Joe Burrow returned to practice in a limited capacity on Monday, less than two months after the Bengals placed their Pro Bowl quarterback on injured reserve with turf toe. The Bengals opened Burrow’s 21-day window to be activated off of injured reserve. During this period, Burrow can practice without counting against Cincinnati’s 53-man roster.
Burrow, who specifically suffered a Grade 3 turf toe during Cincinnati’s Week 2 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, underwent surgery on Sept.19. He said that this and the team’s progress over the next few weeks will determine whether nor he will play again this season.
“A lot of variables that are going to go into this,” Burrow said after practice. “The number one is how [the toe] feeling and in my health, so we’ll just take it day by day, like we have been throughout the rehab process.”
Cincinnati has gone just 1-6 since Burrow’s injury. Despite averaging nearly 38 points per game over the past three games, the Bengals went 1-2 over that span as defense remains an Achilles heel. Cincinnati’s defense allowed an average of 39 points per game over that span that included 47 points during the Bengals’ Week 9 loss to the Bears.
“I think early in the year, the offense wasn’t rolling, and I thought the defense was playing pretty well,” Burrow said when asked to asset the current state of the Bengals. “And then lately, seems like that is flip flopped, but there’s still guys doing good things. There’s good stuff put on tape. It just feels like we we haven’t really put it all together.”
While the Bengals’ defense continues to search for answers, their offense enjoys the steadiness of 40-year quarterback Joe Flacco, whom Cincinnati acquired via a trade with the Browns after Jake Browning floundered. In four starts with the Bengals, Flacco completed 64.7% of his passes with 11 touchdowns and just two picks.
“He’s playing great,” Burrow said of Flacco. “He’s putting the ball where it needs to go. He’s been accurate with the getting the ball out. Think the O-line has been playing great. We’ve been running the ball really well over these last couple weeks. That’s been exciting to see. And then obviously our guys are making plays like they always do.”
The top overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Burrow led the Bengals to the Super Bowl in 2021, his first full season as the team’s starting quarterback. He led Cincinnati to within a game of the Super Bowl the following season while gardening serious MVP consideration.
Last year, Burrow won NFL Comeback Player of the Year for a second time after leading the NFL with 4,918 yards and 43 touchdowns.
While Burrow is clearly progressing from a health standpoint, his team will once again rely on Flacco this week against the Steelers, a team against which Flacco has significant success throughout his 18-year-career.
Speaking of the Steelers, Burrow alluded to Pittsburgh’s 5-4 record and the fact that no one has run away from the AFC North division through 10 weeks. Cincinnati would actually move to 3-0 against divisional foes if they can leave Pittsburgh with a win on Sunday.
“Everything is still there in front of us,” Burrow said. “It’s very rare that our division looks like this, but it does this year. And so, you know, I think we’ll be at least in it until the end.”
Burrow won’t play this week, and as he said on Monday, there’s no guarantees that he will play again this season. But if he does, Burrow didn’t hide the fact that Cincinnati’s Thanksgiving Day game against the Ravens is a possible target in terms of his return game. Baltimore was where Burrow’s season prematurely ended in 2023 after he sustained a wrist injury that ultimately required surgery.
“Very,” Burrow said when asked how meaningful it would be to play in that game. “We’ll see how the next couple of weeks go.”