Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is certain that he has worked hard to “make sure I’m healthy.”
Throughout his NFL career, quarterback Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals has seen the worst of injured reserve.
His first season was cut short by a knee injury, and his path back to the field was lengthy. Three years later, during the first month of the 2023 season, a calf strain sustained during training camp rendered him immobile in the pocket; nevertheless, his campaign was cut short as soon as he broke free from the granite due to a wrist injury.
The worst situations in life can occasionally teach us the most valuable lessons. Burrow is undoubtedly a more knowledgeable player going into the 2024 campaign.
Burrow said to the team’s official website, “I’m confident I’ve put in all the work I need to make sure I’m healthy,” lately. “I’m still working to improve that and increase its efficiency from year to year. During the offseason, I should perhaps pay a bit more attention to my body’s needs and refrain from pushing myself like I have in the past. I’m only now beginning to understand my body better.”
Burrow should become familiar with his physique since it is both his and Cincinnati’s most valuable asset. The Bengals will only go as far as Burrow can take them, as they discovered in 2023, and he can’t accomplish that if he can’t carry himself on the field.
He intends to go back on the field in he’ll meet some new people in 2024. Joe Mixon, the running back, is off to Houston, and Brian Callahan, Burrow’s offensive coordinator, is now the head coach in Tennessee.
However, the adjustments ought to be rather small. Cincinnati replaced Callahan with Dan Pitcher, the quarterbacks coach for Burrow, and promoted Pitcher’s assistant, Brad Kragthorpe, to take over as head coach.
As a result, a few players will be missing, and Zack Moss, a running back who the Bengals signed last spring, will stand in for them. However, the Bengals know what it takes to reclaim the AFC crown after winning it in 2021, losing it to the Chiefs in 2022, and failing to challenge for it in 2023. Furthermore, not much needs to change.
“The idea is to maintain as much of the same as possible. That’s the reason Brad and Pitch were promoted,” Burrow said. “We made an effort to preserve most of the items internal, and we also made a few additions that, in our opinion, would contribute something unique to our workflow. That’s usually a positive thing, in my opinion. I’m interested to watch how that collaborative connection develops.
“Whoever is here, you’re going to self-scout and tweak what you did from last year to be a better offense.”
Maybe the most crucial component for improvement is just availability. Burrow acknowledged that it begins with him.
“Compared to previous year, we need to be more reliable. My injuries was a contributing factor in it, Burrow added. “I believe we just must proceed as an offensive by taking that next step. Become more series-to-series consistent. We’ve played really well from game to game, but I believe if we need to be more reliable if we want to be among the top one or three offenses in the league.”
In 2023, consistency was a problem, but Burrow’s health may have had a major role in it. During the first month of the season, as he worked through the calf ailment, he just was unable to handle the pocket. Burrow seemed like his old self when the gloomy skies eventually broke, giving the rest of the league more cause for concern over the Bengals.
In 2024, Burrow hopes to instill in opponents the similar fear.
“We know we have the right people in place to reach our goals,” Burrow stated. “All we need to do is connect the dots and identify our responsibilities to maximize our available resources.”
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