Brilliant but beaten: the historical, searing misfortune of Joe Burrow

Joe Burrow’s Bengals lost in overtime to the Ravens on Sunday.Photograph: Jeff Dean/AP

It’s official: Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals is one of the unluckiest quarterbacks we’ve ever seen. The Bengals lost 41-38 to the Baltimore Ravens in overtime on Sunday, sending Cincinnati to 1-4 on the season. It certainly hasn’t been Burrow’s fault – through the first five games of the season, Burrow has completed 125 of 173 passes (a 72.3% completion rate) for 1,370 yards (7.9 yards per attempt), 12 touchdowns, two interceptions, and an outstanding passer rating of 113.6 (his QBR of 73.6 is the second-best in the league).

But that hasn’t been enough to stop the Bengals slipping out of the playoff race – “We’re not a championship-level team right now,” was Burrow’s brutal conclusion after Sunday’s loss. Most of Cincinnati’s issues center around a defense that has been especially awful against the run, and has forced Burrow to make as many big plays as possible just to keep his team in games – which he is certainly capable of doing.

On Sunday, Burrow completed 30 of 39 passes for 392 yards, five touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 137.0. It was one of the best quarterback performances of the season, and it helped the Bengals to leads of 24-14 in the third quarter, and 38-28 in the fourth. But the Bengals’ defense grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory once again, allowing Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry to do their collective things late in regulation and into overtime.

The Bengals’ offense is averaging 0.94 EPA per drive and 2.94 actual points (AP??) per drive; both numbers are the best for the franchise in Weeks 1-5 since at least 2000.

The Bengals’ defense is allowing 2.73 points per drive, the worst number for the franchise in Weeks 1-5…

— Austin Gayle (@austingayle_) October 7, 2024

It also didn’t help that when Jackson fumbled the ball to the Bengals with 6:37 left in overtime, the decision was made to run the ball…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/brilliant-beaten-historical-searing-misfortune-071014207.html

Author : The Guardian

Publish date : 2024-10-07 07:10:14

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