Bengals try to navigate emotions as they begin prep for Ravens: ‘It’s been tough’

“It’s been tough,” Burrow said in a press conference Wednesday. “You have guys that you care about that I think everyone out there was watching it and thinking, ‘That could be me, that could be any of us in this locker room,’ and so one, I just wanted to make sure everyone knows in that locker room how I feel about them, make sure I tell them that, and at the same time, trying to let everyone know that we still got a game to play, we still got a job to do. We still got goals and aspirations ahead of us for the season, as tough as that is right now, but that’s where we’re at.”

Burrow said it was “weird being back to business as usual,” but Wednesday was the first day he was able to focus on the Ravens. He came into the building Tuesday to get a lift in, like he normally would, just to keep his routine in case it was determined the Bengals and Bills would be finishing their game this week.

That decision not to play this week came Tuesday afternoon. It’s still unclear if the game will be finished before the playoffs, but Burrow believes that should be up to the Bills.

Burrow couldn’t have imagined trying to resume play Monday. Nobody wanted to finish the game that night, but Burrow said he and others started warming up after the ambulance pulled out because they weren’t sure what was going to happen.

“People were saying we were going to play again,” Burrow said. “There was a lot of stuff going around. You know, like I said it was just a lot of chaos, a lot of emotions, a lot of people saying different things. We really didn’t know what was going on at that point.”

Burrow is ready to move forward with the next game because that’s how he processes emotions best, but if others did not want to play Sunday, he would be supportive and “right behind them.” There have been side conversations about how players feel about it, although the team hasn’t discussed not playing.

The league has not asked the players’ input. A poll of the locker room likely would yield mixed responses.

“I mean, unfortunate as it is, we got a game to play on Sunday,” Burrow said. “And so, as unusual as this week has been, it’s business as usual from a football standpoint, unfortunately. And that’s not, I don’t even know what to say about it because it’s such a scary, emotional time. And guys still have a football game to play on Sunday. And it’s our job to get out there and execute and play the game the way we need to play it to go and win. It is what it is, but we’ve had discussions as a team about what happened and about where we’re at going forward, and that’s where we’re at.”

Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, the player Hamlin was tackling right before he collapsed, is “pretty shaken up,” Burrow said, but everyone was.

Burrow was seen hugging a crying Bills quarterback Josh Allen on the field Monday while Hamlin was getting medical attention and said everyone on the field was emotional.

“I would say we were all feeling the same way,” Burrow said. “We were all there to support each other in that moment. As scary as it was for them, personally, it was just as scary for me. I didn’t personally know Damar, but we’re all brothers in this thing. We’re all part of the same institution, playing this game that we love for each other. I was feeling the same way. I didn’t know how to react to it, I just tried to go out there and show unity and show support and be around the people I cared about.”

Bengals defensive tackle DJ Reader said with all the emotions flying around, he couldn’t even answer if he thinks the team should be playing Sunday. However, he has no apprehension about it because “it’s the job.”

“That’s a tough question,” Reader said. “There are a lot of things, and I don’t really make those decisions. I can’t really answer that question. I have to go out there and play if that’s what is called to do, but I could also see the other side if guys don’t want to. I can definitely empathize with that and understand why that would be the case. I’m just not in the space to tell you what I want to do right now.”

Burrow said it will be tough for everyone around the league to play this week, though. It’s difficult not to view the game a little differently after watching something like that Monday.

“I think collectively every single person that plays the game of football and has played has thought about something like that happening, but at the same time thinking it will never happen to you or anybody you know,” Burrow said. “I think it was a big wake-up call for everybody that’s a possibility that it can happen and it’s part of the game unfortunately. There’s nothing you can do about that hit, that hit happens on every play of every single game. That’s the scary part about it.”