Joe Burrow did not ask for balance after the Cincinnati Bengals’ 22-17 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. He asked for the opposite.
The quarterback was asked Sunday whether a 15-carry, 23-yard rushing day against a Jacksonville ground game that produced 111 yards meant the play-calling needed more equilibrium. His answer was immediate. “
My response to that would be, ‘Let’s throw it more,’” Burrow told reporters.
Pressed on why, he did not soften it.
“Because I know we’re great at it. Because I know that’s what I do best, and we’re really pass-protecting really well right now. Obviously, we’d like to get more out of the run game, but you know I know we’ll make it work.”
That is the language of a quarterback who has already decided where the offense lives. Burrow completed 39 of 54 passes for 428 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions, and in the process reached 2,000 career completions in 81 games, tying Patrick Mahomes as the fastest to the mark.
Ja’Marr Chase left in the second quarter with a concussion. Tee Higgins, who had 11 catches for 157 yards, exited late with an adductor injury. The ball still went to Dohnte Meyers, Mitchell Tinsley, Mike Gesicki and Chase Brown out of the backfield. Cincinnati moved the ball. It did not win.
The more interesting read is who the answer was for. Head coach Zac Taylor was asked the same question in a different form — whether the run game should be used to take pressure off Burrow — and said the staff does not want 23 rushing yards or 15 carries, then explained why he did not call more of them.
Ineffective runs, he said, leave second-and-eight and third-and-seven, and once the pass game found a rhythm he was not going to force 15 extra handoffs. On the surface the two men agree.
Underneath, Burrow’s line lands differently. He is not describing a shared adjustment. He is naming the identity and claiming the late downs for himself.
“I’m always going to want the ball in my hands in those spots,” he said, “and there will be games where we run the heck out of the ball and we’re going to get under center and run it. And there will be games where we need to drop back 60 times, and we’ll go and make it happen.”
That last clause is the warning, if anyone in the building wants to hear it that way. The offseason talk about lining up under center more often and opening a real run game has not shown up in the box score of a game the Bengals lost.
Chase Brown managed 10 yards on nine carries. Burrow’s two interceptions, one in the red zone, helped Jacksonville to 3-1 and dropped Cincinnati to 2-2 after a 2-0 start.
He called the red-zone pick a bad play and said the season is not Armageddon. He also made clear that when the script breaks, the correction he wants is not a more patient ground game. It is more of him.
Taylor can still call the runs. Burrow has already told him what he thinks of the alternative.
