Classic Burrow, who even after the playoff win to end the drought, said it was just one game: “Yeah, we needed this one.
So, big win, but it was just one. We get a lot of football left to be played, so we’re going to enjoy this one for a day and get right back to it.”
Burrow says it’s a combination of things, obviously with the calf a big part of his turn around: “I think there’s a lot of layers to that.
I think my mechanics have cleaned up over the last couple weeks, and then also, with my calf feeling better, I feel more comfortable extending plays instead of maybe throwing the ball away in those same situations that I had in the first couple weeks.
And so I think it’s a combination of a couple things.”
After all the hype about going back under center, it worked out for the offense, with Burrow saying this: “Yeah, we were able to get some big play-action shots off of that.
We got some great production out of that, so that’s going to continue to be part of what we do.”
Executive vice president Katie Blackburn admitted the organization made a change in how they approached free agency in the last three years. Ahead of the 2021 season, the Bengals signed three starters on the defensive side of the ball in defensive end Trey Hendrickson, cornerback Chidobe Awuzie and nickel cornerback Mike Hilton. Those three signings ended up being one of the key reasons the team earned a trip to Super Bowl 56.
A year later, the Bengals were once again high spenders at the start of free agency beefing up their offensive line with guard Alex Cappa and center Ted Karras.
In so may ways, the Bengals have changed the way they do things but it’s clear their approach to the trade deadline hasn’t.
Cincinnati also could use a boost in the run game. The Bengals are coming off their best rushing performance of the season against the 49ers, but they still rank in the bottom quarter in the NFL in rushing yards per game (79.0). For the Bengals to make another trip to the AFC championship game, they’ll need more consistency from their run game. That’s why it made sense for the Bengals to add another veteran running back to help from a production standpoint and take some of the workload off Mixon.
