A wrist injury has kept Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow out of the season.

 

 

 

 

The Cincinnati Bengals announced on Friday that quarterback Joe Burrow would miss the remainder of the season because of a ruptured ligament in his right wrist.

Both Burrow and coach Zac Taylor predicted surgery would be necessary for the ailment. Burrow departed the game in the second quarter of the Bengals’ 34-20 defeat to the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night, after he had given the team a brief 10-7 lead with a 4-yard touchdown throw to Joe Mixon. After the pass, Burrow crumpled into a ball of anguish and gripped his wrist.

He stated on Friday that the injury most likely occurred during the previous play, when he was hit by Jadeveon Clowney after tossing a 9-yard pass to Mixon and came down on his wrist. Burrow said that until he watched a video of the play, he was unaware that he had fallen on his wrist.

“In the midst of the throw, I heard a pop. I gave it a go but was unable to finish, so I received the news today. Before we received the official word on the outcome, I had a sense,” said Burrow, who was out of the game after going 11 of 17 for 101 yards and a score.

The NFL said that it will look into Burrow’s exclusion from the team’s pregame injury report. Burrow insisted that his injury occurred on that hit, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the inquiry was not being made public.

Before the game, Burrow seemed to be wearing a soft cast, but the star quarterback claimed he was only wearing a compression sleeve—something he has previously worn on flights. The Bengals had uploaded and then removed a video of the incident from their social media accounts.

Burrow attempted practice tosses on the sidelines after the game, but the ball slid out of his fingers as he flinched in agony. Then, with a disgruntled expression, Burrow headed to the dressing room.

In his four years in the NFL, Burrow has experienced season-ending injuries twice. The most recent occurrence was in Week 11. In 2020, he suffered an ACL and MCL tear in his left knee during a match against Washington. The next year, he returned and guided Cincinnati to its first Super Bowl berth since 1988.

“This is nothing new; I’ve experienced similar things in the past. As previously said, this kind of thing happens in football. Simply learn to accept it,” Burrow said.

Taylor also didn’t seem to be worried about Burrow’s ability to recover.

“His programming is distinct. For that reason, we’re lucky to have him. Because he can overcome obstacles and plays with a chip on his shoulder, that’s why he’s accomplished everything in his lifetime, according to Taylor.

With the announcement on Friday, Burrow’s injury-plagued season comes to a close. Prior to the start of the regular season, Burrow inked a five-year contract deal worth $275 million US. The average salary of $55 million per season set a record for an NFL player.
Joe Burrow, quarterback for the Bengals, signed a 5-year, $275 million US contract, making him the highest-paid athlete in the NFL.

On the second day of training camp, he sustained a calf injury that kept him out of the preseason. He made a comeback in time for the regular season to begin, but the Bengals lost three of their opening four games due to his struggles. During that time, Burrow earned a below-average passer rating of 69.1 and threw two touchdowns and two interceptions.

After that, Burrow and the Bengals appeared to have turned the corner as they won four straight games, including games against Buffalo and San Francisco. In Week 8, he led the team to a 31-17 victory over the 49ers with three touchdown passes and a 134.8 passer rating. Two weeks later, in a prime-time game against the Bills, he recorded a career-high 348 yards and two touchdown passes.

The Bengals, on the other hand, have lost their previous two games and are now 5-5. Jake Browning, the backup, will probably start going forward. Veteran AJ McCarron is another player on the team.

Late in the fourth quarter, Browning tossed a score and completed 8 of 14 passes for 68 yards. Before being promoted to Burrow’s backup this season, he was a member of the Bengals practice squad for the previous two seasons.

Browning attended the University of Washington but was not selected in the draft. In 2019 and maybe 2020, he was a member of Minnesota’s practice squad.