NFL offseason rankings: No. 13 Cincinnati Bengals try to contend again with Joe Burrow back

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Here’s how history will look back at the 2023 season of the Joe Burrow era with the Cincinnati Bengals: Burrow suffered a season-ending wrist injury, and that was the only reason the Bengals missed the playoffs and a shot at a long-awaited Super Bowl.

It won’t be entirely true. Losing Burrow, one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, obviously didn’t help. But the Bengals had other issues.

The Bengals were just 5-5 in Burrow’s starts. They were 4-3 without him. As unbelievable as it sounds, Jake Browning had a better passer rating (98.4) than Burrow (91.0) last season. Burrow is obviously miles better than Browning but at very least, Browning wasn’t the lone reason the Bengals season ended up in disappointment. So while it’s easy to chalk up a lost season to Burrow’s injury and assume the Bengals will be a contender again now that he’s back, perhaps it isn’t quite that easy.

The Bengals were a mess early in the season, due to some extent to the calf injury Burrow suffered early in training camp. Burrow missed more than a month leading up to the season and wasn’t moving well as the Bengals started 1-3. Offensive line issues were exposed as Burrow struggled to move. The Bengals warmed up as Burrow got healthier, especially on offense, and that streak included an impressive win at the San Francisco 49ers in Week 8. But the defense was surprisingly down. Cincinnati’s defense gave up big plays in bunches and finished 23rd in DVOA after being good enough to keep the Bengals in championship contention each of the previous two seasons. It’s hard to blame that on Burrow’s wrist.

The Bengals…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-07-15 12:31:32

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