National Football League

Protect Joe Burrow

Updated Jul. 13, 2021 12:32 p.m. ET

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By Charlotte Wilder

The story immediately after the Browns beat the Bengals became one of continued alliteration: Baker is back, baby!

Sure. Baker Mayfield, after a very bad first game against the Ravens in Week 1, came out looking so motivated that I bet he'd spent the weekend reading everyone’s tweets about how badly he played. 

He marched the Browns down the field with decisive drives, fed Nick Chubb the ball, only threw one interception, and received a signed guitar from Machine Gun Kelly (who is, apparently, a person) on the postgame broadcast after the Browns won, 35-30. He did well. 

The story that I’d like to focus on, however, is that of a loser. 

It’s about Joe Burrow. 

Burrow has probably never been called a loser in his life. Before Thursday night, he hadn’t lost two games back-to-back in his entire football career. That’s right — this kid went through high school and college winning so often that even on a bad day, he was only one match-up away from victory in either direction. 

Cincinnati changed that. 

I’ve always thought that there’s some cruel irony in the best player going to the worst team. I know that’s how the draft works. I know that’s how the draft has to work in order to give dejected fan bases hope. I know that it can work!

Cam Newton is the best example of the past ten years, perhaps? I know I’m biased as a New England fan, but he dragged the Panthers to relevancy and to the highest highs of the sport. Terry Bradshaw, Troy Aikman, even Drew Bledsoe — they all went to bad teams and made them better.

And on Thursday, Baker proved that even if you go to the worst team in the league, there is a chance that after three years and three head coaches, you can still have a shot at beating the Bengals in primetime. 

Okay, so that's not the most compelling example (and the reason I think everyone should maybe slow their roll a little bit when it comes to the Baker-is-back narrative, but I digress).

What drives me a little nuts is that teams are not made great because of individual players. You need great individual players for success, but if you aren’t putting them in positions to succeed, they won’t. The team won’t. 

The Bengals aren’t doing Joe any favors. Namely with their offensive line. 

Look, Burrow is an inherently transcendent player. His first drive made him look like a seasoned pro until he got sacked at the 20, and his first pass to AJ Green? My God. Even though Green was out, it looked like Burrow shot the ball out of a T-shirt cannon. 

It’s been a while since I believed in a rookie more than I believe in this kid out of LSU.  

He’s cool. He’s calm. He’s collected. He executes. He can adapt. Even as he was being sacked for the millionth time on Thursday night, he managed to complete a pass.

What we’ve seen on the field in just two games, despite the Bengals’ struggles, is the same kid we watched win the national championship for LSU. 

Burrow didn’t shine in Louisiana just because he had a great team or a great coach. He had both, of course. And they were both necessary so he could win. But it was Burrow’s ingrained confidence and his ability to execute under pressure, to come back from a deficit, that made it clear he possessed something special. 

You don’t often see that confidence translate to a rookie NFL quarterback, but even without very much protection at all, Burrow still had it on Thursday. He has the raw ability to be so great in this league, which made it so painful to watch him take hit after hit. 

But Burrow still went 37 of 61 attempts for 316 yards and three touchdowns. Bengals coach Zac Taylor — a former quarterbacks coach — said he felt they had success passing, so they just kept doing it.

As Aikman said on the broadcast Thursday night, "You throw 60 passes, you better have over 300 yards. I didn't throw 60 passes in three weeks." 

Burrow is hard on himself. Anyone who gets to the top of their field has to be in order to keep improving. After the game, he said, "I made too many mistakes."

But I hope more than anything that Taylor figures out some way to at least pretend to protect Burrow from pass rushers. Draw up plays that help out wide receivers like Tyler Boyd and AJ Green, with whom Burrow clearly clicks. Run the ball every once in a while so the kid’s arm doesn’t fall off. 

Despite all the issues, the Bengals still came within 5 points of the Browns. Thirty points is nothing to scoff at — I was very clear before the game that the right move was taking the under, at 44 points. Then the state of Ohio decided to blow right through it. 

Still, it was hard to watch someone with so much potential play for an organization that has historically seemed determined to shoot itself in the foot. 

So, on Thursday night, in a fit of frustration, I tweeted that I was mad at the Bengals for having Joe Burrow. 

Fans didn’t like that, and I can see why. I apologize for any offense I may have caused. What I mean, really, is that I’m mad at the Bengals for being the Bengals. Burrow can still improve, of course. But he also needs his team to, and it takes organizational and managerial help to do it. 

As I always say, there’s no "I" in Bengals. 

Cincinnati can have Joe. It’s just a travesty if they don’t figure out what to do with such a talent.

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Cincinnati Bengals

Joe Burrow

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Charlotte Wilder