The Cincinnati Bengals made the trip to Baltimore to take on the Ravens on "Thursday Night Football" in a key AFC North battle.
Unfortunately, the Bengals lost quarterback
Joe Burrow to a wrist injury after a second-quarter touchdown pass and dropped a 34-20 to their division rival.
Coming into Thursday night's game at M&T Bank, the result was going to be the biggest thing that impacted Cincinnati's chances of winning the AFC North. But when Burrow doubled over in the second quarter with a right wrist injury, that immediately changed.
As ESPN.com's Ben Bay suggests, with Burrow knocked out of the game with the issue, winning the division isn't the question anymore.
It's about getting into the playoffs for the third straight season.
Since 2021, Cincinnati has felt confident in its ability to be a postseason contender as long as Burrow is on the field. When he jogged off the field in the second quarter after he couldn't throw the ball on the sideline, it immediately thrust the rest of the season into uncertainty.
Backup
Jake Browning, who won the job in training camp, will be tasked with leading the charge if Burrow is out for an extended period. Since 2020, the Bengals are 2-5 when anyone other than Burrow has been the starting quarterback. With him, Cincinnati is 29-21-1. For the Bengals to make the playoffs, they will have to do something they haven't done since Burrow was drafted with the first overall pick: be successful without him.
Tight end
Tanner Hudson has become the team's most effective receiving option at the position. In his first four games of the season, he had 14 catches for 126 yards. When Burrow was still in the game, he leaned on Hudson for a big 21-yard completion on third down. It's the type of play and trust that shows he warrants a bigger role moving forward.
Ja'Marr Chase had only two receptions Thursday, which tied his second-fewest in a game for his career. But Chase scored his 28th career receiving TD in Week 11, which is the sixth-most by a player in their first 40 career games (since 1970). The only players with more in their first 40 games are HOFer
Randy Moss (36), John Jefferson (34),
Rob Gronkowski (34),
Odell Beckham Jr. (34) and HOFer Jerry Rice (32)
But as NFL.com suggests, the injury clouds Bengals season.
Burrow had been spotted wearing some sort of wrist splint on Wednesday, which sparked a mini-pregame controversy: Was he hurt? He didn’t really look so during a solid start to the game. But after throwing the touchdown pass to
Joe Mixon in the second quarter, Burrow grimaced and grabbed his right wrist. On the sideline, he struggled to grip and throw the ball. Shortly thereafter, he was in the locker room getting X-rays on his throwing hand.
Burrow, who was not listed on the Bengals’ injury report this week, never reentered the game. Instead, he sat dejectedly on the sideline. A few Bengals teammates appeared just as somber.
Head coach Zac Taylor said Burrow
suffered a wrist sprain, but we don’t yet know the severity or how much time he might miss, but if it’s multiple games, the Bengals could be in an uphill climb after dropping to 5-5 with Monday’s loss.
Next up, the Bengals host the Steelers on Sunday, Nov. 26.