Burrow has not been good for his standards. His completion and touchdown percentages, as well as yards per attempt and yards per game, are all the worst in the past two seasons. His pressure percentage is down but his pocket time is also down. He’s only top 10 in completions, attempts, and interception percentage. There are people still betting on him to win MVP but so far he may be 8th at best right now. The trade deadline has passed, is a Joe Burrow turnaround necessary for our season to get back on track?
The running game has been bad. The defense has already been better than the offense. Seems like Burrow and the passing game are the best hope.
You seem to be one of the only people who understand what I’m asking lol. This team has relied on Burrow this season to the point that if he’s even average it’s hard to win.
The last five teams to win the Super Bowl averaged at least 94.9 rushing yards a game in the regular season. The Bengals are averaging 74.8. This isn’t even Mixon’s fault because, though his stats aren’t great, his 59.6 YPG would still rank third compared to those 5 teams. Seemingly, outside of Mixon going nuclear, Burrow has to have 6 more great games and/or Tee Higgins and the TEs need to be worth something. There isn’t a single TE in the top 5 for scrimmage yards.
The only players who seem to be poised for a strong second half that helps us sneak into the playoffs are Burrow and Higgins. Mixon has only had 7 games with 100+ rushing yards and 2+ rushing TDs in his career. The team hasn’t lost one of those games. Maybe that’s the solution for one average Burrow game. Can we count on that or does Burrow have to play his best football at least 5 more games to even make the playoffs? They don’t play the Rams or Cardinals again, or even a team that currently has a losing record.
That being said, it’s hard to fault the defense because Herbert has lost more games this season with a rating over 100 than Burrow’s lost in his career. Anarumo has had the defense consistently around 21 ppg for 2 1/2 seasons. Expecting them to have a massive improvement to cover up offensive decline isn’t feasible given the fact that they replaces several DBs.
Hence why I’m asking is Burrow the only route to the playoffs? Seemingly they should win the last 4 home games, but that could’ve been said about the Texans game. How many road games can they win against the Raven, Jaguars, Steelers, and Chiefs? If Burrow struggles do we miss the playoffs entirely? ESPN doesn’t think 9-8 losing the tiebreaker to Houston is enough. 🤷♂️