Joe Burrow injured during Cincinnati Bengals’ loss at the Washington Football Team on Sunday; 2019 No 1 overall pick has torn ACL and MCL in left knee, scan shows; Burrow tweets: “Can’t get rid of me that easy. See ya next year”
By Joe Shread
Last Updated: 23/11/20 9:04pm
Joe Burrow was carted from the field during the third quarter of the Cincinnati Bengals’ loss to the Washington Football Team on Sunday
Joe Burrow will need surgery on his left knee after a scan showed he has torn his ACL and MCL, and has also sustained other structural damage, according to multiple reports in the US.
Burrow was carted from the field early in the third quarter after being hit by several defenders during the Cincinnati Bengals’ defeat to the Washington Football Team on Sunday.
The 23-year-old, who was drafted No 1 overall by the Bengals this year, will undergo surgery once swelling on the left knee has receded.
Before the game at FedExField had even finished, Burrow had taken to Twitter to say: “Thanks for all the love. Can’t get rid of me that easy. See ya next year.”
Burrow is third in the NFL among quarterbacks for sacks taken in 2020
He completed 22 of 34 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown before being injured. He did not take a sack.
Ryan Finley replaced Burrow, but the Bengals faded after his injury. Finley finished three of 10 for 30 yards and an interception.
The Bengals finished with 272 total yards, amassing just 17 yards on five possessions after the injury. Finley was sacked four times.
Following the Bengals’ defeat – which leaves them bottom of the AFC North with a 2-7-1 record – Burrow’s team-mate A.J. Green offered advice to the quarterback, inspired by his own ankle injury that ruled him out of the entire 2019 season.
A.J. Green – who missed all of 2019 with injury – believes Burrow will return as an even better player
The veteran wide receiver said: “Just attack every day. Sometimes you’re not going to feel like rehabbing, but you always have to look at the bigger picture and that’s just getting back and getting ready to play football.
“That was my mindset over these two years. Keep attacking the day. Keep getting better. Keep staying positive and everything will work itself out.
“Joe, he is going to be fine. He’s a fighter. He’s a competitor. He is going to come back even better.”
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor also had kind words for Burrow, who was a strong contender for Rookie of the Year until Sunday.
He said: “The players have responded to him, the coaches have responded to him, the city has responded to him and all that is equally as important.
“He energises this team and he has been a tremendous player – everything we had hoped he would be.
3:57 A look back at the action and talking points from Week 11 of the NFL season
“We’ll get him back at some point. We don’t know when that is, but for now we got to transform that energy and put it somewhere else in this team. We got plenty of guys we can rely on.”
Taylor also rejected criticism of the Bengals’ offensive line, which had allowed Burrow to sustain the third most sacks of all quarterbacks in 2020 before his injury.
“We gave up a lot of pressure in the beginning of the season,” said Taylor. “In these last couple weeks, our guys have done a great job of keeping people off Joe. He’s had a great pocket.
“The hit, as I saw it, wasn’t with the ball in his hand. People keep talking about the offensive line without seemingly watching the film for the last four weeks.
“Again, those guys have done a good job. It has been a revolving door of players [and] they have been doing a great job. Joe has done a great job moving us down the field.”
Sky Sports NFL is your dedicated channel for NFL coverage through the season – featuring a host of NFL Network programming, a new weekly preview show as well as at least five games a week and NFL Redzone, you won’t miss a moment. Don’t forget to follow us on skysports.com/nfl, our Twitter account @SkySportsNFL & Sky Sports – on the go!
