{"id":305270,"date":"2025-08-21T06:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T06:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/305270\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T06:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T06:57:10","slug":"was-jason-kelce-right-that-the-bengals-should-have-pulled-joe-burrow-earlier-vs-the-commanders-on-monday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/305270\/","title":{"rendered":"Was Jason Kelce right that the Bengals should have pulled Joe Burrow earlier vs. the Commanders on Monday?"},"content":{"rendered":"

CINCINNATI, Ohio \u2014 The Bengals<\/a> and Joe Burrow have emphasized that this year\u2019s preseason holds more significance for them than in previous years. With how slowly they\u2019ve started under Zac Taylor, Burrow has gotten far more reps this preseason than any other in his career.<\/p>\n

Monday in the Bengals\u2019 31-17 win at Washington<\/a>, he played three drives and 24 reps in total.<\/p>\n

However, we saw the risks that come with those preseason reps.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Bengals coach Zac Taylor justifies Joe Burrow\u2019s extra preseason reps despite hits vs. Commanders<\/a><\/p>\n

Burrow took multiple hard hits, including a sack for a 17-yard loss by Dorance Armstrong and Jacob Martin where he turned his back to the line of scrimmage and tried to scramble away before he was sacked. Later in the game, he was sacked by a horsecollar tackle by Deatrick Wise Jr<\/a>., which drew a penalty. <\/p>\n

Those hits naturally got Bengals fans worried about whether Burrow should have been pulled from the game to protect himself.<\/p>\n

ESPN\u2019s Jason Kelce strongly felt Taylor should have gotten Burrow out earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe shouldn\u2019t even be doing that in the regular season. Like you what are you doing running around making circles like this?\u201d Kelce said during ESPN\u2019s halftime show. \u201cHe\u2019s pressing because he knows a sense of urgency is right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have pulled him after the first one. Sometimes, you got to save somebody from themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelce\u2019s colleague on the set, Marcus Spears, agreed with his sentiment that the Bengals shouldn\u2019t have kept Burrow in for as long as they did. <\/p>\n

\u201cI get it. The start to the season. Miss me with all that foolishness. Number one is Joe gotta be smarter than this,\u201d Spears said about the first sack. \u201cThat\u2019s number one. Then Zac Taylor, to that point, got to protect him. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut then he goes in and gets hit again. This is the absolute worst scenario of your pseudo \u2018I\u2019m trying not to slow start during the season.\u2019 I don\u2019t care what nobody say. Joe Burrow might go throw for 500 yards in the first game, which is highly likely with what he has. But this situation, it\u2019s never been right to me. It\u2019s never been right. And for him to do that out there was totally disrespectful to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite those hits, Burrow stayed in the game and finished the third drive with a touchdown pass to Charlie Jones to end his night. And that might have been the right call for Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

A popular phrase used by Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has been about not living \u201cin our fears.\u201d <\/p>\n

By pulling Burrow too early given the reasons he\u2019s playing extra preseason reps, they would have probably been giving into those fears.<\/p>\n

The reality for Cincinnati is the Bengals are 1-11 in Weeks 1 and 2 under Taylor, and they open the season in Cleveland in Week 1. While the Browns are going through a transition season at quarterback, it\u2019s still a division game and Burrow has won just once in Cleveland in four tries.<\/p>\n

The Bengals missed the playoffs by a game last season after starting 0-3, including a stunning Week 1 home loss to the Patriots.<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s clearly an urgency to what Cincinnati is doing as Kelce referenced. And yes, there are risks to exposing Burrow to big hits as we saw on Monday night.<\/p>\n

But those are the risks Taylor showed on Monday that he is willing to take based on keeping Burrow in after the two big hits.<\/p>\n

Quarterbacks are going to get hit in the regular season countless times no matter how many times teams try to protect them. There\u2019s only so much teams can do. <\/p>\n

So in some ways, quarterbacks need to get used to taking those hits. <\/p>\n

But I\u2019d be lying if I didn\u2019t understand the apprehension. <\/p>\n

Burrow suffered a season-ending torn ACL and MCL in November of 2020 against Washington, and he means as much to the Bengals as any quarterback does to his respective team across the NFL. He\u2019s also the only active quarterback who has prevented Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs from reaching a Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a difficult tightrope to walk and Monday was proof of it.<\/p>\n

However, the Bengals made the right decision to keep Burrow in the game after those hits. Ryan Clark, who was on the ESPN set with Kelce and Spears, understood why the Bengals are taking the risk they are this preseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely get what they\u2019re trying to do. They\u2019re trying to say we\u2019re going to do something different, and I think Joe Burrow as the leader is saying that we\u2019re going to do something different,\u201d Clark said on ESPN. \u201cThere were camps that he\u2019s missed with injuries. There\u2019s been slow starts because people were waiting on contracts to be done. <\/p>\n

\u201cJoe Burrow is saying, as the leader, I\u2019m going to step forward and be the guy to set the example that the preseason matters, that practice matters. But even as (Marcus) says, though, he has to be smart about the way he goes about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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