Bengals must manage an important balance ahead of Joe Burrow’s first intensive preseason slate originally appeared on A to Z Sports.
There isn’t a significant football game Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow hasn’t played. From a high school state title game, toppling the College Football Playoff, to a Super Bowl appearance in just his second NFL season, Burrow has been under the brightest lights the game can provide.
Preseason games don’t bring anywhere near the same magnitude of importance, and yet, the next two weeks are going to be huge for Burrow. Not for the wins, the stats, or even the chemistry between him and his pass-catchers. Burrow playing in the Cincinnati’s opening two preseason games are all for his feel of the game, and to make sure problems of yesteryears don’t creep up on him again.
This plan, of course, doesn’t come without risk. Exposing the franchise quarterback to live pass-rushers in exhibitions comes at a potential cost, and it’s the biggest challenge facing the Bengals this month.
The balance between protecting and unleashing preseason Joe Burrow
Burrow has been protected from playing in all but two preseason games in his now six-year NFL career. The torn ligaments in his knee and wrist along with an emergency appendectomy and a calf strain have all forced Cincinnati’s hand to sit Burrow out in preseasons of the past. He took three snaps in the third and final exhibition in 2021, and was on the field for 13 plays in the 2024 preseason opener.
16 total snaps. Burrow will exceed that number this month if everything goes to plan, but it’s not just the playing time that matters.
Burrow wants to play in the preseason purely to feel an opposing pass rush again before the regular season starts. The upside of watching preseason ball from the sidelines is eliminating any chance of taking hits and sacks in games that don’t impact postseason chances. The downside is having to acclimate to live bullets in real time when the games start to count.
“You don’t feel that timing and that pressure in practice like you do in the game,” Burrow told local media last week. “So once you get it, first couple drives, you get the feel of it and it gets back into rhythm. But you do have to feel that in order to play at a high level.”
A question of balance now forms. How much will Cincinnati expose Burrow to risky situations for the sake of getting ready to start the season the right way?
Will he be allowed to hold onto the ball? Will he be operating plays that allow opposing pass rushers to get in his way? Will he buy time in and outside the pocket? himself?
Will he be allowed to cook the way he does when the Bengals need him to the most? Because while he almost always rounds into MVP-caliber form in November and December, the first couple weeks of September are much less
In 10 career games between Weeks 1-2, Burrow has completed 63.4% of his passes while averaging 5.9 yards per attempt. 3.7% of his throws have been touchdowns and 2.4% have been interceptions.
Compare to 59 games between Weeks 3-18: 69.5% completion rate. 7.7. yards per attempt. 5.8% touchdown rate. 1.7% interception rate.
Sack rate needs to be highlighted as well. Burrow has taken sacks 9.1% of the time when attempting to pass in the first two weeks of the season. That figure drops to 6.8% when looking at the rest of the season.
Is the path to Burrow taking fewer sacks in the beginning of the season exposing him to being sacked in games that don’t ultimately matter? That’s what the Bengals need are banking on.
The first obstacle of this plan is a menacing one. The Philadelphia Eagles possess a talented pass rush whether or not their starters play, and it doesn’t sound like we’ll get any confirmation on thay front until kickoff.
“Unlike Zac Taylor, Nick Sirianni would not answer if the Eagles were resting or playing their starters in their first preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals. But if we’re going off of years past, the Eagles typically don’t play any starters, and if they do, then it’s for just one drive. Philly choosing to rest their starters or not, however; the Bengals won’t have it too easy considering the Eagles’ depth runs deep at almost every position. They proved that when they put their backups in during their regular-season finale last year.” — A to Z Sports Eagles staff writer Kelsey Kramer
Philadelphia is not going to take it easy on Burrow, and in a way, that’s what Burrow wants. Finding a groove in the face of actual pressure over the course of multiple drives over the next two weeks is exactly what he’s embracing, even if all of Cincinnati is bracing for players hitting him.
Managing the safety and the preparation of Burrow will be a challenge, but rattling off wins at the start of the season may hinge on getting it right.
This story was originally reported by A to Z Sports on Aug 7, 2025, where it first appeared.
