Well, we were supposed to see an epic clash of contending teams on Thursday Night Football. Instead, largely thanks to Joe Burrow’s wrist injury, we got a 34-20 clunker in favor of the Baltimore Ravens, who are cementing themselves as a top-tier AFC team.
It’s mid-November now, so that means playoff chases will soon start to heat up in earnest. That also means it’s time to start taking stock of what the Cincinnati Bengals can still accomplish (with or without Burrow) and where the Ravens might be headed in the coming weeks, in January, and perhaps even February.
Let’s unpack the winners and losers from a weird and dramatic night in Baltimore.
Loser: The Bengals' remaining Super Bowl 58 hopes
We don’t need to mince words.
If Joe Burrow’s injury is significant enough for him to miss more games, then the Bengals’ dreams of winning Super Bowl 58 are over. Full stop. Right now, they are facing an utter disaster, and it’s just the worst luck.
Joe Burrow trying to throw pic.twitter.com/04F1zc7HH0
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) November 17, 2023
Without Burrow, the Bengals cannot survive a season straddling around .500 as a member of the AFC North — the NFL’s most competitive division. As a legitimate top-five quarterback, Burrow is simply too important as the engine of the Bengals’ offense. With all due respect to Jake Browning (or any quarterback the Bengals might add in the coming weeks), this Cincinnati attack is not a “system” scheme with plug-and-play signal callers. It does not work without Burrow. It is completely broken without him. We already saw this demonstrated in the early season as Burrow struggled with a calf ailment, and we’ll probably see it again if he doesn’t play moving forward. Someone still has to capably get the ball to Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. No one does it better than Burrow. He’s one of the only people that can.
I hate to tell residents of the Ohio River this, but it might be time to start looking at and recalibrating for 2024. The Bengals are probably done until next fall.
Winner: Lamar Jackson, as he builds another MVP case
I’m still not completely sold on Lamar Jackson being the clear MVP frontrunner, but Thursday night’s (quiet?) electric performance was another step in the right direction. It’s hard to argue against 300 all-purpose yards against Lou Anarumo’s Bengals, who possess one of pro football’s more underrated defenses. Jackson made Anarumo’s crew seem like they don’t even matter.
PUT UP THE BAT SIGNAL❗❗❗
Tune in on Prime! pic.twitter.com/JSyfZvB1Mp
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) November 17, 2023
Jackson is now on pace for roughly 35 created touchdowns in easily his finest season since the turn of the decade. His quiet efficiency, in tandem with those gaudy box score numbers, is no coincidence. I think that sort of production for an 8-3 Super Bowl-contending team in position for a top-two playoff seed in the AFC should be more than enough for individual honors at the end of the year. Barring a late-year explosion from another big name (Jalen Hurts? Patrick Mahomes?), I believe we’re about to witness Jackson add MVP No. 2 to his trophy case.
Loser: Anyone who appreciates ethical injury reporting
Look, I’m not going to pretend I know precisely what happened with how the Bengals reported (or failed to report?) a Burrow wrist injury. But based on the initial social media firestorm and reporting, it sure seems like the Bengals abdicated their basic duty to say, “Hey, our quarterback’s kinda banged up.” You know, any indication in advance would’ve been nice!
This isn’t just because it left the Ravens at a potential competitive disadvantage. There are people playing fantasy football and bettors placing hard-earned money on NFL games these days. The league is in far too deep to mess around with seemingly shoddy injury reporting now that there are more personal investments in player health and availability. We already saw parts of this occur with Bijan Robinson and the Atlanta Falcons, which still seems to be in an investigative process.
If found true, I would be shocked if the Bengals didn’t receive a harsh punishment for concealing Burrow’s health status. They would wholeheartedly deserve it.
