Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow suffered an injury to his throwing hand/wrist, with Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor saying that it’s believed that Burrow suffered a sprained right wrist. Burrow seemingly suffered the injury prior to Thursday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens and played through the injury, but after being unable to grip the football, he left the game. He appeared to have fallen on his wrist early in the game, which could have re-aggravated the injury. But Baltimore LB Roquan Smith noted that injuries are a part of the game, particularly when you’re playing the Ravens.
“He’s a great player, got a lot of respect for him the way he plays the game. But hey, injuries are part of the game, so when you play the Ravens, sometimes things like that happen. Wish him all the best, speedy recovery,” Smith told Amazon Prime sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung.
While it’s not as if Burrow got injured on a cheap shot or a dirty hit from the Baltimore defense, the quote still really doesn’t sound the best. The Ravens’ defense is a physical group, and it’s part of their identity. The Cleveland Browns played Baltimore last week and opened the week with 18 players on their injury report. So yeah, while it’s true that guys are going to get banged up playing the Ravens, especially in an always-physical AFC North battle, outright saying that guys are going to get hurt against your team probably isn’t the best thing to put out in public.
As for Burrow, his injury could knock him out for Week 12 against the Steelers, meaning Pittsburgh would face Jake Browning at Paul Brown Stadium. While Burrow being out could improve Pittsburgh’s chances of winning, I think every Steelers fan is nervous at the prospect of potentially playing a backup quarterback in Cincinnati after the Ryan Finley game in 2020.
Burrow will undergo an MRI today to determine the severity of his injury but given that he couldn’t grip the ball last night, it would take a speedy recovery to have him ready by next Sunday. The longer layoff coming off a Thursday night game could be beneficial, but we won’t really know until his MRI results are revealed.
It was a brutal Thursday night for injuries, as the Ravens lost TE Mark Andrews, likely for the season, due to an ankle injury. If someone on Cincinnati came out said “That’s what happens when you play the Bengals,” I’m not sure Smith would take too kindly to it. But the important thing is that Burrow and Andrews can get healthy as soon as possible and return to 100%.
