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With five games left in what he calls his best season ever, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has his eyes on a couple of goals. One for him, and one for favorite target Ja’Marr Chase.
With Ja'Marr Chasing the wide receiver Triple Crown, Burrow noted after Thursday's practice that he's second in the NFL in receptions. He's actually tied at 79 with the Cowboys' CeeDee Lamb, the foe Monday night (8:15-Cincinnati's Channel 9, ESPN) in Dallas. Both trail Raiders rookie tight end Brock Bowers by five.
"I hope we can get him that," said Burrow of his man who still leads the league with 1,142 yards and 13 touchdowns.
For his part, Burrow is trying to pull off a repeat.
"I'm not sure there has ever been a two-time Comeback Player of the Year," he said. "It's not exactly an award people want to be up for. But I find myself in that position. That one would mean a lot to me."
Burrow, who won it while leading the 2021 Bengals to the Super Bowl the season after he tore his ACL 10 games into his rookie year, would be the first to win it twice with the same team. Another quarterback, Chad Pennington, is the only player to win the Associated Press Comeback Player of the Year twice, with the 2006 Jets and 2008 Dolphins.
Pennington beat out the Bengals' Carson Palmer by leading the Jets to the '06 playoffs the year after two rotator cuff surgeries. He won it again in '08 in Miami after the Brett Favre signing and benching drove him from New York, and he led the Dolphins to the AFC East title with the league's second-best passer rating.
Burrow looks to be the odds-on favorite to win again over two more quarterbacks in Kirk Cousins (coming off an Achilles injury) and Kyler Murray (ACL). After undergoing wrist surgery last year, Burrow leads the NFL with 30 touchdown passes and 3,337 yards.
Since the award was given out in 1963, quarterbacks have won it 18 times, including the last six.
TAYLOR-BRITT REVIVED
Speaking of Lamb, he should see plenty of Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt Monday after Taylor-Britt found some renewed confidence last Sunday against Pittsburgh.
After being benched in Los Angeles two weeks before, Taylor-Britt rocketed out of the gate last Sunday with a 51-yard pick-six on the third Pittsburgh snap of the game when he got physical with Steelers leading wide receiver George Pickens at the line of scrimmage.
Taylor-Britt went on to make seven tackles without a miss via Pro Football Focus, which graded him the Bengals' best coverage player in the game.
"You can say that. You can say that," said Tayor-Britt, when asked if he lost some confidence. "No change in mindset. Just be the best teammate I can be and learn from my mistakes, honestly. (Crap) happens. Don't take anything for granted. You have to better every day. Not playing your best ball takes a toll on you. Have to get out of that slump."
But he says last Sunday restored some of that old confidence.
"Definitely think it helps," he said. "Be aggressive. Play solid and sound."
CUP OF JOE
No question. Burrow says it's his best season and, of course, it is. He's on pace to break all of his big Bengals' records with 42 touchdown passes, 4,727 yards, 427 completions and 632 attempts. With a 107.4 passer rating, Burrow is just a smidge behind his 2021 club record of 108.3.
"I think I've been play-to-play better than I've ever been. I think I'm creating better than I ever have. So I'm happy with how I'm playing," Burrow said. "I think my wrist is feeling good right now. That's improved throughout the season. I wasn't throwing it quite the way that I wanted to early in the year. And that's improved.
"Early in the year, I didn't throw a ton on the run. I wasn't doing all my different arm angles. And as my wrist has improved, I've been able to expand that part of my game. I think I'm working on it more than I ever have throughout practice. And so I think that's translating to on-field success in that department."
He did last Sunday what he never did, never mind early in the season. The jump pass, off both feet for a four-yard touchdown pass to Chase. He had never done that before, he says, but he'll make sure he does it again.
"I don't know where it came from, but it happened. I feel like that's the only way I could get that ball off. And it's not something that I've really worked on. But I did it two or three times on Sunday, so I'll have to start working at it to improve," Burrow said. "I think I just said, 'That's freakin' sick.' Didn't know I had that one in me."
So much for being worried last week about how his wrist would react in the cold: Three touchdowns, 309 yards, on 73.7% passing, and "I felt great."
FIVE WEEKS
After Sunday's game, Burrow said the cornerstones of his team would be remembered for how they finish this season. Underlying the importance of the last five games, on Thursday he didn't name the cornerstones.
"I think we'll find out over the next five weeks. I don't think I have an answer for you right now. I think over the next five weeks will say a lot," Burrow said. "The NFL is a what have you done for me lately league and it doesn't matter what you did last year, it matters what you're doing now.
"Some guys have played great. Others haven't. The guys that watch tape every day upstairs know that better than I do. Outside of the offense, which is my realm. I think the next five weeks will say a lot."
SLANTS AND SCREENS
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor confirmed linebacker Logan Wilson (knee) is out for the year. Reports said he underwent surgery after he missed last Sunday's game …
Look for linebacker Shaka Heyward, just off the practice squad, to take the heat off Akeem Davis-Gaither and Joe Bachie on special teams …
Taylor indicated it doesn't look good for left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. to play in Dallas. Before gutting it out against the Steelers last Sunday, Brown missed the first three games of his career where he wasn't available with a fibula injury that clearly slowed him up the longer Sunday's game went.
Now they have to decide if it's worth him playing the rest of the way. It's been a costly week with Wilson lost for the season and kicker Evan McPherson (groin) going on injured reserve.
"These are certainly all obvious ones with Logan and Evan. There's not really much of a decision to be made there once you get the information, what they need to do. So really, that's all there is to it," Taylor said.
"With Orlando last week, he got back into full practice, felt good about it and then obviously, we get toward the end of the game and it was really bothering him, limiting him. He tried to give us everything he could. Now we'll just go back to this week and see where it ends up." …
That figures to end Cordell Volson’s trip to the bench. Cody Ford played in his left guard spot last Sunday, but he has been filling in for Brown at left tackle …
Like Chase (ankle), Lamb (shoulder) didn't practice Thursday, but both are expected to play ...
