Burrow, during an MVP-like season to this point, has calmed outside concerns he might never be the same after tearing ligaments in the wrist on his throwing arm. However, with previous injuries, cold weather seemed to take a toll on his body, and this will be his game in those kind of conditions since his November 2023 wrist surgery.
“That’s a question that remains to be answered,” Burrow said. “I haven’t experienced a cold-weather game with that yet. In the past when I’ve had injuries, cold weather does affect it, so we’ll find out if I -- maybe I’ll have a heater on the sideline or something. I haven’t really thought about that yet, but we’ll see.”
Joe Burrow & Ja'Marr Chase speak to the media after practice for Week 13 vs Pittsburgh Steelers. https://t.co/yhEK8yQO0h
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) November 27, 2024
Stiffness would be the biggest concern, as Burrow already has been known to flex his wrist to keep it loose in ideal conditions. Burrow said practice Wednesday, throwing in 45-degree weather, could have gone better, but he says that on warmer days, too.
On Sunday, temperatures could dip into the 20s and top out in the low 30s.
Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase said he puts on “warm skin” cream in “mad cold conditions,” but Burrow once screamed at him for wearing it in college and told Chase he wouldn’t throw the ball to him unless he took it off. Since then, he tries not to use it as much because Burrow doesn’t like it getting on the ball.
Burrow is just focusing on doing everything he can to be successful Sunday. Cincinnati is three games out of a playoff spot, but he’s not worried about the postseason at this point.
“I just told everybody focus on doing what you can do every day to try to get better and putting yourself in the best position that you can to try to seize that opportunity when it comes your way on Sundays,” Burrow said. “We can’t look at the big picture anymore. Big picture doesn’t look great. We just have to focus on the day-to-day. Focus on doing everything with intent to improve yourself.”
Whether the Bengals are out of the playoff picture or still in the hunt, Burrow would be approaching this week the same way, he said. He reminds teammates they are responsible for anything they put on tape, and free agency and future roster decisions could be impacted by what they do now.
That doesn’t mean he’s given up on the season.
“We’re not out of it yet,” Burrow said. “We’re not out of it yet, so it’s going to take a lot for us to get in, but at this point, just focus on what you can focus on, control what you can control, and that’s trying to get better every week. Putting great stuff out there on tape, week in and week out. That’s what I’m focused on doing.”
Pittsburgh is a team that can make things difficult on opposing quarterbacks like Burrow, though.
The Steelers are known for the pressure applied by their pass rushers, like outside linebacker T.J. Watt and defensive linemen Cameron Heyward, Keeanu Benton and Larry Ogunjobi, and a re-tooled secondary isn’t giving up a lot of big plays. Pittsburgh allows just 16.9 points per game (fourth fewest) and just 90.3 rushing yards per game (fourth fewest), and ProFootballFocus.com recently ranked DeShon Elliott the top safety in the NFL against the run.
“They’ve got great players up front,” Burrow said. “It’s hard to hold onto the ball long enough to push the ball down the field. Teams haven’t really tried to do that because of their guys up front. Teams try to run the ball, play it quick, play action, get the ball on the perimeter. You don’t want to let those edge rushers get off the ball, make you push up into the pocket into their really good interior rushers, so you got to play the game a certain way.”
The Bengals haven’t had both Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase on the field together in many previous matchups with the Steelers, so Burrow doesn’t know what kind of adjustments to expect, but he plans to still look for his opportunities to find explosives. He will just have to be smart about it.
Higgins missed the first matchup against Pittsburgh in 2021 (and the second one last year when Burrow was out), and Chase was out for the second meetings in 2022 and 2023. Chase has a history with Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, including the infamous photo of him flipping off Fitzpatrick during a 2022 matchup, but said he’s not even on Chase’s “most hated DBs list.”
As for what’s at stake for the Bengals, Chase said he’s approaching the game like Burrow.
“At the end of the day we’ve just got to control the things that we can control,” Chase said. “That’s trying to finish the game and win a game. But we’ve got to take that one play at a time and we know it always comes down to one play in every single game that we’ve lost this season. So that’s what it’s going to come down to.”
SUNDAY’S GAME
Steelers at Bengals, 1 p.m., CBS, 700, 1530, 102.7, 104.7
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