Even though Joe Burrow is the NFL's only quarterback to rank in the top 10 of every major passing category heading into Sunday night's (8:20-Cincinnati's Channel 5) game in New York against the Giants, he says there are times he's still not spinning it the way he should.
"I would say I'm still not quite throwing it the way that I would like," Burrow said after Wednesday's practice.
Despite coming off surgery for his throwing wrist, Burrow has come out steaming in the first five games and is on pace to break his Bengals season records with 41 touchdown passes, 4,658 yards, a 113.6 passer rating, as well as Ken Anderson's season accuracy record with a completion percentage of 72.3.
"I'm making good decisions, I'm putting the ball where I want to," Burrow said. "I still think there's another level of improvement I can get to coming back from injury on ball rotation and spin rate and all that. So, that's going to continue to get better as I get healthier, so there's always another level to find."
Burrow is leading the league with 12 touchdown passes and that passer rating carved out of throws like the insanely accurate 41-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase.
Let offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher tell you why it wasn't as easy as it looks after studying how Burrow let it go when Chase was at about the Baltimore 25 on an across-the-field post and then ran it down on the other side of the field at the 5.
"The route by Ja'Marr and the throw by Joe, I mean, it doesn't get better than that," Pitcher said before practice. "That's a concept that when you call some of those deep downfield play-action spots, you know the area of the field where the ball is going to be caught, and you trust that the receiver is going to get there.
"When you have people that are that talented, and the two of them have the rapport that they have, Joe can trust that he can throw the ball to that spot and Ja'Marr's going to do whatever he needs to do to get there and be open. It's fun to watch when that happens."
Apparently, that wasn't one of the wobblers Burrow says he's trying to get out of his system.
Yes, he says. He feels like he's playing the best ball of his career.
"I told them they might have to catch a couple wobblers this year until we get it back on track. But that's part of coming back from injury," said Burrow, who fought back a smile. "Just occasionally. Something that (I'm) working through."
Imagine what his completion percentage would be without the stray wobbler? He's behind only the unconscious Jayden Daniels' 77.1%, but he's padding his all-time lead in the NFL rankings. Burrow has inched up to 68.3% for his career, ahead of idol Drew Brees' 67.7 and Jimmy Garoppolo's 67.4, as Kirk Cousins and Dak Prescott each lurk at 66.9.
Burrow says you have to have a lot going right to get to 72.3, better than Anderson's 70.55 in 1982 when he became the first man since the merger to hit for 70 and pave the way for Brees.
"You have to have good players around you that make tough catches. You have to know what you're looking at," Burrow said. "You have to have an offensive play caller that understands your strengths and what you like, and you know everybody's got to be on the same page. You have to work those completions, those timing completions throughout the week in practice so you have confidence to be able to throw it with the timing and ball placement that you need."
Burrow just barely missed Anderson's record with 70.38% in 2021. That's a number he likes, although he says he really doesn't have a target percentage.
"I'd always like to be over 70. I think that's pretty achievable for me," Burrow said." Game to game, it'll vary because you've got to throw the ball away, sometimes some things happen out of your control. But we're in a good spot."
KICK IN THE STATS
Rookie punter Ryan Rehkow had no idea this week that he had qualified for the NFL punting lead in both gross (55.6 yards) and net (49.2). Someone held out the stat sheet to him Wednesday and asked if wanted to keep the evidence that he has a three-yard lead on Raiders multiple Pro Bowler A.J. Cole III and a four-yard edge on him and Jacksonville's Logan Cooke in net.
Rehkow hesitated and looked at the far right column.
"I like the net because that's a team thing," Rehkow said.
It certainly hasn't left Bengals special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons awed. Encouraged and impressed, yes. But channeling his best Bill Parcells, Simmons observed, "No one is getting fitted for any gold jackets yet."
But Simmons knows Rehkow has been, for the most part, really good. His 66-yarder last Sunday against Baltimore changed the game.
"He's done a good job. We haven't had a ton of punts, but he's done well. It's early. Long way to go. The key is consistency. Let's keep it going," Simmons said.
Not on the stat sheet is the snap Rehkow dropped last Sunday in overtime that prevented an overtime win on what would have been Evan McPherson’s 53-yard field goal. Simmons and Rehkow have discussed.
"Darrin was great. I felt he went about it as well as I hoped," Rehkow said. "He didn't get on my case. He just asked me what happened and we went through the film (on Monday). I only watched it a couple of times."
What happened, Rehkow said, is "I just didn't catch it clean on the front end." It had nothing to do with the fact, he says, that he's now holding with one finger instead of two.
And that's it. As Simmons said, "It doesn't matter whose fault it is. That's nit-picking. The bottom line is that the operation wasn't good enough to get it done. The execution failed."
Rehkow said he heard from family immediately. Friends. The BYU kicker heard from an older BYU kicker.
"I know it was kind of rough territory for people. 'Does he want to hear from somebody or not?'" Rehkow said. "I also heard from Brad Robbins."
Robbins is the incumbent who lost his job to Rehkow when he injured his hip in training camp. The Bengals cut him last weekend, but he reached out this week: "Dude, just checking on you."
He seems just fine. Whether he knew he led the league or not.
BACKER CHECK
Checking in with the men in the middle of it all as the Bengals defense looks to rebound from the Ravens' 520-yard effort:
Linebackers Germaine Pratt (health) and Logan Wilson (tackling) had some ideas Wednesday on how to shore it up.
"When we finally get healthy, that's going to mean something," Pratt said. "Some of these guys haven't even played together yet. How much have (B.J. Hill and Sheldon Rankins) played together?"
The answer is less than five quarters. Hill and Rankins, the starting defensive tackles, both hurt their hamstrings in the second game of the year. Hill came back against Baltimore, and the hope is Rankins is back Sunday night. He practiced for the first time Wednesday and went limited.
So that means Rankins has never played with the two prized defensive linemen they took on the second night of the draft. Second-rounder Kris Jenkins Jr. surfaced in the third game and made his first NFL start last Sunday, when third-rounder McKinnley Jackson made his NFL debut on nine snaps.
"It's like the offensive line. It's tough when you've got to plug and play. We're getting better as we get healthier. Plus, we get Mike (Hilton) back," Pratt said.
Hilton (knee), the slot cornerback who missed last week, went full Wednesday. While Hilton was down, starting cornerback Dax Hill moved into nickel, but he was lost for the season early last Sunday with an ACL injury. Big loss, but Hilton eases it a bit as second-year man DJ Turner assumes Hill's spot on the outside.
Pro Football Focus had the Bengals for 15 missed tackles last Sunday, and Pro Football Reference has them for 44 this season, fourth most in the league. That's where Wilson, PFF's 11th highest-graded linebacker in the league, starts.
"A lot of the things we're doing are shooting ourselves in the foot," Wilson said. "I think one of the biggest things is consistent tackling. The fundamentals of tracking and angles to the ball. Guys being at the right place at the right time. Make sure a missed tackle goes for two yards instead of ten. Big difference third-and-three vs. third and eight."
Here's what Wilson is working on this week.
"In this league, you have to wrap up more," Wilson said. "You can't shoulder tackle and cut somebody's legs out from underneath. They're great athletes who have ways to balance off contact. You have to find a way to grab a leg and let the calvary come and keep playing with high effort."
Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo brought the blitz a career-high 53% of the time against the Ravens. While Wilson thought that was a good plan against the mad-run Ravens, he indicated he didn't think the blitz would become a staple in order to try something new and that it would still depend on the opponent.
The White Bengal Game
Don't Miss the rare White Bengal, Oct. 27, against the Philadelphia Eagles
SLANTS AND SCREENS
Rookie right tackle Amarius Mims is not only a big man, but a tough man. When he was carted off early in the third quarter last Sunday, he had a ghastly flashback to his left ankle injury last year at Georgia that wiped out so much of his last season in Athens with torn ligaments. The Bengals know that's the only reason he was available at No. 18.
Mims, who says he still has a plate in the ankle, says he felt the same kind of pain. But when X-Rays revealed nothing, he was back on the sidelines before the end of the quarter and back in the game for the last two drives. On Wednesday, the big, tough man went full …
Rehkow is going to get some help for that net average if second-year cornerback D.J. Ivey comes back from his ACL injury as well as safety Tycen Anderson.
Ivey, who injured his ACL last Dec. 16 covering a punt in the win over the Vikings, moved from the rehab field and practiced for the first time Wednesday, and had a smile after the workout. They listed him as full and he thinks he can play.
"From being on the other (rehab) field, I knew the knee would feel OK. It was just a matter of my conditioning," Ivey said. "Rehkow's doing a great job. I'm hoping I can cover some punts for him."
Anderson has played in every game and he's got three tackles already as the primary gunner covering punts to go with the eight he had in the first seven games last year before he got hurt. And don't forget, he downed Rehkow's 66-yarder at the 2 last Sunday to set up Sam Hubbard's safety.
"I'm really proud of Tycen and what he's been able to do so far," Simmons says …
The Bengals expect Giants rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers (concussion protocol) to play even though he didn't practice Wednesday. Pitcher knew the Bengals had no shot to get the Ja’Marr Chase LSU descendant in the draft, but he watched tape anyway.
" Super impressed," Pitcher said. "He's not Ja'Marr, but he certainly does a lot of things that make you think about Ja'Marr. From what I can tell, the early returns would tell you he'll be a heck of a player." …
Running back Zack Moss (foot) and tight end Mike Gesicki (hamstring) didn't practice Wednesday. Edge Joseph Ossai (shoulder) was limited …
