“I anticipate him playing, but we’ll continue to work through the week,” Taylor said. “I’m not going to declare that definitively. Work through the week. Coming off an injury he’s done everything he could. He put himself in position to do his best to play yesterday. We’ll continue with that mindset. He looks like he’s in good shape right now and he can be ready to go.”
The Bengals held off on him playing Sunday against New England out of concern with rushing him back too quickly during a stretch of two games in five days. It likely would take a setback during what’s already a light week of practice in a short week to derail Burrow’s anticipated plan for return.
A mannequin in the locker room entrance showing the team’s uniform combination for the game even had a Burrow jersey, and Burrow posted an old photo of himself on Instragram with the caption “He’s back.”
“Everybody’s making it seem like it’s gonna be like this big like Dark Knight Rises return or something like that; it could be,” running back Chase Brown said. “I’m just excited for him to get football back. He loves football, and taking that away from him, for however long, it’s probably been hard.”
Taylor said Trey Hendrickson (hip/pelvis), Tee Higgins (concussion) and Tahj Brooks (concussion) have already been declared out for this week, but the Bengals will see how Cam Sample (oblique) and Samaje Perine (ankle) get through the week.
Joe Flacco is good to go, despite dislocating a finger on his throwing hand Sunday, and would be the backup if Burrow plays.
Last week was the big test for Burrow, and he put himself in position to be ready. He was able to ramp up his reps while Flacco was still being limited to allow for continued recovery with his sprained AC joint.
“(Burrow) just took a bunch of reps that Jake Browning had been taking when Flacco was out (of practices before),” Taylor said. “From that perspective it worked out well. We were able to balance that without disrupting anything and now he’ll go into these walkthrough reps, which is what we are doing these next two days, so it’s nothing physical, walkthrough mental reps and getting him ready to go play.”
The Bengals have six games left, and sitting at 3-8, their playoff hopes are slim. They would have to win out to finish 9-8, and that same record the last two years was not good enough to get into the postseason.
Whether Burrow can even make a difference at this point is a big question. The defense is playing better the last two weeks, but the offense has struggled to replicate the success Flacco was having his first four starts. Taylor has said Burrow still gives the Bengals their best shot at winning.
“It has been several months, so I’m not going to make any predictions on what it looks like. But again, but he’s put himself in great shape,” Taylor said. “It’s good to see him through the progression that we’ve had over the last several weeks. I think it was a fair progression for him to do the 7-on-7, do the 11-on-11, get your mind right, try to get ready to play in a game. And then ultimately, we’ll wait and see where it lands. But I think it’s been a really good progression. It’s been helpful for him. Done everything he can and we can to get him ready to go play in a game.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The Bengals might have to tweak some things in the offense to protect Burrow from himself with his tendency of going off-script and scrambling to make a play. However, Taylor has said one can’t go into a game worrying about potential for injury.
“Obviously him coming off injury, you want to be very mindful of that, and a lot of that will be up to him as he feels his pocket movement and his play style,” Taylor said. “Those are decisions that he’s going to have to feel out as he goes forward. Sure, I’d love to say let’s be protective and not put him in an environment where that’s going to happen. But you get out there on a football field and that’s the way it’s going to take shape, especially on third downs, especially in known passing situations versus a good defense.
“These guys will do a lot to disrupt you and throw you off course and disguise and pressure from different angles. They got good players. It’s the NFL. You can’t go out there with kid gloves on and say ‘We’re never going to let this happen.’ Some things are going to happen naturally. It’ll be in his hands to take care of it if he’s out there.”
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