The past few seasons have brought to the NFL an eternal optimism that, even without a classic, archetypal franchise quarterback, some kind of player-friendly schematic breakthrough can mask enough of a quarterback’s deficiencies to keep a team functioning at a playoff level. 19 wild-card win over the Raiders, which gave the Bengals their first playoff win since 1991, proves that there is no greater lift to a moribund franchise than the arrival of an archetypal franchise quarterback. We’re at a strange time in the position, where a wider array of possibilities have afforded coaches proving bowl broader spectrum of options from which they can win games. A Taylor Heinicke season, for example, is not an outlandish idea anymore.
A maybe-let’s-see-what-Case-Keenum’s-got season doesn’t immediately dismiss a club from playoff consideration. Tyrod Taylor could get you to the playoffs. Burrow, like Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen before him, is obviously different, in that the three of them have ushered in the kind of complete and total sea change that alters the trajectory of a franchise. We are not shaking up the academic world by making this point. But it is worth noting just how stark the difference between the two situations is. A year ago, the Bengals looked like a team holding a great player hostage.
On his first touchdown pass Saturday, Burrow hit tight end C. Uzomah on a seven-yard pass that, by recent, evolving-legend Burrow standards, would not have registered on a season highlight reel. The incredible thing about the throw was that Uzomah was not open by anyone’s measure. There was a player dropped in zone guarding an inside throw. There was a player in solid position to protect against an outside throw if Burrow had tried to stretch Uzomah’s frame and feed him like a post player. Burrow uncorked a pass that seemed to furiously rise and dip like a sinker due to the pure velocity.
By the time Uzomah had completed the vintage Bengals tribute to Ickey Woods, the pass, the timing, the ball speed and the decision making were an afterthought. The same could be said for Burrow’s sideline play with Ja’Marr Chase throughout the night, attacking the thin, soft spots in a pass-centric Raiders defense that prioritizes forcing the quarterback into consistently difficult throws. In Cincinnati, it should never be an afterthought. This is a team that tried, for so many years, to survive at the quarterback position. Before that, they squandered elite talent, seeing it wilt at the hands of the same forces that could have easily swept Burrow away too, destined for a better career elsewhere. As if this weren’t obvious enough now, the Bengals cannot let this opportunity go to waste.
They cannot let this quarterback go unappreciated. Franchises can spend half centuries between quarterbacks who can expertly take over a game the way Burrow can. They cannot let something this good slip away. For now, the team has guaranteed its fan base at least one more week to appreciate his gifts.
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. On Saturday, Miami Heat center Omer Yurtseven had 22 points and 11 rebounds. It was his 14th straight double-double. Not bad for an undrafted player out of Georgetown. Oh, I loved his minutes,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Omer was very good throughout the course of the game. He was big in the paint, he rebounded well, he was pretty good on his pick-and-roll coverages. And then on the other end, he just continues to gain confidence in those relief baskets, opportunities at the rim and his touch in the paint is getting better. We really needed those baskets that he was giving us. Teammates Jimmy Butler has been among those who have been impressed with Yurtseven. I think he has put the league on notice about how he rebounds the basketball, how he guards, obviously how he scores. I just want him to keep that mentality and understand that just because Bam is back, it doesn’t meant that you don’t go about everything the exact same way and know that your time is going to come again.