How Joe Burrow proved to be a true professional in NFL debut
By Zach Ragan
Former LSU football quarterback Joe Burrow made his pro debut this week.
Former LSU football quarterback Joe Burrow, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, made his NFL debut this week for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Rookie quarterbacks don’t typically have high expectations in their first start. But most rookie quarterbacks aren’t Joe Burrow, either. It’s possible that Burrow is the most hyped rookie quarterback of all time.
The former Tigers standout wasn’t able to deliver a win for the Bengals on Sunday (Cincinnati fell to the Los Angeles Chargers 16-13), but Burrow still played pretty well. He completed 23-of-36 passes for 193 yards with a rushing touchdown and an interception (on a shovel pass).
Not bad, but not good enough for Burrow. Not even close.
After the loss, Burrow didn’t care about the game being his first start. He didn’t care about getting his NFL debut out of the way. He was just mad about not leading his team to a win.
Joe Burrow expects to perform at a higher level
Burrow took responsibility for the loss, despite playing behind a porous offensive line that didn’t always give him enough time to throw the ball.
“At the end of the day, I made too many mistakes for us to win the game and we didn’t make enough plays,” said Burrow (via ESPN).
At one point, Burrow missed wide receiver AJ Green on an open look. It was a play that will likely haunt Burrow all week.
“I can’t miss that one to A.J. A high-schooler can make that throw,” said the former LSU signal-caller.
While Burrow was hard on himself, his teammates had a different view of how the rookie quarterback played.
“That Guy doesn’t flinch. I haven’t seen any rookie the way he handled it after adversity. We got a special one in Joe,” said Green after the game.
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There’s no doubt that Burrow’s teammates have a lot of respect for him because of how he handles himself. Burrow is a tremendous leader and I think we saw that with his comments after the game on Sunday. The Bengals are going to be just fine with Burrow at the helm.