Bengals QB Joe Burrow On Dealing with Yet Another Serious Injury, His Mindset, His Target Date and Playoff Hopes

CINCINNATI – Just 57 days after suffering a turf-toe injury that required surgery, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was back at practice today, opening a 21-day window in which the team can return him to the 53-man roster from Injured Reserve.

Following practice, Burrow held his first news conference since the Wednesday before the injury occurred in the Week 2 home game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

He remained non-committal on when, or if, he’ll return to play this year, saying there are a number of variables in play when it comes to deciding that.

But he spoke more matter-of-factly about his mindset in the hours and days after being rocked by yet another serious injury.

“I knew it wasn’t great when it happened,” he said. “I typically have a good feel for those when it’s going to be fine and when it’s not.

“Obviously, I was incredibly sad, disappointed, frustrated, angry — all the above,” continued. “You let yourself feel sorry for yourself a little bit. It’s easy when a couple of days leading up to surgery and the couple weeks after when you can’t do much. And then it’s time to get back at it.”

He got back at it Monday as the team held its first practice coming off the bye week.

With current starting quarterback Joe Flacco still dealing with an AC joint injury, the plan was to have Burrow and Jake Browning split the first-team reps, head coach Zac Taylor said in his news conference a few minutes before practice.

Following the wrist injury that ended his season in November 2023, Burrow talked about facing his football mortality and the mounting mental toll all of the injuries are taking.

But that came as he stared down a long offseason of rehab that he knew could bleed into the following spring, summer and potentially fall, which it did.

The turf-toe injury and the more tolerable timeline didn’t take him to as many uncomfortable places.

“I haven’t really been in this spot where I have been injured and still had a chance to play in the same year,” he said. “I’ve been juggling the injury mindset where you kind of take a deep breath, then get back to it. Then juggling that with the idea I could potentially still play this year, and we could still be in it and all of those things.

“There’s been a lot going on in my mind with those things,” he added. “It’s a difficult thing to juggle. Now that we are getting closer and closer, it’s more of a season mindset.”

The original timelines floated by doctors were in the three-month range, setting the stage for a mid-December return against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 15.

Twenty-one days from today would be four days after Thanksgiving.

The Bengals will play in primetime on the holiday, also against the Ravens, in Baltimore, the spot of the wrist injury.

Asked how meaningful it would be to make his return on a primetime stage against a divisional rival on a field where he has an unfortunate history, Burrow said gave a one-word answer:

“Very.”

Is that the target?

“We’ll see,” he said with a sly, seemingly affirmative grin.

Burrow admitted the decision when – or if – to return involves more variables than just how the toe feels.

With the team sitting at 3-6 and on the cusp of elimination, the team’s record after the next two games would seem to be chief among them.

But Burrow wouldn’t commit to that.

“We’ll see how these next couple weeks go,” he said. “We’ll see how it feels. We’ll make a good decision when the time comes.”

Below are some of the other highlights from the news conference.

On whether he’ll wear a special cleat to protect the toe:

Yes.

Pressed for details, Burrow said it’s still something they are trying to figure out.

“It's an ongoing process. We're figuring out what works for me. I have to have a lot of hardware in there to protect it, so there's been a lot that's gone into that."

“We’ve been lifting for a while at this point and running for a couple weeks now. We felt good about my return to getting back on the field and testing it out.

On comparing this injury and rehab to the others he’s endured:

“They're all frustrating. I was really happy with where I was at, so that part was obviously incredibly disappointing, the amount of work you put into it and then that to happen in that spot, it's tough. But that's life in this business.

“Another ligament injury,” he added. “I know how to deal with those. On a scale of difficulty level, coming back, this one wasn’t really up there. I was back to moving pretty quickly and able to get back into my strength and conditioning level pretty quick. My body is in a good spot.

“I think muscle injuries are different from ligament injuries, and I've been through all of them. I know how to handle them. I feel really good about the repair. We feel good about how it's how it's been healing. It's strong. I'm strong. And so we felt good about getting back out to practice and starting to test it out a little bit (and) hopefully return to play.”

On his thoughts on what he’s seen from the team since he’s been out:

“Early in the year, the offense wasn't rolling, and I thought the defense was playing pretty well. And then lately, it seems like that's flip-flopped.

“It just feels like we haven't really put it all together. When you struggle that way, there's always guys doing good things, but the good things don't coincide with other people doing good things.”

On Joe Flacco:

“He's playing great. He's putting the ball where it needs to go. He's been accurate with it, getting the ball out. The O-line has been playing great. We've been running the ball really well over these last couple of weeks. That's been exciting to see. And, obviously, our guys on the outside are making plays like they always do.

“He's fun to be around. He's quiet sometimes. I think we have that in common. He'll throw some off-the wall stuff out there every once in a while that I like, that makes me laugh. He's fun to be around. I'm happy that I've been able to have this experience and watch him do his thing and see how he operates.”

On whether he thinks this team is playoff caliber:

"Yeah. Our division is wide open. I think Pittsburgh's 5-4 at this point. We play them this week. Everything is still there in front of us. It’s very rare that our division looks like this, but it does this year and, so, I think we'll be at least in it until the end.”

On whether he sees the postseason possibility as division title or bust:

“I think it'd be very difficult for us to be a wild card team at this point. Obviously, a lot of football to be played, but I think that's difficult. I think our best path would be winning the division.”