Bengals’ Joe Burrow Says Surgery on Wrist Injury Still Impacting How He Throws Ball

Paul KasabianFeatured Columnist IIOctober 10, 2024

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Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is having a sensational season, but the five-year veteran told reporters after Wednesday’s practice that he isn’t throwing the ball how he would like following successful surgery on a torn ligament in his right wrist last November.

“I would say I’m still not quite throwing it the way that I would like,” Burrow said, per Bengals senior writer Geoff Hobson.

“I’m making good decisions, I’m putting the ball where I want to. I still think there’s another level of improvement I can get to coming back from injury on ball rotation and spin rate and all that. So, that’s going to continue to get better as I get healthier, so there’s always another level to find.”

Burrow has completed 72.3 percent of his passes for 1,370 yards and an NFL-high 12 touchdowns through five weeks. Cincinnati is fourth in the NFL in scoring with 28.0 points per game. His 113.6 quarterback rating ranks first among passers who have started at least three games.

Although Burrow said he isn’t throwing the ball how he would like to just yet, it’s hard to imagine him being much better. Simply put, he’s arguably been the NFL’s best quarterback through five games. And that includes a rough showing for the offense in Week 1 en route to a 16-10 loss to the New England Patriots.

Since then, he’s averaged 301 passing yards per game, including 392 alongside five touchdowns last Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. He’s been electric thus far and is only getting better as the season goes on.

Despite Burrow’s success, the Bengals enter Week 6 with a 1-4 record, largely due to a defense that’s allowed the second-most points in the NFL.

The Bengals were on the wrong end of shootouts against the Washington Commanders (38-33) and Ravens (41-38) and were one fourth-down stop away from beating the Kansas City Chiefs before falling 26-25.

Now Burrow and the Bengals have a critical game on Sunday evening on the road against the 2-3 New York Giants, whose 22 sacks lead the league. Kickoff is set for 8:20 p.m. ET.