays. He’s not just a stick within the pocket type of quarterback. He has plenty of moves to escape the pocket and when he is singled up by a defender with no hope in sight, he can still somehow force the defender to miss. This ability to not only manage the pocket, but also to improvise and buy time is one of the most important traits a quarterback can have and Burrow has it in spades.

Areas For Improvement

With that said, he still takes too many sacks. Those are more due to how he is wired as a quarterback rather than his pocket presence. Rather than playing it smart and checking the ball down, Burrow is a big game hunter. He led the entire NFL at 8.3 yards per attempt when under pressure according to Pro Football Focus. That sums up who Burrow is pretty well. He never blinks in the face of pressure. For better or for worse, he wants to create explosive plays rather than checking the ball down.

Other Notable Names

I assume Brandon Allen will be Burrow's backup this season. They seem to have good rapport and the backup quarterback job is more than just filling in when the starter goes down. He’s essentially the starting quarterback’s assistant. They watch film together and talk to each other about what they see on a regular basis. I am guessing that Zac Taylor and Burrow both like having Allen in this role, even if he’s not the best on the field.

Allen did have one magical game against Houston two years ago where he threw for 371 yards, two touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 126.5.

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