How Joe Burrow's Cadence Has The Bengals Offense Hitting High Notes

During the Bengals' greatest offensive season, quarterback Joe Burrow has been called everything from Houdini to Superman. You have to add Pavarotti to the list because now he's even beating teams with his voice.

Pavarotti, or McCartney or Cornell. Name your favorite tenor as the Bengals clear their pipes for Saturday's (4:30 p.m.-Cincinnati's FOX 19 and NFL Network) playoff audition against the Broncos at Paycor Stadium.

Earlier this week when he bookended the win over the Browns by barking them into key penalties at the line of scrimmage, Burrow showed his cadence can be as deadly as his arm and legs.

On his first play against Cleveland, the five-yard neutral zone infraction freed the offense from the goal line and ignited a 99-yard touchdown drive.

On his last play, he lured nemesis Myles Garrett offsides for one of those cherished free plays that turns a downhill defense into an indecisive treadmill. On Sunday, Burrow got his NFL-leading 39^th touchdown pass on a 32-yard floater to wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase through a secondary that looked like it slowed when the flag appeared.

"The more football you play, the more you start to focus on little things like that can really make a difference," Burrow says.

Which is why he not only watches Aaron Rodgers, the current gold standard for getting defenses to jump, but Bengals quarterbacks coach Brad Kragthorpe has a vault of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady that is still relevant even though their lungs are retired.

"Maybe not necessarily tape, but we can always pull those examples as good examples of how to use cadence," Kragthorpe says.

It's not as easy it sounds.

If you want to know how well Burrow uses his cadence, you have to check in with Bengals defensive assistant Ronnie Regula. Regula scouts the mannerisms and inflections of the opposing quarterbacks and gives a weekly presentation after listening to and watching TV copies of each opponent's games.

"We haven't really played anybody this year that's done that to us yet. Where I've had to go through all these different cadences you've got to go through," Regula says. "A lot of them have kind of stuck to what they do. I would say the good ones have no rhythm or rhyme."

Like Burrow.

"He has a whole arsenal of cadences that he can pull out at any time," Kragthorpe says.

Just heap cadence on the overflowing plate of an NFL quarterback's responsibilities. It can be as daunting as diagnosing a blitz or setting the protection.

But then, according to Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher, good use of cadence can do more than get a free play. It can be as good as your best pass protection or most incisive scouting report.

"(If) you have such a convincing cadence that you get the safety shell to start to rotate. And so now you get a pre-snap indication of what the coverage is going to be," Pitcher says. "You get the linebackers to start to tip a width so you can redirect the protection. And then maybe there's other times you go up and boom, you snap it on the first sound.

"If you're a defensive lineman … that's the kind of indecision and the kind of doubt that we want to put in their minds. It helps you from a protection standpoint too, just from the physical aspect of picking up pass rushers. If they're not able to get off on the snap count, that's a major win for the protector before the down even starts."

Burrow's excellence stems from his variety. He's the rare quarterback who can drive the Regulas of the league nuts because of his wide assortment of cadences.

"The good ones just constantly change up," Regula says. "'Okay, this time we're going to go on one. This time we'll go on our quick cadence. This time I'll say that I'm going to go on one, like I'll use what I would normally say on one, but now I'm going on two.' So they don't really give away a certain rhythm to it."

That's where Kragthorpe says Burrow has raised his game. Mixing up the cadences. Not always biting off the last syllable, as it sounded like he did on the first penalty against Cleveland. Or waiting to put up his hands at the last instant to get the shotgun snap, as he appeared to do on the free play against Garrett.

Plus, he's had to make sure the rest of the offense knows what he's pulling off. Burrow's communication skills are a major reason the Bengals are annually among the least penalized teams in the league.

"He does a good job of demanding that the offensive line and the tight ends and running backs know what the cadence is and minimizing the amount of false starts that we have," Kragthorpe says.

It's to the point that Burrow adds a tag to the play call that tells them what he's planning to do as far as the cadence is concerned.

"But it's at Joe's discretion," Kragthorpe says. "There are some plays where we have a prescribed cadence specific to that play because we're trying to get them to jump. But often times it's Joe just deciding what cadence he wants to use in the huddle."

That's the tightrope Burrow has to walk. Or rather talk. Everything has to sound the same. But he has to mix it up because there are guys like Regula throughout the league bunkered down in their listening posts and giving tips to the defense.

"Be alert for a hard count, he's going try to get you to jump," may read one of Regula's tells. "Or, if it's a third down, he's going to bring the play clock all the way down. Because he wants us to get out of our disguise. He wants to see what the defense is in. He wants to make sure the offensive line set the protection and he's giving them time."

Just another day at the office for Houdini and Superman and Pavarotti: turning little things into winning things.

"I think that's what separates the great players from the good players," says Burrow in cadence.