CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow flashed a grin and tapped the knuckles on his left hand on the surface in front of him.
Knock on wood.
It’s a phrase and action Bengals coaches love to repeat in hopes of warding away bad luck. After Cincinnati’s first practice of training camp, Burrow both tapped the table and said the phrase when he was asked about being healthy for the first time during a training camp.
“Knock on wood,” Burrow said, “I feel great. This time last year, I was sitting in a hospital bed post-surgery. It’s good to be out there with the guys.”
That optimism didn’t even last 24 hours. The next day, during practice, Burrow scrambled to his right and immediately went down. He was carted off the field and was promptly diagnosed with a strained right calf.
Suddenly, the Bengals found themselves in a familiar position. In the buildup to his four NFL seasons, Burrow has had to overcome some sort of obstacle during training camp -- COVID-19 restrictions, left knee surgery, an emergency appendectomy and now a calf injury.
But those setbacks have yet to stop Burrow from preparing for the season or missing any games. The current situation appears to be no different. Bengals coach Zac Taylor has not indicated that Burrow will miss the team’s Week 1 game against the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 10.
If anything, Burrow has mastered the art of overcoming a setback. Over the course of a season, he has become adept at managing the situation until he is back at 100% health.
“He’s gotten himself to this spot for a reason,” Taylor said. “Over the last three years, he’s had to deal with similar circumstances. So he’s a veteran at this.”
AS A RESULT of his early setbacks, Burrow has gotten off to slow starts.
In 2021, coming off surgery for a torn left ACL and MCL suffered the previous year, Burrow said it took several weeks for him to feel confident in his mobility. In the first nine games of that season, he rushed for five first downs. In the final 11 games, including the playoffs, Burrow scampered for 15 first downs, including two touchdowns.
“It’s night and day from the first half of the season,” Burrow said leading up to the Bengals’ appearance in Super Bowl LVI. “I wasn’t really able to do any of that in the first half. I’ve really started to come into my own in that sense, making plays, extending plays. That’s something I’ve always been able to do.”
In 2022, just before the start of training camp, Burrow suffered a ruptured appendix that required emergency surgery and hospitalization. He began practicing during the preseason, but there were questions about whether he could play in Week 1.
“It was kind of like, ‘Huh, like is this going to be all right?’” Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan recalled.
Burrow began the season with a four-interception performance in an overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1. But the more he was removed from the surgery, the better he played.
From Week 6 until the end of the regular season, Burrow ranked fifth in Total QBR. Burrow also received votes for The Associated Press Most Valuable Player award for the first time.
In early August, Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase joked with NFL Network that he wouldn’t mind if Burrow didn’t come back until Week 5 if that’s what it took for him to feel great.
But in more serious tones a couple of days later, Chase said a healthy and effective Burrow at the end of the season is what matters most.
“We’d be OK as long as he’s there for the end of the season,” Chase told reporters. “We’re worried about the bigger picture here, not the small picture. We’re trying to win.”
WHEN BURROW IS locked in during a team meeting, his teammates know it.
“He's not writing a single thing down, but he remembers everything,” Bengals backup quarterback Jake Browning said.
But while Burrow’s electronic tablet may not have a ton of notes, he has remained engaged as the Bengals prepare for the season opener.
Instead of Browning watching Burrow’s tape and giving recommendations or making scheme suggestions, Burrow is the one offering input on other people’s film.
“It's been funny kind of having the role reversal a little bit where he's saying stuff to me and then coming up with ideas,” Browning said.
Bengals wide receiver Tyler Boyd said Burrow has done a great job of staying mentally locked in despite not being able to practice.
And his presence in team meetings has helped Burrow stay in sync with his receivers.
“Not having your starting quarterback, that s--t's hard, at the end of the day,” Boyd said. “But I think Joe does a great job of staying in his playbook, still going over the plays, still in the meetings and still knowing and going through the mental reps in his head.”
Burrow’s physical recovery has been limited throughout training camp. Ahead of the preseason opener on Aug. 11, Burrow had an extended throwing session hours before Cincinnati faced the Green Bay Packers. Afterward, Taylor said Burrow was progressing.
Still, the Bengals have remained cautious as he continued his rehab process. Burrow didn’t travel for the team’s second preseason game so he could maximize his recovery time, according to a team source. Another source said Burrow was not participating in team walkthroughs ahead of the team’s preseason finale against Washington, with the thinking that staying off the calf could maximize his health for Week 1.
On Monday, Taylor said the team has had a return plan for Burrow established throughout his recovery process. And Burrow looks far better than he did a year ago coming off the appendectomy.
“Physically just walking around, he looks probably as good as he’s ever looked at this point,” Taylor said. “That’s a positive and we will just go from there.”
WHILE THE BENGALS expect Burrow to start against Cleveland, that doesn’t guarantee he will be 100%. If that’s the case, the Bengals have experience tweaking the game plan to accommodate him.
In 2021, when Burrow was coming off knee surgery, Callahan said the coaching staff was more conservative in what it asked of Burrow on game days. Depending on his calf, the Bengals may have to take a similar approach at the start of this season.
“There is an adjustment there depending on how he feels,” Callahan told ESPN, “where you do have to change a little bit of what you ask him to do and how he plays. It's hard to get guys to come out of their natural play state. But sometimes you have to.”
If Burrow is unavailable to go for the opener, backups Browning and Trevor Siemian could be the ones making the start. Each has spent all of training camp battling for the backup spot. Taylor said on Thursday that neither has yet to win the job heading into the Bengals' preseason finale. Taylor has also left the door open for potentially evaluating other quarterbacks if the current options don’t provide any clarity.
Browning has been on the team’s practice squad since the start of the 2021 season and was elevated to the active roster for the final game of last season. Siemian, 31, has made 30 career NFL starts but has struggled this preseason, completing just 52.4% of his passes. Browning, who has been good and bad throughout camp, has a 66.7% completion percentage in preseason games.
Browning earned praise from Taylor for his urgency in camp and how well he has commanded the offense. He has also blended in well in the locker room.
“He’s approached it the right way,” Taylor said. “Very likable guy. That’s critical for backup quarterbacks, that they get along with everyone in the building and they fit in well with the quarterback room and the coaching staff.”
The way Burrow ended 2022 put him in contention for his first Most Valuable Player award. He went from managing setbacks to putting the Bengals in the AFC Championship Game for the second straight year.
Cincinnati is hoping for a similar story -- with a happier ending -- will play out in 2023.
“There's only a handful [of teams] that I think are true contenders,” Callahan told ESPN. “Him playing at that level would solidify us as a legitimate contender to be a world champion. And that's what we're after.”