Bengals QB Joe Burrow Hears Your Concerns but Suggests, Politely, That You Go Kick Rocks Because He's Playing

CINCINNATI – Joe Burrow hears you. He understands you. He respects you.

But in the politest way possible, he suggests you go kick rocks.

Burrow is starting for the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday night in Baltimore in spite of the team’s 3-8 record and gaunt playoff chances.

And in spite of his lengthy injury history.

And in spite of the fact that his most recent one, a toe ligament, is not yet 100 percent healed a mere 69 days after surgery.

“I understand why people feel that way, but you look at it from my perspective – I’m a football player and if I get hurt, I’m going to go through the rehab process and then I’m going to let everyone know when I feel like I can go out there and play,” Burrow said to begin a long, impassioned response to people who might be concerned.

“I don’t really know what else to say about that,” he continued. “I’m not ever going to go to somebody and say, “Yeah, I’m healthy, but I don’t think I should go out there and play.’ That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I’m not going to live my life and play this game scared of something happening.

“Like, yeah, something is going to happen. It’s football. Guys are going to get hurt, guys are going to get concussions, you’re going to break bones, tear ligaments, it’s a physical, intense game. Yeah, I’ve had injuries. There’s not a lot I can do about that. I worked really hard to have that not happen, but what I can do is when it does happen, I can control how I’m attacking my rehab and attacking practice and doing everything in my power to get back as quickly as possible. And that’s what I did.”

If Burrow had it his way, he would have started Sunday against the New England Patriots.

He said the only reason he didn’t is that it was head coach Zac Taylor’s call to go with Joe Flacco for one more game.

“We went into that week, (and) I had a good workout early in the week. I was feeling good,” Burrow said.” Wednesday and Thursday practice happened, I took a lot of reps. My body was pretty sore – not necessarily my toe; my toe feels great – the rest of my body being back out there for so long.

“I was confident I could get that right to play on Sunday,” Burrow added. “Zac ended up thinking it was better to wait the extra four days. I think that was a good decision.”

Had Burrow played, maybe the Bengals are 4-7 and two games out of first going into Baltimore.

As it is, they’re 3-8 and three games back.

Last year about this time, they went on a five-game winning streak to get to 9-8 and fall just short of the playoffs.

It would take a six-game winning streak to get to 9-8 this year, and who knows if that will be enough to sneak into the postseason.

Most analytics sites give the Bengals a 1 percent chance of making the playoffs.

That’s not zero.

But mathematical elimination could be something the Bengals have to swallow with their leftovers come Friday.

Unlike Burrow’s previous return from injuries, this isn’t Week 1. There are no buffers or easing-in periods.

Thursday, essentially, is a playoff game.

“Yeah, it’s certainly a different mental space that you have to be in throughout the week to prepare the way you need to go out and play great,” Burrow said. “That’s one of the reasons I wanted to get two full weeks of practice before I went out there and performed.

“We were going to move up that timeline and obviously didn’t end up playing last week. But preparing that whole week like I was going to play was beneficial,” he continued. “Putting yourself in that mental state to get back into the swing of things, it’s an intense place to be at times. So I’m glad I had that week to feel that before Thursday.”

Burrow said he’ll pick his spots when to extend plays and operate the way he’s used to, but overall he doesn’t expect to play much differently.

"We just gotta go play great. Just gotta go play,” he said. “We have good coaches. There's not a scheme in the NFL that is so revolutionary that it's going to completely change the way a player plays the game.

“At the end of the day, you have to go make plays and play great within the system. At the end of the day, players have to take some accountability and play really good,” Burrow continued. “I feel confident that I can go out and do everything that I need to do to win a game.”