Burrow's Debut

[CJD]

I was not impressed with the statistics of the day. But watching him play, I was impressed.

There were obviously miscues. The first sack he took, he was trying to do some Burrow magic and it didn't work, resulting in a massive loss. And then the interception was dumb and needless. Rookies often make mistakes like this because you can get away with so much more in college. You also saw it a few times on the 2nd or 3rd drive, where he kind of floated a ball to the running back and then when he passed backwards to Mixon, resulting in a possible turn over if Mixon didn't recover it.

Then there was a pass to the end zone that he simply overthrew Green. It was, as Trent Green called it, a gimme (or something similar. I don't recall exactly what he said). That play was really saddening.

But the windows that he was fitting the ball into? Whew! Half of his completions, Dalton couldn't dream of completing. The zip on his passes is elite. And the placement is incredible. For example, that pass to AJ Green in the end zone that would have been a touchdown had Green not pushed off (a ticky tacky call, but I understand they don't want the game winner to be a push off). That play looked basically identical to this pass to Moss, his TE in college. The placement was, literally, perfect. Where only Green could get it. He had another play off of a scramble that Green went up and got that was really well placed, except Green couldn't quite make it in bounds.

Then you have the plays that were missed because of his receivers. Ross dropped 2 passes, 1 of which was a touchdown that hit his fingers. CJ also had a pass coming his way that likely would have been a touchdown had he not fallen down.

His final drive was fantastic. If we had more time outs or if the time hadn't basically all been run down by the Chargers, I guarantee we score and win the game that drive. Joe was in Heisman mode on that drive.

I lay most of the blame on the offensive line. The two turnovers were brutal, but ultimately they were surmountable. The defense played fantastic and I hope they continue this as the season goes on. I have a few reservations, because the Chargers have one of the worst starting QBs in the NFL right now. So maybe the defense was a mirage. But, for now, I'm going to remain optimistic. They played fantastic today.

You could tell Joe settled in as the game went on and this was against one of the very best defenses in the NFL. That pass rush is terrifying. Bobby Hart was absolutely destroyed all game. Hopefully, we let Fred have his chance next week and Joe gets a little more time. But he'll only improve as he gains more experience. We have to remember that this was only his first game in the NFL. And he had no pre season and a really weird off season and training camp due to COVID.

I give his game a B-. There were a lot of bad plays, mostly typical rookie mistakes. But there were a lot of really good plays too. And I have no doubt the latter will increase and the former will decrease as time goes on.