And so the beat goes on for Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow in his 65th NFL start when he meets old friend Mike Zimmer's Cowboys defense Monday night (8:15-Cincinnati's Channel 9, ESPN) in Dallas.
Only Dan Marino (157) and Patrick Mahomes (156) have thrown more touchdown passes in their first 64 NFL starts than Burrow's 127. Only Mahomes, Matthew Stafford, Justin Herbert and Marino have thrown for yards in their first 64 starts. Only Mahomes, Brock Purdy, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson have a better passer rating at this point in their careers.
Plus, Burrow has the ear of a two-time NFL MVP in long-time family friend Kurt Warner. They haven't texted in a while, but Warner is going to explain Monday night why he thinks Burrow is playing like an MVP when he has the ear of the country as play-by-play voice Kevin Harlan's analyst for Westwood One Radio.
"He's been this guy for a while. His strengths coming in remain his strengths," Warner says. "I've always felt Joe has been of the best and quickest information processors.
"His ability to get the ball out quickly, where to get his eyes. If there's (one area where he's improved), you might say it's his playmaking. His buying time in the pocket and creating opportunities. He's maybe had to do that more this year than I've seen him in the past, and he's done it really, really well, which I don't know most of us really, really knew coming into the league."
Warner is the first quarterback Burrow ever watched. He doesn't remember those 1997 Iowa Barnstormers because he wasn't a year old yet when his father coached defense while Warner quarterbacked.
The families have stayed in touch, and it will be recalled in Joe Burrow's post-Super Bowl news conference after the last-minute loss to the Rams that he channeled Warner's thoughts after his walk-loss to the Patriots 20 Super Bowls before.
While Warner admires his ability to improvise and throw on the run, he still considers Burrow a passer first.
"I think he's more of true drop-back passer who has a great ability to throw on the run," Warner says. "He's a complete quarterback. He does everything you need a quarterback to do in the league. He does it at a high level almost every time out. I don't know what else you can ask."
Just don't ask Warner to vote for him for MVP, the award he won leading the 1999 and 2001 Rams to the Super Bowls. He ended up winning one and losing one.
"It would be hard for me to vote for Joe, even though if we just stacked the play and we didn't look at wins and losses, yeah, he'd be right there in the conversation and maybe win my vote," Warner says. "The record matters when there are other guys in the conversation. We're always looking for the things that differentiate one player from another.
"So when you have multiple people who are having great MVP-type seasons, that has to be one of them. just because that's the nature of the beast. Although wins and losses aren't completely on the quarterback."
Warner heads back almost another 20 years to give Burrow some advice from his 2008 Arizona Cardinals, a team that lost the Super Bowl with 35 seconds left to the Steelers two minutes after Warner swiped the lead.
"We were 9-7 and I think we had a team that scored one more point that year than we gave up (427-426)," Warner says. "And I remember the expectations on me to have to perform. Whether it was outside expectations or even internal expectations. After the game, if you won, it was like a deep breath for a minute, you know, like, Okay, we got one, but then your mind automatically goes to, 'OK I've got to do this again next week.'
"Some of the fun came out of the game, because it was so much about the expectation, and it was so much about living up to that … I think my greatest basic advice is try not to let that overcome you … I can still enjoy this process instead of letting it overwhelm you and kind of crush you from an expectation standpoint."
BURROW ON RUN
The Bengals haven't won any of the three games rookie tight end Erick All Jr., (ACL) has missed, and while they've scored at least 27 points in each of those games, Burrow realizes his loss has impacted the run game. The club's usage of 12 personnel (two tight ends) has gone back to the pre-All days of heavy three-wide receiver sets.
"I think when we lost Erick, that was tough because he was our second tight end. We were using him like a fullback, and that created some mismatches for us in the scheme, and we lost him," Burrow said this week. "We weren't doing as much of that. A lot of our really good run plays were coming off of those sets, and so I think it took us a second and we're back to 11-personnel run game.
"Cam Grandy is filling that Erick All role and we hit some really good 12-personnel runs on Sunday. It's nice to see Cam fill that role, so I think you'll see his role start to evolve a little bit this year."
Grandy, a free-agent rookie blocking tight end out of Illinois State, is seeing his snaps creep up. Nothing like the 20s and 30s All was getting, but Grandy received six snaps in his NFL debut the game after All got hurt, had six more against the Chargers and then played eight against the Steelers last Sunday.
On two of those out of 12 personnel, the Bengals got running back Chase Brown’s longest run of his career, a 40-yarder, and then his one-yard touchdown run.
"I felt like I had a good training camp and it was unfortunate I got the opportunity the way I did," Grandy says. "I like putting my nose into people and showing them what I can do.
"Erick played phenomenal when he was in there. Definitely watching some Erick All tape, looking at those targets of those blocks."
The numbers: With All, the Bengals averaged 23 runs per game on 4.1 yards per carry for an average of 94 yards per game. Without All, 19 runs per game on 4.5 per with 84 yards per game. As Burrow suggested, the situations unfolding in the last three games haven't been conducive to the run.
"I think we've found ourselves in games where there's no time to run the ball, and you've got to drop back and throw it based on how the opposing offense is playing," Burrow said.
SLANTS AND SCREENS
As expected on Saturday, head coach Zac Taylor ruled out left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. (knee) and defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins (illness) for Monday night …
He didn't say who would replace Brown, but all eyes are on left guard Cody Ford after he played for Brown in the three games he's missed. When Brown returned last Sunday, Ford moved to left guard, the first time in left guard Cordell Volson’s 47-game career (including playoffs) he missed a snap.
"He's been able to adjust. Sometimes not taking a lot of practice reps to play the position," Taylor said of Ford. "We feel good about him at both spots if needed. We trust he can perform at a high enough level to be effective on offense." …
Wide receiver Charlie Jones (groin) is questionable after going limited all three days …
