Ravens Rivals: Takeaways from around the AFC North after week two
By Davis Baker
Cincinnati Bengals: Protect Joe Burrow
All eyes this year will be on Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who was selected first overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. Ideally, you don’t want your quarterback throwing 61 times in a game, but because of Cincinnati trailing almost the whole game and subpar offensive line play, Burrow was forced to throw the football all night long. Burrow ended up throwing for 316-yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions in his second NFL game.
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The biggest problem with that though is the amount of hits Burrow had to take against a talented Browns defensive line. Burrow was sacked three times and pressured many more on dropbacks in the pocket. The Bengals are essentially operating a college offense, spreading everything out and trying to get the ball into the hands of playmakers like Joe Mixon, A.J. Green, and Tyler Boyd. However, that means defenses are going to have to opportunity to blitz Burrow a lot, and Cincinnati needs to focus on protecting him at all costs.
The Bengals had an opportunity to potentially change the momentum of the game after stopping Cleveland from scoring on fourth and goal, but Burrow was sacked by Myles Garrett, who stripped the ball and that led to Cleveland recovering the ball at the Cincinnati one-yard line.
Cincinnati, despite their flaws, looked promising, especially considering how strange and unusual this off-season was. They will travel to Philadelphia next Sunday to face Carson Wentz and the 0-2 Eagles at 1 p.m.