10-05-2020, 09:58 AM
This is four straight games now and I think it's here to stay.
Every single time Joe Burrow lets go of that ball, before the camera moves or the receiver is shown, I have faith that that ball is headed towards a player who is either open or at an advantage to be the one to come down with the ball.
Like, the camera is on Burrow. He is in the pocket, he moves around, he cocks his arm. Before he lets go, my first thought is "Nice, we're about to have a gain here." He's just so accurate and so keyed in. And, if he doesn't throw it and instead decides to run or duck and weave or whatever, you can be confident that he didn't overlook an open receiver. He doesn't throw "prayer balls" and he still hasn't really thrown an interception (the first was just a little rookie thing and the second was on Sample for not coming down with a ball that hit him in the face).
This is in direct contrast to how I've felt for my entire NFL watching life. With our previous QBs, my first thought was more often than not "Oh God, I hope he isn't throwing into triple coverage."
I've been a Bengals (and NFL) fan for 15 years and this is the very first year I've had this much faith in our QB. It is a feeling I've never had before and it's truly astonishing.
When I first started watching, Carson Palmer was our QB. He was fantastic in 2005, but I was a new fan, so I didn't even really follow the games or the players all that closely. I was just happy to be there. So I didn't have any concerns or hopes for my team or its players. Consequently, I couldn't fully enjoy Carson's elite years of 2005 and 2006.
Then, around 2007 when I was really getting deeper into knowing the players and everything is when Carson started to go downhill. Throwing more interceptions, being more erratic with his accuracy (especially when it came to throwing over his receivers' heads) and overall being a bit unpredictable as far as how open his receiver actually was when he threw them the ball.
This continued through 2010 when Carson was a genuinely bad QB. And then, in 2011 he left and we were forced to play a rookie in Andy Dalton.
That off season was shortened and the media was already saying we were going to have the #1 overall pick in 2012 and Andrew Luck was guaranteed to be a Bengal.
Of course, Andy did better than expected and we had more success than was anticipated, but he was still erratic. Early in his career, he was an interception machine and his completion percentage floated around 60 to 62% for essentially his entire career. He had some good years but what he was known for was "Bad Andy" and choking under pressure. He had a fixation on Green so you never really knew if the receiver was open whenever he let go of the ball.
These last 4 games have been the most enjoyable 4 games of Bengals football I've watched since our winning streak to start 2015 and, even then, this feels more fun because I know the QB is legit, whereas even in 2015 Andy's performance felt like a mirage just waiting to evaporate (and, of course, it did in 2016 and on).
I guess my point is, I love Joe Burrow. He has revived my love for the Bengals and I can't wait for Sunday each and every week (whereas with Carson and especially Andy, I often dreaded the game actually starting). Every gameday, we have the opportunity to beat any team. And that's all because of Joe.
Every single time Joe Burrow lets go of that ball, before the camera moves or the receiver is shown, I have faith that that ball is headed towards a player who is either open or at an advantage to be the one to come down with the ball.
Like, the camera is on Burrow. He is in the pocket, he moves around, he cocks his arm. Before he lets go, my first thought is "Nice, we're about to have a gain here." He's just so accurate and so keyed in. And, if he doesn't throw it and instead decides to run or duck and weave or whatever, you can be confident that he didn't overlook an open receiver. He doesn't throw "prayer balls" and he still hasn't really thrown an interception (the first was just a little rookie thing and the second was on Sample for not coming down with a ball that hit him in the face).
This is in direct contrast to how I've felt for my entire NFL watching life. With our previous QBs, my first thought was more often than not "Oh God, I hope he isn't throwing into triple coverage."
I've been a Bengals (and NFL) fan for 15 years and this is the very first year I've had this much faith in our QB. It is a feeling I've never had before and it's truly astonishing.
When I first started watching, Carson Palmer was our QB. He was fantastic in 2005, but I was a new fan, so I didn't even really follow the games or the players all that closely. I was just happy to be there. So I didn't have any concerns or hopes for my team or its players. Consequently, I couldn't fully enjoy Carson's elite years of 2005 and 2006.
Then, around 2007 when I was really getting deeper into knowing the players and everything is when Carson started to go downhill. Throwing more interceptions, being more erratic with his accuracy (especially when it came to throwing over his receivers' heads) and overall being a bit unpredictable as far as how open his receiver actually was when he threw them the ball.
This continued through 2010 when Carson was a genuinely bad QB. And then, in 2011 he left and we were forced to play a rookie in Andy Dalton.
That off season was shortened and the media was already saying we were going to have the #1 overall pick in 2012 and Andrew Luck was guaranteed to be a Bengal.
Of course, Andy did better than expected and we had more success than was anticipated, but he was still erratic. Early in his career, he was an interception machine and his completion percentage floated around 60 to 62% for essentially his entire career. He had some good years but what he was known for was "Bad Andy" and choking under pressure. He had a fixation on Green so you never really knew if the receiver was open whenever he let go of the ball.
These last 4 games have been the most enjoyable 4 games of Bengals football I've watched since our winning streak to start 2015 and, even then, this feels more fun because I know the QB is legit, whereas even in 2015 Andy's performance felt like a mirage just waiting to evaporate (and, of course, it did in 2016 and on).
I guess my point is, I love Joe Burrow. He has revived my love for the Bengals and I can't wait for Sunday each and every week (whereas with Carson and especially Andy, I often dreaded the game actually starting). Every gameday, we have the opportunity to beat any team. And that's all because of Joe.
![[Image: oN5QAdY.png]](https://i.imgur.com/oN5QAdY.png)
