The 56 most important players in Super Bowl LVI
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(Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer-USA TODAY NETWORK)
In the 2021 regular season, behind the Bengals’ iffy (we’re being kind) offensive line, Burrow was pressured on exactly one-third of his dropbacks (197 pressures on 592 dropbacks). In the postseason to date, he’s been pressured on 36% of his dropbacks — 45 of 125. Here’s the interesting thing, though — combine the regular and postseason, and Burrow’s pressure rate of 33.8% is the NFL’s 14th-highest among starting quarterbacks. And it’s not the result of Burrow just checking down to the hot read when flushed — this season, Burrow has attempted 77 passes of 20 or more air yards (sixth-most in the NFL), completing 31 for 1,177 yards, 10 touchdowns, six interceptions, and a passer rating of 94.8.
Where Burrow has run into trouble this season is when he tries to throw deep under pressure — then, he has completed just four of 23 passes for 153 yards, 108 air yards, one touchdown, three interceptions, and a passer rating of 29.7.
That might be Burrow’s only Achilles heel. And he adjusted accordingly against the Chiefs in the conference championship game. Burrow was pressured on 17 of his 42 dropbacks (40.5%), completing eight of 14 passes for 79 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 73.2. He completed one of five deep passes for 44 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 24.2.
So, how was Burrow able to help the Bengals get past the Chiefs? He ran the ball exceedingly well when he had to — five attempts for 25 yards, and four of those attempts led to first down conversions on third down. This fourth-quarter scramble to extend the drive may have been the play of the game.
#Bengals lineman Jackson Carman got destroyed by Chris Jones and Joe Burrow made a PLAY!pic.twitter.com/rCbj2upd3l
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 30, 2022
Burrow was also extremely efficient on short passes, completing 14 of 18 passes of 0-9 air yards for 102 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 108.8.
The point here is that however Joe Burrow needs to elevate his offense is exactly how he’ll elevate it. If he needs to make big plays in-between nine sacks from the Titans as he did in the divisional round, it’s all good. If he needs to lean on the run game and the defense and move the sticks in other ways, that’s just fine.
Burrow and that offensive line will have perhaps its sternest test of the season in the Rams’ fronts, but betting against him in any capacity has proven foolish more often than not. As Burrow goes, so go the Bengals.
